During the winter of 2016/2017, I had unusual abdominal swelling and lower back pain. Dr. Marcin ordered an ultrasound, and told me I had a burst ovarian cyst with fluid building up around it. I reiterated my matrilineal family history of ovarian cancer, including my great grandmother who died at age 42 and my grandmother who passed away in her late sixties. Dr. Marcin suggested customary overeating during the holiday season might have contributed to my abdominal swelling. I felt as though I was being fat-shamed over what I would later learn was advanced cancer. She poked my stomach, deemed it to be "soft," and concluded she "wasn't worried." I want to add that I have always been an active woman, love to backpack, and have climbed Half Dome twice. Six weeks later, with symptoms not subsiding, I went to the Kaiser ER with my husband, and a CT scan was ordered by the ER doctor. My husband and I were shocked to discover now-advanced ovarian cancer as the real cause of my abdominal swelling and lower back pain. I was traumatized and left a message at Dr. Marcin's office the next day seeking a prescription for anti-anxiety medication to help me sleep and cope with the challenges ahead. Neither Dr. Marcin nor anyone from the office ever responded to my call; nor did she reach out to me after I had the subsequent highly invasive surgery, hysterectomy and resulting menopause, second surgery, and two rounds of chemotherapy. After the first surgery in February 2017, my surgical oncologist told me the cancer had been spreading for months. Kaiser maintains Dr. Marcin did nothing wrong; my actual experience says otherwise. If anything, the grievances listed here are understated.

Submitted March 30, 2021