Your opinion about Cleveland Clinic (Akron, Minerva: health insurance, neighborhood, incomes)

[columbus_123]

I had 2 encounters with the clinic so far (Fairview hospital). It is definitely not the world class care as they claim. What is your opinion about Cleveland Clinic?

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by columbus_123

I had 2 encounters with the clinic so far (Fairview hospital). It is definitely not the world class care as they claim. What is your opinion about Cleveland Clinic?

Go to the Main Campus. Avoid Fairview Hospital. Long known as a place where people check in but don't check out. The Cleveland Clinic acquired Fairview, it's Cleveland Clinic in name only.

The CC's good reputation is based on its Main Campus facilities, not the old neighborhood hospital acquisitions.


Please emember all hospitals train staff/doctors to lie about mistakes, negligence, and other assorted mishaps (ie. deaths caused by idiocy).

[Minervah]

Part of the reason I relocated to Cleveland was because the Cleveland Clinic was reported to have expert physicians and researchers studying and treating a rare genetic illness I have. Not only did I find this not to be so but I found the clinic to be the worst medical facility I have ever encountered in the two cities in which I have previously lived, Chicago and Portland, OR. I can say that the CC was absolutely the worst, both the clinic and the hospital. This came as a huge disappointment because I have always liked the hospitals and clinics I have had to go to as much as one can like those places. I used to pay health insurance claims and people would call me up and gripe about their medical facilities and I would think they just wanted to complain, now I get it.

I won't go into specifics, it would take way too long but suffice it to say the errors the CC made with me went all the way from administrative to a serious life threatening medical one. This was at the main campus.

I would venture to say part of the problem is too many people are involved with the patients' records. Communication amongst those people does not filter through well. Another part that may surprise people is that some of the equipment in those parts of the facility is shockingly old. I had a sonogram machine stall twice while being used as the technician cursed about how the more "higher ups" got the new stuff because they were in the "better" departments. You can learn a lot by listening to the lower paid people in a giant company. Lots of grumbling there.

Anyway, now that I am on the West side of town I am seeking a new medical facility. I may not get the crackerjack specialists and yes, the CC definitely does have them, but I hope I will at least get good medical care and I can count on getting it relatively safely.

I would only recommend the CC with great caution. Be alert, watch and question what they do.

I am sure others will have good things to say about the CC but I can only go by my own experiences there and time after time those were just not good ones.

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by Minervah

Part of the reason I relocated to Cleveland was because the Cleveland Clinic was reported to have expert physicians and researchers studying and treating a rare genetic illness I have. Not only did I find this not to be so but I found the clinic to be the worst medical facility I have ever encountered in the two cities in which I have previously lived, Chicago and Portland, OR. I can say that the CC was absolutely the worst, both the clinic and the hospital. This came as a huge disappointment because I have always liked the hospitals and clinics I have had to go to as much as one can like those places. I used to pay health insurance claims and people would call me up and gripe about their medical facilities and I would think they just wanted to complain, now I get it.

I won't go into specifics, it would take way too long but suffice it to say the errors the CC made with me went all the way from administrative to a serious life threatening medical one. This was at the main campus.

I would venture to say part of the problem is too many people are involved with the patients' records. Communication amongst those people does not filter through well. Another part that may surprise people is that some of the equipment in those parts of the facility is shockingly old. I had a sonogram machine stall twice while being used as the technician cursed about how the more "higher ups" got the new stuff because they were in the "better" departments. You can learn a lot by listening to the lower paid people in a giant company. Lots of grumbling there.

Anyway, now that I am on the West side of town I am seeking a new medical facility. I may not get the crackerjack specialists and yes, the CC definitely does have them, but I hope I will at least get good medical care and I can count on getting it relatively safely.

I would only recommend the CC with great caution. Be alert, watch and question what they do.

I am sure others will have good things to say about the CC but I can only go by my own experiences there and time after time those were just not good ones.

I only think of the CC for cardio/heart issues (Main Campus). Not sure what your condition is but I hope you find the competent care you need and deserve.

My experience with CC doctors included one ''winging'' an appointment, totally lied, and when I questioned him, he basically left the room. A referral to another doctor: the file out on the table was not mine; the same first/last name but wasn't me... actually as I peered at the file, I saw the address and it was a cousin of mine, born in 1990....''umm, that's not me doctor!'' Who knows what I may have been subjected to for someone else's medical condition. I was there for a strained back. The original doctor for this issue read the x-ray backwards and referred me to a neurosurgeon!

I mentioned this point a few years ago: I know first-hand of an oncologist that deliberately disposed of a patient. Not the CC, but we all must be vigilant, pay attention, and go with your gut if you enter our health care system.

Please remember: it's a business.

I've heard the old equipment gripes from an employee at Fairview. It's scary.

[Cleverfield]

It's a corrupt organization. They're far more concerned with treating rich Arab Sheikhs than the common man. Despite making $514 Million in profit last year, they somehow maintain their "non-profit" status. There was recently an in depth article talking about how the Clinic has shied away from treating those of lesser means.

http://www.politico.com/interactives...ospital-taxes/

[gentlearts]

I went there when I had breast cancer, while we lived in Ohio. They didn't seem to have killed me. It seemed like they have their cancer s**t together, and I liked the way they ran appointments like a Swiss train...no waiting.

The other medical communities, which are also very well respected, complain that CC poaches a lot of their patients. I got poached, for sure, from Summa in Akron.

As far as money grubbing aspect, I received solicitations from them for years to donate money.

This being said, my sister in law was passed around from doctor to doctor there, until she finally dropped dead of a heart attack, the week after a stress test. She seriously saw one specialist after another, for two years, but nobody helped her.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by Cleverfield

It's a corrupt organization. They're far more concerned with treating rich Arab Sheikhs than the common man. Despite making $514 Million in profit last year, they somehow maintain their "non-profit" status. There was recently an in depth article talking about how the Clinic has shied away from treating those of lesser means.

How the Cleveland Clinic grows healthier while its neighbors stay sick

You know, I have had my suspicions about this. I am on Medicare and have wondered if this might have entered into the way I have been treated. It's quite possible. It's pretty lame how they are constantly asking patients of all incomes for donations. I took my name off their mailing list.

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by Cleverfield

It's a corrupt organization. They're far more concerned with treating rich Arab Sheikhs than the common man. Despite making $514 Million in profit last year, they somehow maintain their "non-profit" status. There was recently an in depth article talking about how the Clinic has shied away from treating those of lesser means.

How the Cleveland Clinic grows healthier while its neighbors stay sick

For starters, the article is in Politico, so there's a built-in slant to this story. What are TJ Dow, Zach Reed, or Jeff Johnson doing?

The specific menton of high diabetes rates in these areas is not the Clinic's fault; it's called bad diets, lack of exercise and is a part of the national obesity crisis.

The CC was there long before these adjacent areas went to s**t. Area residents and leaders do not want the area to change with development.

The CC is known for its cardio/heart care. Arab cash paying patients are most welcome, the CC is, as I stated before, a business. Why wouldn't they be? Is this a bad thing?

No mention of course that Oprah, a wealthy black woman, flies into the CC for her regular check-ups.

[TBideon]

The number of obese nurses and staff there (especially in the main branch) is absolutely shocking. If CC refuses to hire smokers, then it should have similar standards for them too.

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by TBideon

The number of obese nurses and staff there (especially in the main branch) is absolutely shocking. If CC refuses to hire smokers, then it should have similar standards for them too.

Well, Fred DeGrandis was booted...