Orthopedics: California Pacific Medical Center: Pacific Campus

2340 Clay Street, San Francisco, CA 94115

"If you are hurt go somewhere else anywhere else. These people are bought and paid for by the insurance companies. What they think is decent Physical Therapy is an outrage. Frankly this is worse care than you would receive in most of the civilized world. The World Health Organization ranks the US #37 and we spend the most for this awful treatment. It occurs to me the PT that I wasted my time with has never seen any PT but the insurance companies protocols."

"I saw Dr. Valone, with whom I has a 4 star appointment. My problem came when I needed to come back. It was impossible to get thru with anyone including assistants. I finally gave up & went to another doctor. Horrible phone system but good doctors."

"I saw Dr. Belzar after I had an MRI as recommended by my primary care physician, for severs shoulder pain. My primary care physician is Dr. Cynthia Pointe, an excellent doctor and one I have had the pleasure of having for 20 plus years. I had seen a doctor at Cal Pacific in the past, Dr. Callendar senior, and my experience was excellent; he was very helpful and professional. Unfortunately this is not the experience I had with Dr. Belzar. I would not recommend Dr. Belzar to anyone. His service was non-existent bordering on malpractice and his attitude patronizing and narcissistic. Here are the reasons why: 1) He had possession of the MRI that was performed, as I confirmed this prior to my appointment. His comment was "I have a stack of MRI's on my desk and I do not bother to read them unless I am going to conduct surgery on the patient" and "MRIs are a waste of time". In other words he did not review the MRI before or during my visit. 2) When I described my symptoms to him and my effort to understand my symptoms and condition, which included reading the MRI report, discussions with my doctor and on line research his comment was 'Well I guess if I went on line and Googled land use planning for 15 minutes I would know everything about your profession also". 3) When asked if he thought physical therapy, acupuncture, acupressure or massage would help my condition, his comment was "Does taking a cold shower cure a sunburn, and I do not understand sticking a needle in anyone without a steroid in the needle". Essentially I spent a considerable sum to obtain information on my shoulder and neck. The MRI was ignored and both my primary care physician, Dr. Point and I were insulted by his attitude and comments. The time spent in his office was a waste along with the charge for the visit. I was given no substantive information, he was 25 minutes late and unprepared and was training a physician's assistant and resident doctor to behave in the same fashion. Subsequent to my experience w/Belzar I have begun physical therapy and massage and it is helping my condition. I am taking a regimen of vitamins that is also helping and obtaining the services of another shoulder and neck specialist. Moreover, Dr. Point referred me to a great physical therapist, and in five minutes on the phone described in great detail the condition and treatment for the condition that Belzar assumed was wrong with my shoulder-much more useable information and proactive than the Dr. Belzar provided."