The Whole Experience Makes You Feel Unwelcome & Sad You Have To Be There For Treatment

by admin | Oct 24, 2018 | Dr. John Gonzalez

Refuse The Substandard Care At Orthopedic Medical Group of Riverside by Dr. John Gonzalez

Many patients are directed to Orthopedic Medical Group and John Gonzalez MD through insurances (both workers compensation and medical). Because they were directed to a specific provider, patients feel they have no choice and wind up enduring a substandard level of care out of fear of being denied benefits or ignorance to their ability to choose a different doctor.

I fell into this trap as well. It wasn’t until after my huge blow up that I learned I could refuse to be seen by a specific doctor, request a second opinion (again which will put you with a different doctor), or that a doctor could refuse to see me (then the insurance must find another).

Contact your insurance company and ask what other orthopedic surgeons are available.

Below are excerpts of the conversation between S.A.M. and me. My impression is that he too felt trapped into seeing Dr. John Gonzalez. (For ease of reading, I have altered some of the original text but not to the point it changes what was intended by S.A.M)

I am so very disappointed with the treatment I am getting at Dr. Gonzalez’s clinic.

The staff is very rude and obnoxious, especially Angie and they make you wait at least 1.5 hrs. to 2 hrs. before you get to see Dr. Gonzales. It seems he is always running late which is why sometimes patients get up and leave.

I personally brought this matter to Dr. John Gonzalez’s attention and his attitude is “they always come back.” Just like me because I am stuck with him until I get carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand. After that I do not plan on ever returning.

The whole experience makes one feel unwelcome and sad I even have to be there for treatment.

I am still awaiting confirmation on my pre-op/surgery dates. It has been 3 weeks and I have received nothing but the run around and bad attitudes from Dr. John Gonzalez and his staff.

When I reached out to S.A.M, I requested that he allow me to post his concerns, and below is part of his response.

Hello Paul,

Thanks for the reply, and yes you can post my concerns on your website but only after my surgery for the simple reason Dr. John Gonzalez is operating on me and I am not too sure about him, so I don’t want any complications.

After waiting 2 hours, Sharon M finds Dr. John Gonzalez Arrogant & Rude…. Then Finds Another Doctor

by admin | Oct 24, 2018 | Dr. John Gonzalez, Doctors At Orthopedic Medical Group (Former & Current), Orthopedic Medical Group Reviews

Sharon M had posted the following on an earlier version of this website. (italics added for clarification)

I am scheduled for my first visit with Dr. John Gonzalez. I work for Target and have been diagnosed with carpel tunnel in my right hand. Glad I found your website while searching for information about the doctor. My injury is work related, but I think I still have the right to choose a doctor, I hope. Did you find a good ortho doctor? Thanks for your time and information.

Sharon M.

I responded to Sharon about the great experience I had with Dr. Hiromu Shoji, and suggest she reach out to him (as I would suggest to anyone if he is still in practice). Sharon M. responded with the following:

I had to keep my appointment with Dr. John Gonzalez because I was running out of my pain medication and needed to get it refilled.

Luckily, I told my adjuster about your website prior to going to the appointment. He read the whole thing and decided to suggest their company stop referring people to Dr. Gonzalez and told me he would set up an appointment with another doctor. I called him from the doctor’s office after I had been waiting 2 hours (just to prove your point) then called him after to explain how rude and arrogant Dr. John Gonzalez [orthopedic surgeon at Orthopedic Medical Group of Riverside] was, as he would not answer any of my questions about post-surgery, my thumb that I have to crack every 10 minutes etc… He gave me a dumb pamphlet that looks like a cheap comic book. Hope Sedgewick does stop referring people to him. I’ll warn anyone I come in contact with (about 500 people a day) to steer clear of him and OMG [Orthopedic Medical Group of Riverside]. Thanks again for the heads up.

I was just curious if John Gonzalez MD ever covered his name badge and asked you to tell him his name? I wasn’t sure if he does this to everyone or if it was just me. I guess he figured I was asking too many questions about surgery. He seemed rather irritated when I told him his name. Thanks again for making such a big difference in my life.

Sharon M.

Michael F.- A Former Patient of Dr. John Gonzalez- Relates His Jaw-Dropping Experiences

by admin | Sep 26, 2018 | Dr. John Gonzalez, Orthopedic Medical Group Reviews

At first, I thought my experience with John Gonzalez M.D. Orthopedic Medical Group of Riverside may have been an anomaly. But after reading reviews I found comfort in knowing that I was not alone.

Dr. John Gonzalez, if you can even call him doctor, has less people skills than a chimpanzee. Not only is he rude but he ignores the patients input entirely.

He clearly suffers from a superiority complex and feels that anyone that doesn’t possess a post graduate degree is beneath him.

I was giving him insight on how labor intensive my job was and that I wanted to be as close to 100% as possible before returning to work.

He got up and proceeded to walk out of the room, stops in the doorway and with his back turned to me says; “Did you ever stop to think that the reason you have this job is because you are uneducated?”

I was floored and felt humiliated. Yet, I was at his mercy since he writes the work off orders.

I’m still in extreme pain. My injury is load bearing and he released me back to work against my wishes. I have since exercised my right to a second opinion, especially since his is worthless.

His assistant will never return your calls so don’t even bother as they are just as rude as him.

Dr. John Gonzalez is extremely arrogant and rude. I’m so glad that I can share this experience with another former patient that understands that Gonzalez is a nightmare and shouldn’t be practicing medicine.

Apparently the saying “treat people the way you would like to be treated” was lost on him. If he has a wife and kids, I can only imagine the torment and misery he has more than likely inflicted upon them.

He is a miserable excuse for a human being, never have I ran into a nastier person and that says a lot. Something is wrong with him.

Michael F
Former Patient

87% of the Ratings Left for Dr. John Gonzalez on Healthgrades.com are 1 Star

by admin | Sep 14, 2018 | Dr. John Gonzalez

Many of the people to whom I have related my story about Dr. John Gonzalez just don’t believe how bad he and the medical group are.

The whole reason I started and maintain this website is warn people to simply find another doctor (Dr. Shoji in Riverside is impressive).

Here are others who have left a review for Dr. Gonzalez that basically restate everything I have said. Excessive wait times, rude and condescending staff, rude and condescending doctor, etc.

If there were a few disgruntled patients.. OK… but nearly 9 out of 10 say the same thing.

Read all the reviews about Dr. John Gonzalez at Healthgrades.com

My Experience With Dr. Gonzalez

by Karen Ruby | Sep 9, 2018 | Dr. John Gonzalez

Karen Ruby

Hello.

My name is Karen Ruby and I too had a very bad experience with Dr. Gonzalez that I wanted to share with you. You have my permission to share it with others. I wish I saw your website before all this happened.

I had a foot almost severed in a horseback riding accident July 10, 2010. The capable Dr. Hinen at Riverside Community Hospital performed the emergency surgery to reattach my foot.

Thereafter I was sent to Dr. Gonzalez.

My situation was complicated. The area was infected, I was on intravenous antibiotics and had almost lost my foot completely.

He was the same every time. Dr. Gonzalez was unwilling to elaborate on any answer he provided and openly impatient. If I asked a follow up question, or asked for clarification, his face would contort into a look of disgust.

To elaborate was to be tortured with hot oil to him.

He scolded me often if I dared to ask him a follow up question and once made a vulgar inference on one in front of my mother when I was having one of my numerous casts removed.

Once, I heard a guy yelling at Dr. Gonzalez and thought “gee that is a weird guy probably”. But after 8 months of being spoken to in the most condescending manner I had ever experienced in my life outside of an ex-husband, I had too had enough.

I know why he got yelled at by that guy in another room. Dr. Gonzalez is a total a hole. ITS NOT JUST ME.

Dr. Gonzalez sent me to the pain management doctor at Orthopedic Medical Group as my injury healed. After it healed, I stopped taking pain medication escalating and physical therapy was not helping. I made an appointment with Dr. Gonzalez and told him I was in a lot of pain.

He blithely mentioned I am getting arthritis. Little did I know then I had been rapidly losing the cartilage in my ankle and it was bone on bone. I asked him to prescribe some pain killer for me, enough to get by until the my already set appointment with the pain management doctor in a couple of weeks.

Dr. Gonzalez stated, “No. I told you last time I don’t prescribe pain meds,” which is false. Last time I saw him, he wrote a prescription for pain meds I did not ask for and said nothing about “this is the last time.”

I dared to provoke him by saying thus.

After feeling very frustrated by 8 or so months of being treated badly and in serious pain, I stated in a polite manner ” Dr. Gonzalez, you don’t listen to me”. Well that was all it took for him to become so mortally wounded that he crossed his arms sarcastically and said, “Well, then since I don’t listen to you, I can’t be your doctor anymore, right??”

And with that he left the room and wrote in my PERMANENT MEDICAL RECORD that I was angry that he wouldn’t give me drugs.

The result: I was forever unfairly labeled a drug addict to any doctor I met in the future. He assailed my integrity as a person to every doctor that ever reads my medical chart.

I have never been nor, have I ever abused pain pills.

How do I know he did this damage? I kept my appointment with the pain management doctor and he refused to give me any pain meds stronger than ibuprofen.

Within a few days of that, I was on Dr. Prabu Dhalla‘s table being diagnosed with SEVERE ARTHRITIS. I had an ankle fusion less than 90 days later, due to the severity.

Dr Gonzalez never even mentioned arthritis or the cure for pain offered by an ankle fusion because he can’t be bothered to listen to his patients. We are crap to him.

He is easily the worst Dr. in Riverside. His staff was nice but did take at least 3 days to get back if I ever had a question. His nurse was not Kathy, it was someone else. Yes, waits were up to and beyond an hr.

I love your website. I hope more people read it. Thank you for vindicating me too. It’s not me that has a getting along problem. It’s Dr. Gonzalez.

Karen Ruby