2 /5 Kacie Anderson: I recently gave birth to my first child, here at Cedar-Sinai and it was by far the most traumatic experience of my life. I received not 1, but 2 blown veins from the “specialists” when I arrived, in an attempt to connect me to the IV machines. Not 1, but 2 failed epidurals from the anesthesiologists . The first one, Dr Zlatts, will haunt me for life. I felt the entire process, only to not ever receive relief and my right hip went numb. One of the nurses on duty told me he has a 50% success rate and suggested I wait for the next shift to rectify this situation. not only was he not good at his job, but he was rude, non communicative, and seemed like he hated his job. I was awake all night, feeling every contraction, thanks to him. How he is still employed is a mystery. The second anesthesiologist, Dr Megan, was an absolute gem, very empathetic and made sure I didnt feel anything. I was an amazing second round, but unfortunately was unable to numb me. I was in labor for 31 hours and felt every, single, minute of it. Towards the end, I was asked to begin pushing by a nurse, once my baby’s head was out, I was told to “wait for the Dr to arrive” and to stop pushing…. While waiting for the delivery Dr to return, I had about 7-8 random nurses enter my room while I was spread eagle and vulnerable with my child’s head outside of me, watching. I did not consent to this at any point. There were 4 nurses I would love to mention by name who all deserve raises and the only reason this post gets any stars at all: Hailey, Fanny, Jacquelin, Gisel. These ladies were absolute angels.
After giving birth, I was taken to the postpartum area to begin my 48 hour stay. Nurses entered our room every hour on the hour, most times without knocking and just barging in. One of the nurses came in to take our baby’s temp, right after we had fed her and said she was cold (97.3 temp) and took her from us to go place her under heating lamps in another room. She threatened multiple times that if the baby didn’t heat up, she’d be taking her to NICU. Mind you, it was right after she hadn’t been wearing her blanket to feed. The baby warmed up within minutes.
At the end of our stay, a young lady came in to ask us how the food was. We were honest and told her it was horrible. She then says someone was supposed to be coming in to take our order. That never happened.
Overall, would highly suggest you give birth elsewhere if you can. I no longer want to have any other children after this experience, but if I can eventually overcome the ptsd, I can assure you it will not be at Cedar Sinai Tarzana.
