Neurologists - Berkeley, CA

"Summary version: Silva's incomplete (and hence inaccurate) chart notes and his (or his staff's) inability to communicate information from me to Silva put my health at risk. He ignored anything I had to say about the various medications that I had tried over the past fifteen years, including which were effective, which weren't, and which I was currently taking. He and his staff did not reply in a timely manner, despite my multiple requests for assistance and statements of the urgency of the issue. He and his staff treated me as an adversary, not a partner in treating my medical symptoms. He seems to think that he knows everything and that the patient has no information that is useful in diagnosing and treating a medical issue. He has no interest/willingness in hearing about new treatments that he is not familiar with. I am thankful that my medical problem is not life threatening; my day-to-day health was compromised, but at least my life wasn't threatened by his lack of care. Details: I started seeing Dr. Silva for chronic headaches about eight months ago when I moved to the area from across the country. We reviewed the medicines I have been taking for almost a decade, medicines that have successfully controlling and treating headaches. Dr. Silva remarked that he would not have prescribed medicine X; I explained that it had been effective for me. He said something like "oh" and moved on to the next medicines. I had several refills left for X, so I didn't ask for a prescription at that time. Recently, a few days prior to travel, I needed a renewed prescription and requested one from Silva. He had his staff tell me that since he had never prescribed X for me, he would not prescribe it now. (X is not a narcotic or scheduled drug, this was not a matter of drug-seeking.) Aside from being completely illogical (he did prescribe other medicines he had never prescribed for me before), X is not a med you stop cold turkey. At first he seemed confused that I was taking X for headaches, despite the fact that we had discussed my meds previously. His staff insisted that I was only taking Y as that was what Silva put in my chart. I informed them that information was incorrect, but they refused to budge because that's what was in my chart. I explained the situation again, including that X is something one shouldn't stop cold turkey. That was a call on Thursday. I did not get a return call until Monday morning, when his staff explained, again, that since he had never prescribed X for me, he would not prescribe it now."

"Dr. Cooper is cold, booked out three months for any type of visit, and most frustrating, impossible to contact. It typically takes me a dozen calls over weeks to get in touch with her even for simple questions, like whether an appointment is in person or remote. Most recently, she was totally unreachable by my insurance company, or me, after I had a procedure she prescribed. My insurance needed some notes, tried to contact her three times, and without being able to reach her, sent me a thousand dollar bill. She doesn't pick up the phone, for me or for hospital administration. She is the single worst doctor I have ever worked with, I have no idea how she still has a position. She is known by sleep techs around the bay as "the dragon" and she lives up to the title."