Urology - Mercy Medical Group - Carmichael, California

Jason N.

Using a different account since they didn't let me write a 2nd review on the previous review. I want to explain clearly what my family went thru.

Appointment #2:
My dad goes in for another voiding trial (weeks later lol). Dad fails the trial. We ask the nurse why this happens and what the plan of care is. Nurse says this is out of his scope. He is right, doctor should answer these questions. Doctor isn't even IN THE OFFICE. My dad leaves the office with a foley again, no questions answered. Can you imagine? During these weeks, we have to take my dad to the emergency room multiple times.

Appointment #3:
Dad has a cytoscopy procedure. No one explained to us what this procedure entails. Not even a 2 sentence summary. I can overhear their convos, I'm known as "the son" for asking questions. I'm simply translating for my dad, those are his questions. Oh and by the way, we were supposed to wait months for this appointment. We got an earlier appt. after convincing them that it is not ok to have my dad left hanging with a foley. I never once cursed, had an attitude, or said anything negative to them. I know what it's like to be treated bad by family members when working. After the procedure, my parents who don't know English had questions, Dr.Cooney says she's busy and immediately leaves. I was shocked. Anyways, the foley finally comes out. My dad finally has no Foley catheter!

Appointment #4:
I was busy, so my brother goes in for an appointment. Turns out, the appointment was scheduled to remove a Foley catheter... that my dad got out a MONTH AGO! LOL. Staff sends my dad home. Keep in mind, Every time my dad goes, he needs a translator and a caregiver to be with him, because of his condition. I'm furious. I call the office. They start laughing in the background as I'm calling. Keep in mind, Im known as "the son" now. I ask the receptionist what's next. She says a PBR. I asked who does this. She said a nurse. So I ask why couldn't they do it at this appointment. She immediately changes the answer and says it's actually the doctors who do this procedure. (I did this as a test) I know exactly what a PBR is, just wanted to see if she even knows what she's talking about since they made my dad drive out 20-30 minutes to an appointment where nothing happened, and nothing was ever communicated. She describes the procedure incorrectly, she's clueless. I don't even correct here. I say thanks and go about my day. The whole time she was talking with a very condescending voice. I have never experienced a phone call like this in my life with any medical staff.

May 29, 2024:
I call requesting a virtual appointment. The reason I wanted a virtual appt. is because of how many times they flaked on appts. with my dad. And if it's a follow up, no physical assessment is needed. It's simply a conversation. This can totally be done virtually. Especially since my dad has advanced Parkinson's requiring a caretaker and translator. This was a total valid request. Receptionist schedules a 10:30 appt. I ask to confirm if it's virtual.. She raises her voices at me and says "NO". Btw, they cancelled our appointment "accidentally" on May 1st. Total chaos.

Emergency Visit:
Dad's foley isn't draining, we come into the clinic on a Friday. We were told by the office to come into the clinic during opening hours (M-F) if we ever have an emergency with the foley as they know us better versus going into the ED at San Juan. The nurse says there is no doctor in the office all day, and tells us to go the ED instead. Even though the office is OPEN and there's a NURSE in there. We go to the San Juan ED and they were shocked the nurse at the urology clinic didn't want to do anything about it.

In the end, Dr.Cooney did my dad's surgery. Went perfectly well, she did an excellent job. The reason we never switched offices is because it would take months to switch to another healthcare system and we didn't want my dad wearing a foley any longer. As you know, the longer you wear a foley, the more prone you are to infections and issues.

Jason N.

Posting this under my name as they are well aware of me and I am not afraid of being confronted for this matter. Do not even need to post this anonymously.

This office is the perfect representation of what is wrong with healthcare and the medical system in our country. Doctors, staff, and nurses not being held accountable for not putting patient's first. And I am saying this as an active and current registered nurse. Working as a nurse for about 3 years and have dealt with verbal abuse, psych issues, death, and dealing with families overstepping boundaries. I have also worked for Mercy, inpatient (not outpatient like this clinic). Regardless of whatever happened, I never treated any of my patients differently. We take an oath to treat everyone with respect and dignity, no matter what, and to put patients always first.

This office does not do any of that. I never once let them know I'm a nurse or work in healthcare, never overstepped boundaries. I was only a helper and translator for my dad who knows no English and has Parkinson's disease. He can barely walk, talk, or move. And the amount of frustration, anger, and disgust I have with how this office treated my family .. none of you have any idea. I visually seen my mom cry as a result of how this office treated her (she is also does not speak any English). This is the first time in my life I have ever wrote a review like this in my life. I do not care how much schooling the doctors here took, how many years staff has been working here, or how long this place has been established for. If this wasn't one of the only offices "Medi-cal/Medicare" covers, or if this was purely a capitalist system where you would get judged based on your services, I have no doubt this place wouldn't last a month being open.

The only person I really respect in this office is Dr.Cooney, who did an excellent job with the surgery. However, there were a lot of unanswered questions and miscommunication with the nurses. In addition, the patient education was awful. This is also the nurses fault. To be honest, most doctors are like this whether in the hospital or not, they have so many patient and only 10-15 minutes to educate families about what is going on. With something so complex like prostate surgery, I feel for her. But at the same time, it's part of your duty and career, not only as a doctor, but as a human, to fully educate families about a life altering surgery. Who cares about the paycheck, the shift, the day. The patient at the bedside is having their first surgery in their life and having to wear a foley Catheter for a whole year, spend some time to answer questions and have a conversation, please.

Here is a list of every appointment and detail that happened. I have never done this in my life. Ever.

Appointment #1:
We bring my dad in to remove the Foley catheter, and see if he can void/pee. The appointment was set for 4pm, scheduled months in advance (as you know setting an appointment at any office takes forever). Had to drive my dad all the way to the office for them to turn me down in person saying they do not remove foley's after 12:00 noon time. I ask why they scheduled an appointment for this reason alone, and why no one let me know. Dr. Cooney said she will talk to the nurses. Door closes. I overhear the conversation through the door (and no, I wasn't trying to eavesdrop or forcefully listen). I can clearly hear the convo. The receptionist says she told me this on the phone. This is not true, this never happened, and she was trying to defer the blame onto me. Trying to cover for her mistake. Since this was the 1st appointment, I forgave them, didn't even give an ounce of attitude, said thank you for explaining and left peacefully. Mistakes happen, I get it.

I am running out of word count.. will be continued below in another review. I have more events, we are just getting started. You have no idea.

Gary B.

I began calling Mercy Urology late in the afternoon on Wednesday, August 21 - first call at 4:29 PM. I only wanted to confirm the date of my next appointment. My first, second and third phone calls were on hold for about 30 minutes total. All three individual holds ended with a dial tone. If this is a test period for a new & improved AI controlled customer service experience - I think some adjustments and tweaking would be advisable

Steven H.

Why do I keep coming back to Mercy Medical? I must be a glutton for punishment. It takes two to three months to get an appointment to see the doctor, and then the appointment gets cancelled. Now what? I get a new appointment two to three months later. This is not just with my primary care physician but also the urologist and neurologist. I really need to change things up here.

Peter V.