has anybody here had any experience with "city of hope" in l.a.?

i need to vent:

some of you might have seen my earlier posts saying that we were trying to get an appointment for my sister from "city of hope". that was some weeks ago. we don't have an appointment yet and they're giving us a real run-around in spite of the fact that my sister's oncologist has done a referral and asked for an urgent appointment. i'm not sure what's going on, whether this woman administrator in new patients services who has her case there is just on a power trip or if they don't even want to admit her (can they even refuse to admit a patient?) we're not even getting a straight answer from them. it's so frustrating.

gita

Gita: I don't know City of Hope. If it is that bad, you might want to go to MD Anderson instead which is very well thought of for this disease. It would be about the same distance. Don't know if you have relations around L.A. that would make City of Hope better, but if they are being difficult, try a different center. I'm a firm believer in voting with my pocketbook, and if an organization doesn't earn the right to take my money, they don't get it and someone else does.

This is unacceptable is what it is. After you get through all of the slide/reports/scan requests and referrals you should be able to get in anywhere relatively easily, especially if you've gotten a referral through a physician. I'd look someplace else while still keeping the door open at city of hope. The name is kind of ironic?

Lynn

Gita,

It's hard enough to have to deal with this cancer under better circumstances but this is unacceptable. Please keep calling them and being so persistent that maybe they'll be so tired of hearing from you that they'll finally give you some answers and a better response to you and your sister's needs. No establishment, no matter now busy they are, should keep people in the unknown especially when time is a factor. Keep the faith and keep fighting! Your sister is so fortunate to have you in her corner.

Nancy

Gita, Sounds like I'd scrap the City of Hope idea and try either UCLA Cancer center or Loma Linda Cancer center if you are bound to stay at in the LA area, although I'm not to sure where Loma Linda is in relation to where you are in Los Angeles. Just a thought.
Bob

thanks for the feedback and suggestions, everybody. we finally heard from "city of hope" yesterday. they've decided they're not going to admit my sister and not even give her an appointment for second opinion. they didn't even talk to us directly, but talked to my sister's oncologist! upon his persistence! the bottom line, they've said, is that they don't think they have any protocol that could help my sister. knowing the urgency, they probably could have told us this over two weeks ago when they had all the medical records, rather than running us around, keeping up our "hope" (oh, the irony!) and wasting our time and energy on numerous phone calls and faxes.

i don't knwo where they got that name from or why. whether it's a problem of the system or of the people who work in it, i simply find the extent of disrespect and disregard unacceptable and unjustifiable. before i came to l.a. i found what i heard from my family here about their dealings with "city of hope" quite hard to believe. after having dealt with the case worker since i've been here and being lied to in my face twice, i can tell you that if we didn't have other priorities right now, i would go after them with some vengence. anyway, we're looking at other options including the ones mentioned here.

keep us in your good thoughts.

Tell them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine Gita!!!! It's a disgrace to the name City of Hope. Hoping you can get some decent treatment elsewhere. Do you have the email address of this place? I sure want to send them a message of what I think of them.

Best Wishes,

Danny Boy