The Oregon Clinic - Gastroenterology Department - Review of My Treatment and Care

If your physician has referred you to The Oregon Clinic Gastroenterology Department located at 1111 NE 99th Ave. Portland, Oregon, I urge you to read this review.

My primary care physician referred me to the Gastroenterology Clinic because of severe abdominal pain. She called The Oregon Clinic three times before she finally got a call back from a nurse. She asked the nurse if she could speak with the doctor who would treat me. The nurse promptly told her that she could not. The nurse indicated that their protocol did not allow for that and that in order for them to make an appointment for me at their clinic I must have a CAT scan done first along with lab work. Now lab work was already completed and a CAT scan is expensive (somewhere around $3,000.00). Even though I am on a fixed income, I agreed so that I would be able to see the physician.

I am not a new patient to the world of medicine and how it all works because I was employed for a local hospital for 22 years. Have had a major heart attack in 1989 and recently have had several cardiac stents placed. However, what I experienced at The Oregon Clinic makes me not only angry but also appalled at the treatment.

I went to my first appointment and before the doctor even touched me he said, "The CAT Scan was normal we need to do an upper GI Endoscope." I questioned this and if there were other, forms of tests that were not so invasive but, was assured that this was the best way. I was informed that I needed to stop my daily aspirin and my plavix (this is a blood thinner). I argued that I was unable to stop plavix, as my cardiac protocol with stents was to take this daily without a break for one year. After much bantering back and forth, they agreed that I would not stop this drug.

I arrived at the Endoscopy Center, which is next to the clinic on the same floor of the building. I was told from the start that I had to have someone with me or the test would not be done. I was taken back to the suite and I made sure to remind my nurse that the doctor, whom I had not met, was to call my Primary Care Physician before the procedure.