It has taken quite a bit of effort and time to design and maintain this site about how poorly Riverside’s Orthopedic Medical Group, and in my case Dr. John Gonzalez treats their patients. My goal for the site is threefold.

To warn people to avoid Orthopedic Medical Group of Riverside

By educating potential patients, I hope they will choose another doctor, and not financially reward bad people.

Provide a place with those who have suffered through (because we were unaware of our options, intimidated because of the power these doctors have over us, or afraid to speak up) to share our common stories.

The following is what pushed me over the edge to go through all of this effort; the proverbial straw so to speak.

The last time I saw Dr. Gonzalez, he told me when I was ready for the surgery on my left hand to call the office and schedule a pre-op appointment. All the tests were done and the surgery was already approved by the insurance. We simply needed to schedule a pre-op appointment, go over a few things and set a date for surgery.

Frivolous Appointments Increases Their Income

When I called to do that, I was told that only Dr. Gonzalez could schedule a pre-op appointment and I needed to come in to see Dr. Gonzalez, so he could schedule a pre-op appointment. In other words, I needed to schedule an appointment so we could schedule another appointment (again, I think it is so Dr. Gonzalez could bill the insurance company for another appointment and why his waiting room is like a cattle call).

On the day of the needless appointment traffic was such it took an hour and fifteen minutes to make what should have been a twenty-five-minute drive. My plan was to stop at Butch’s Grinders beforehand and grab a sandwich, but being 30 minutes behind, I skipped that and went straight to my appointment. The shortest wait time at any of my many appointments with Dr. John Gonzalez was an hour and a half. So as I walk in I am thinking, “Okay, I only have to wait an hour or so today.” Imagine how mortified I was when the receptionist said my appointment needed to be rescheduled to another day because I was 30 minutes late.  

Let that sink in for a moment.

Dr. Gonzalez had wasted 8 to 10 of my hours waiting on him.

Dr. John Gonzalez hadn’t missed a beat in his day because I was late (he was still seeing all the patients that he had already overbooked)

But because I was 30 minutes late, for a needless appointment in the first place, he refused to see me.

I asked for the manager. I relayed the events and how asinine this whole situation was. She said she would check with the doctor.

Upon her return she stated she was instructed by Dr. Gonzalez to reschedule because he was “overbooked with patients and had no time..”.

Admittedly, I snapped, and got rather belligerent and ugly. Before I left everyone in the waiting room (and likely in the patient rooms) knew what was going on, and what I thought about the doctor, the practice, and his staff…

At some point the office stated they were going to call the police and, in my agitation, really didn’t care. I would gladly explain the whole situation to them.

Reason returned to my head moments later, and I thought the best thing to do was simply just leave, calm down, and get something to eat.

As I was in the parking lot getting ready to leave, a person who identified himself as the Chief Operating Officer of the Orthopedic Medical Group came out into the parking lot.

He apologized for what had transpired and said indirectly he could understand my strong feelings. It was his opinion that it was unprofessional for the doctor not to see me, but the doctor is the one who instructs the office how to run his schedule and how heavy to overbook.

I told the C.O.O. to relay the following message to Dr. John Gonzalez.

“My time is as valuable as Dr. Gonzalez’s, and I am every bit as intelligent as him, but my skills lie in a different field, the internet. Tell him I will let the world know exactly what a piece of shit he is and how he treats his patients.”

If this wasn’t true, Orthopedic Medical Group would have a great case against me for slander and liable. I imagine they’ve already had conversations with their attorneys about this site and were likely told by their lawyer that the truth is an absolute defense against slander & libel.

Prolog

In hindsight, this was one of the best events of my life.

I was so proud of the first version of this site that detailed my story.  Now I would follow through with my promise.

Then I searched Google, Dogpile, and Netscape for Dr. Gonzalez, and I couldn’t find the website that I just made.

What good was a website that I couldn’t get anyone to see?

I read, learned, and soon after completely redesigned my site with my knew knowledge. Now I was on the 17th page of Google when I searched for John Gonzalez or Orthopedic Medical Group.

Adjustments were made to the site, and I slowly moved from the 17th page, to now the top rankings on Google for the words of importance to me.

This event stared me down the path of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) back in 2005, and my knowledge and skills have continued to grow since then.