Juan Quintero was on the verge of death.
After learning he had terminal liver cancer in March, Quintero ended up at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (VMC) for treatment.
Instead of getting help, Quintero waited 14 hours in an ER lobby. He waited more than a week later for a biopsy and seven weeks more for test results to qualify him for chemotherapy treatment. His daughter, Ana Mendoza, watched her 75-year-old father’s health decline rapidly. Quintero stopped eating and he could barely speak.
“It was killing us to see my dad’s health going downhill because the hospital didn’t have enough staff and equipment,” Mendoza told San José Spotlight. “He was ready to give up. I almost gave up too. It was hard.”
In wealthy Santa Clara County, patients with the least resources wait months for crucial scanning and diagnoses—an issue county leaders have ignored for years, hospital workers say.
Physicians and technologists at VMC are sounding the alarm over ongoing worker shortages and decrepit equipment in the radiology department. Workers said the years-long issue is made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a backlog of hundreds of patients and months-long waits for basic, non-invasive scanning such as MRIs and CTs. The problem is dire in many cases. Technologists in the department are doing the job of two or three people, workers said.
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, one of three public hospitals operated by the county, serves some of the most vulnerable and low-income residents, many of whom don’t have private insurance or options for health care elsewhere, workers said.
“Being one of the most vulnerable populations, many of our patients don’t have the resources to pay for their health care,” a technologist with more than 10 years of experience at VMC told San José Spotlight. “Many of them wait until they can’t wait any longer, and the progress of their disease is so much further along than patients with resources and options.”
San José Spotlight is not naming VMC workers due to their fear of retaliation. This news organization talked to seven doctors and technologists who shared corroborating stories.
Hospital administration refuted the claims from workers, but didn’t provide any additional information.
County executive Jeff Smith did not respond to requests for comment.
“We do take all concerns seriously and are working collaboratively with our staff to address them,” VMC CEO Paul Lorenz told San José Spotlight, adding services have been hit by the pandemic. “Our staff are doing an excellent job caring for our patients, and our patients should know that their care, including access to both urgent and routine imaging services, is prioritized to meet their medical needs.”
VMC is the anchor facility—and safety net—for the county health system with 730 beds. As one of the few level 1 trauma centers in Northern California, the hospital provides comprehensive care for every aspect of injuries, from prevention through rehabilitation.
Long wait for life-saving procedures
Radiology services, including MRIs, X-rays and CT scans, are required by nearly every single patient at the hospital, a VMC radiology doctor told San José Spotlight. The services are crucial in diagnosing and monitoring diseases such as cancer. Many procedures—like hip replacements—also require radiology technologists and equipment.
“The breadth of radiology is quite big, and the involvement of our services throughout the hospital is pretty substantial,” said a doctor who’s worked at VMC for several years.
That means when machines or workers are not available, life-saving procedures and diagnoses get delayed, potentially complicating a patient’s medical plan. It’s impossible to quantify how many patients have slipped through the cracks because of the issues in the department, doctors and technologists said. What’s evident is the broken system.
Wait time for scans has ballooned. As of June, the wait for an MRI scan is at least three to four months, doctors told San José Spotlight. Patients are waiting six weeks for an ultrasound, and four weeks for a breast MRI.
Patients often wait an average of two hours on the phone to schedule an appointment, radiologists said. Out of 3,399 calls in June to the department, only 1,526—or 45%—got picked up. Workers said the county has not hired enough people to take those calls and finish clerical tasks.
The issue is exacerbated when equipment breaks down. The hospital has multiple machines that are beyond repair. Doctors and technologists said the machines at VMC are so outdated, the manufacturers stopped making parts for them, further delaying repairs. A technologist said eight people are doing the job of 16 people this week. Because of the shortage, appointments and procedures sometimes get canceled on the scheduled day.
Some doctors said they are still waiting for certain machines budgeted at least six years ago. A technologist said many of the machines at VMC are more than 23 years old. The lifespan of an X-ray machine is between 10-15 years.
VMC relies on three CT scanners—one of which is permanently inoperable and another one routinely breaks down, sources said. When the scanners are down, patients have no choice but to wait for another appointment.
“If our patients were affluent clientele who know how to work a system like you’d see at Stanford or El Camino, they wouldn’t put up with this sort of stuff,” the doctor told San José Spotlight.
Physicians said the culture at work also impedes their ability to provide quality care. Administrators make many decisions on staffing and equipment without consulting them, they said. Many said workers have not spoken out about the issues in the department because of fear of retaliation.
Valley Physician Group, a union representing VMC doctors, sent the hospital administration a letter last November detailing the issues. SEIU Local 521, a union representing technologists and other workers in the radiology department, also sent a petition signed by 95% of the workers with similar concerns to the Board of Supervisors in February. The efforts have yielded no response.
Hospital administrators have hired more workers since, but little else has been done, workers said.
“They couldn’t care less about us being frustrated,” a doctor said.
The concerns from VMC doctors and workers come as Santa Clara County has vowed to invest in health care. The county spent roughly 40% of its next year’s budget on hospitals and health programs. But VMC workers said administrators are ignoring glaring issues in the hospital. Valley Physician Group is negotiating the doctors’ contract, who have been working without one for at least 18 months. Physicians employed by the county claim they’re being underpaid and overworked compared to their peers in the region.
The complaints come on the heels of one county doctor who died by suicide in May and another attempting suicide this week.
Radiology is not the only VMC department experiencing significant problems. Earlier this year, a group of contracted emergency physicians protested against the ongoing staff shortages and unsafe working conditions. The doctors, employed by medical group US Acute Care Solutions (USACS), wanted the county to either hire them as county employees or find a local company to manage them. Santa Clara County decided to extend the contract with USACS despite the opposition.
Supervisors Joe Simitian, Cindy Chavez and Susan Ellenberg couldn’t be reached for comment, their offices said. Supervisors Otto Lee and Mike Wasserman didn’t respond to inquiries.
‘As if we don’t matter’
Mendoza, the daughter of Quintero and a medical assistant at Kaiser with 17 years of experience, wanted to bring him to Stanford Cancer Center or Kaiser. Quintero couldn’t afford it. He had Medicare, but not Part B coverage that covers hospitalizations and doctors.
Quintero stayed in the hospital for several days and was sent home with Tylenol. Mendoza spent the following days calling the hospital to schedule her dad’s biopsy, which was crucial to assess his illness. Once the procedure was done a week later, the waiting game began.
“They said the result will come within 10 days to two weeks — that didn’t happen,” Mendoza told San José Spotlight. “I spent like at least seven hours in the following days trying to get an answer, and nobody could help me.”
The family waited seven weeks before Quintero’s chemotherapy treatments started.
“From first day at the ER to the first chemo, it was hell,” Mendoza said. “I understand there’s a system, but why so long? Why?”
Things have improved for Quintero since. He finished his fourth round of chemo this week, with little side effects, Mendoza said. His family is rejoicing, but the experience left a bad taste with Mendoza. She is planning to file a formal complaint about their experience.
“I feel like the county is saying, ‘If you’re low income, you don’t deserve more than this,'” she said. “It’s as if we don’t matter.”
Contact Tran Nguyen at [email protected] or follow @nguyenntrann on Twitter.
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The irony is that those who earn under $17,000 per year qualify for Medi cal along with Medicare Medi-cak covering some if noy all the inpatient stays. Unfortunately the way to navigate through what people qualify for is not available at a hospital. What’s more the eligibility for Medi Cal means only extremely low income people qualify
Indeed even getting into an #abilility to pay # program at a County Hospital is a labyrinth of dead ends. Their availability is not advertised or promoted at all.
In Country’s with single payer systems there is no paperwork. There are of course no bills for services or Co pays for those over 65 in the system. They pay no co pay for medications. Therefore being ill, which goes along with aging, is not a life or death matter.
Needless to say Covid 19 made services at every county facility overwhelmed. However one of the crucial issues with having no primary care system for a population is an over reliance on hospitals. Many of the mentally ill use the emergency room as a corner store one stop option for every ailment they have. They are never able to create a reliable foundation of care for themselves
Needless to say there are many unhoused persons who use the emergency room as their cafeteria for their overwhelming needs. They know within that place they can get a chance of clothes, food, rest as well as a respite from being overwhelmed.
Therefore when you have trauma services dealing with every problem imaginable including prisoners in custody, any County service would be overwhelmed on a daily basis
When every stomach ache, every symptom of covid becomes the need to go to services designed for emergencies there is going to be a problem with resources. Yet this is the reality for those without insurance.
Most certainly in countries with single payor systems there are shortages and long waiting lists. However within those systems primary care is not accessed within an emergency room setting and that goes a long way in reducing the chaos that completely envelops the county system.
Yes, a state that has the most homelessness, especially chronic homelessness – every system they have is overwhelmed. , Social services, housing, counseling, public safety, mental health system, etc.
Also, many go to Valley Med go to try to get prescription medicine to fuel their addiction. It’s a total crap-show. I encourage anyone from Spotlight to actually go get services from Valley Med, and do some real journalism.
So while families/children also try to access healthcare services – the failure of the County/Cities to address the skyrocketing homeless issue has become an excuse for poor services. And, has burdened systems like Valley Medical Center.
Sadly, this is what Single Payer would look like – and why people with private insurance would prefer NOT to be subjected to a terribly managed healthcare system that is overwhelmed already. Another example of public healthcare is the VA – and their reputation is less than stellar.
It is inconceivable and irresponsible that the county expects their physicians to continue to work without a contract. And to be compensated at less than market rate for their services. How quickly we forget those who put their lives on the line, with no interruption in medical care throughout the Covid pandemic, and especially pre-vaccines. They literally put their lives on the line for their patients. What have we done for them, besides clapping on our porches at 7 pm? Pretty sure none of these overpaid ‘administrators’ risked their lives for us. Would they work in unsafe conditions, without a contract for the past 18 months? None of us would. So terribly sad (but not surprising) to read of physician burnout and even suicide. Let’s protect and preserve the excellent physicians we have serving the community. They are the true value in these hospitals.
YES… File that formal complaint. People have died waiting. I hope your Daddy is doing much better.
Everyone is entitled to a better life. However, if you have money – you can better health care, better homes, elected officials, etc. Who controls the health infustry? It’s not the minority population.
This is an election year, we need better representatives. It’s these representatives who will control our future.
California to become first state offering health care to all undocumented residents https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article262935493.html
Thank you Gov Newsome and everyone who supports these policies.
Hey, progressives – this is what your single-payer system would be. This is socialized medicine. You feel lucky just to talk to anyone.
I had my first kid born at Valley Medical, and it was a really hard experience. Their stance when we gave feedback? You’re lucky to get any care at all, so deal with it.
They all chant, “Medicare for All” or “Healthcare is Human Right” – until they realize it is run by employees of the DMV.
“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the Equal Sharing of Misery.” ― Winston S. Churchill, British PM during WW2
A series of stories in the Mercury News has highlighted how the County paid a grants consultant about $1 million to write a history of the County via a no-bid contract. Maybe these $ instead, should have gone towards an MRI and CRT machine.
county executive Jeff Smith is grossly overpaid for what he does…
Glad for her father to finally get treatment. Bottom line. …This will get worse as the free for all continues throughout Newsome Republic California. the reflection of its leadership…..crime ridden homeless disaster…. er rooms flooded .short staff lousy old equipment . and with the escalating crime free for all.. lawmakers continue sit on hands while they continue revolving door no bail jail . .here we are.. now families worry about Healthcare and keeping your families protected and safe..
“Time to be honest” has it half right: Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC) is part of the socialized segment of the U.S. healthcare system. Socialized means the physical facilities are owned by a public entity and all employees are directly or indirectly employed by public entities. (No one employed or associated with these facilities–besides private sector vendors–goes home with a profit or a dividend, just a salary.)
The socialized segment of the U.S. healthcare system also prominently includes the Military Health System (TRICARE) that serves 9.5 million active duty and career retirees and their family members worldwide with the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as its flagship (https://health.mil/About-MHS; https://walterreed.tricare.mil/About-Us/Pre-Eminence-in-Patient-Care ); the Veterans’ Administration health system that serves about 9 million non-career veterans nationwide (https://www.va.gov/health/aboutvha.asp); the Indian Health Service that serves about 2.6 million American Indians and Alaska Natives (https://www.ihs.gov/ aboutihs/); the public university health centers such as U.C. San Francisco (https://www.ucsfhealth.org/about) and U.C. Los Angeles (https://www.uclahealth.org/why-choose-us/) that serve tens of thousands; numerous state, county and municipal hospitals, clinics and health centers, as well as clinics and health facilities located on the campuses of public universities, colleges and schools all over the country that serve millions. All these are publicly-owned and operated by public employees.
For the record, the Military Health System and the Veterans Administration have earned the highest levels of user satisfaction, above private health insurance plans, even a bit above Medicare (https://news.gallup.com/poll/186527/americans-government-health-plans-satisfied.aspx; https://investor.quinstreet.com/static-files/c5669293-68e5-4a0c-a7a0-33ef734307e2). This tells us that the public sector, with sufficient resources, is capable of providing among the best–if not the best–health care available in this country. That is what is lacking in the County’s healthcare system–sufficient funding to allow it to be the best it can be.
The difference between socialized healthcare and a single-payer system–a difference that the dullards and the dishonest consciously confuse–is that the latter merely means that there is a single publicly-administered payments system–not a gaggle of private insurance companies that providers have to contend with. My parents have received health care services from private providers (e.g. Good Samaritan Hospital, a for-profit outfit) and those services were paid for by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMM), the single publicly-administered fund for Medicare and Medicaid patients nationwide.
A single-payer would pool all health insurance premiums into a single publicly-administered fund–an expanded CMM. This would eliminate private health insurance companies that add no value to the healthcare system. On the contrary, they only add a layer of very costly and unnecessary bureaucracy, second-guessing medical professionals’ opinions on care and regularly and routinely denying payments for services deemed necessary by healthcare providers for their patients. That is the health insurance business model responsible for the early and unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands–and the diminished health of hundreds of thousands–of Americans each year.
A single-payer system would save lives, improve healthcare access and outcomes and save hundreds of billions in costs to families and businesses across the board each year on a national scale (https://sanjosespotlight.com/brammer-smoke-and-mirrors-an-investors-dream-was-my-memory-care-nightmare/#comment-87694; https://sanjosespotlight.com/single-payer-health-care-back-under-san-jose-assemblymans-plan/#comment-44597). A single-payer system would also greatly simplify the work of both the socialized and the private healthcare providers in the Valley and beyond by drastically reducing the billing and payments bureaucracies they are forced to have to deal with the hundreds of individual private insurance plans out there.
Government run healthcare at its finest! Don’t like it? Too bad for you, its what everyone else wanted and voted for.
Gov Newsom advertises “Freedom” when he begs people to return to the state, and that is what the Vast Majority of Americans want when it comes to their Health Care – Choices – and definitely not a Government run system. Too many examples of Government Failure to mange programs, service and cost exist in daily life to prove the point – DMV, VTA, EDD, Homeless, Drug Treatment, Mental Illness, Crime (DAs & Judges), etc. etc.
Does anyone really think that Northern California’s own “Warren Buffet” stock guru, the Speaker’s husband, Paul Pelosi would be caught going to a Public Clinic for court ordered alcohol treatment after a DUI conviction? Even MADD was silent for almost a month on the DUI related crash, nearly totaling 2 vehicles.
Would Governor Gavin Newsom stand in line at the local public clinic for Monkey Pox treatment? I don’t think so.
Americans want the “Freedom” to make “Choices” in Medical Care, just like they make education, lifestyle and career choices.
Rhetoric Vs. Reality: Americans Oppose Government Healthcare like “Medicare For All” and Resultant Tax Hikes.
Polls show Most Americans Oppose “Medicare For All” once they learn it would force Americans to pay Higher Taxes and lead to less service. A national poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that: – 60% of Americans Oppose it when they learn it would require most Americans to pay Higher Taxes, – 70% Oppose Medicare for all when they learn it would “Lead to DELAYS getting some medical tests & treatments” – 60% Oppose it when they learn it would Threaten the already at-risk Medicare program (currently going bankrupt in 2026-2029), and – 58% Oppose it when they learn it would ELIMINATE Employer-Provided and other Private Coverage.
Polling also shows that a MAJORITY of Americans are SATISFIED with their CURRENT Coverage & Care – and they Do NOT want their Choices Taken Away.
Missing is the key word: “public”
Valley Medical Center’s reputation was well-known by the 1970s.
In January of 2022 I was scheduled for an MRI of my head and neck at VMC’s Radiology department. I wasnt able to get the MRI because my shoulders were too wide and I wouldn’t fit inside the machine. My option was to go elsewhere and pay out of pocket. The are two MRI machines at VMC and they are very old (27 & 29 years). In addition, they are the only MRI’s avaiable to VMC patients in the county. Santa Clara County can’t be strapped for cash. We have some of the highest property values in the nation and more than enough billion dollar tech companies doing business everyday within the county lines. How many plus size people are turned away everyday? How many die every year because they aren’t able to access proper medical attention they require?
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