It has taken me several years before I was emotionally and physically able to post my experience with West Coast Retina. In short, their careless approach to patient care almost cost me my life.

During a period of 2+ years I was misdiagnosed and operated on by Dr. Jumper. I had monthly appointments, multiple x-rays, 4 separate eye surgeries and many eye medications. The doctors at West Coast Retina NEVER identified the problem. I was ultimately diagnosed by UCSF with CNS Lymphoma (brain cancer).

When we moved my treatment to UCSF, we requested files from West Coast Retina. In those files, from years before, there was an initial medical note recommending an MRI. But they never informed me of this recommendation, and the MRI never occurred.

My cancer could have been prevented. The multiple eye surgeries and detached retina could have been avoided. The sight in my left eye will never be normal again. I spent 13 months receiving chemotherapy treatments at UCSF and am very fortunate to be alive.

This was all a result of West Coast Retina’s lack of patient care and factory-like approach to “move patients through” their over-scheduled appointments. My scheduled appointments were often delayed a minimum of 60 to 90 minutes, without reason or apology. I was typically just moved from one room to another and then saw my doctor for only 15 minutes.

Due to this experience, I can only recommend that you avoid West Coast Retina for any type of serious eyesight situation. If you feel the need to go there, be your own advocate. These doctors do not take the time to provide quality care for their patients. They do not take the time to review and dive deeper into questions or concerns before continuing along their “assembly line” of patients.

Thankfully, my health is now stable, thanks to the doctors at UCSF Ocular Oncology. I am finally able to put my emotions into writing, in hopes that no one else has a similar life-threatening experience at West Coast Retina. I am not aware of other options in SF, but I would strongly recommend checking elsewhere for another retina specialist if you have serious eye issues.

I have never written anything like this before, but felt it was important to share my story. I hope you all take this seriously, as I almost lost my life to this company’s impersonal, careless, “assembly line” approach to patient care.

Submitted Sept. 16, 2020

Technical expertise could more readily conveyed by tuning in to patient's own level of knowledge. Facile analogies like retina as room seem pandering; Dr. Jumper could listen lots better.

Submitted May 17, 2016