Mercedes Tomioka's Online Review Report Card

Used to be a good doctor but now seems burned out. Offers no solutions for what issues you might have. Asks, “what do you want me to do?” You have to be your own best advocate with her. Never going back.

She seems to be burned out, was good several years ago. Doesn’t know what to do for you if you come to her with any type of issue. Will ask, “what do you want me to do?”

1st, I suggest Dr. Tomioka use a more recent photo so people would recognize her in person. 2nd, I was "misdiagnosed" (to say the least) by a GI Dr (referred by Dr. Tomioka but not her fault whatsoever) and was prescribed a "maintenance" medicine called Pentasa "for life"! it was my mistake for not getting a 2nd opinion... it was a "deadly" (I was close to dying) mistake 3rd, within 2+ mo after taking Pentasa, I noticed GI bleeding one Sat morning. Went to Urgent Care, did a quick test and my hemoglobin reading dropped from 15+ to 11! confirming the bleeding. I was sent home and asked to go see my GI Dr. first thing Monday morning. 4th, the same Sat midnight/Sun early AM, my bleeding got worse and I fainted at home. I was sent straight to Hoag Irvine by Ambulance. in ER, my hemoglobin reading dropped from 11 to 5.6!! that's a cumulative drop of approx 10 units. went from 15+ to 5.6!!! in other words, I lost approx 2/3 of the blood in my body!!!! and this happened over a span of 48 hr or so!!!!! 5th, fast forward, the bleeding stopped w/o specific medication or surgery or any kind of treatment. the hospital and my GI Dr gave no particular cause for the bleeding. It's a random thing, sure! After spending 2+ days at the hospital, I was sent home, a day after Halloween... how ironic! (hint: severe side effect of Pentasa - in my humble non-expert opinion after careful reviewing that there was no life style change, no diet change, no injury, no nothing happened or changed in the same span of 2+ mo after being started on Pentasa) 6th, my hemoglobin reading before checking out of hospital was 10. almost doubled from the low a short 48 hr ago. 7th, I'm very specific on the various hemoglobin readings and timelines for a reason. I want any average person to read this post and come to a reasonable conclusion below - vs the one made by my PCP Dr. Tomioka. 8th, Dr Tomioka's office called and asked me to see her a couple of days after returning home. When she saw me in the office, her very first question was "why are you here?" as if she didn't know I was just released out of hospital. as if she didn't know I had lost 2/3 of the blood in my body just 3-4 short days ago. as if she didn't know (or didn't care) I was close to dead. It was just a routine procedure to call back your patient after hospitalization... but really she had no clue of what happened to me. 9th, I did a quick hemoglobin check in the office and the reading went up to 11+ from the 10+ after hospital check-out. I got a check-out report that includes one of the most ridiculous comments Dr. Tomioka made - "chronic bleeding...". My hemoglobin reading dropped from 15+ to 11 then dropped to 5.6 in 48 hr. I lost 2/3 of the blood in my body in 48 hr. Is that chronic bleeding?! I was speechless.

My family had very high hopes when we chose Dr. Tomioka for our mother. We thought it would be helpful to have one Geriatric doctor instead of seeing multiple doctors for various health concerns. Unfortunately, we found our visit with Dr. Tomioka to be very difficult and challenging. Her question "what do you want me to do" was astounding. She was rude, discourteous and spoke over us even when we had questions. She seemed to be in a rush and became agitated as we asked more questions. We requested a culture test to check if mom's most recent health concern was better and her reaction was NOT of compassion, empathy or understanding, but more hesitance and annoyance to do the test. Truly a disappointment.

Dr tomioka is a pleasant dr who listens to my concerns and gives me good advice.

I went to this Dr. because I was looking for someone who knew about aging. I was suffering from severe Charlie horses all over my body with excruciating pain. Her answer You are just old. I asked the question about my aging Facebook group. They gave me the answer. Lack of hydration, need potassium and vitamin D and zinc. This worked. Dr. offered no solution.

After 7 years with the same GP, he sold his practice. That is when I came to see Dr. Tomioka. I first visited Dr. Tomioka at the start of February. I brought all of my doctor's records and was told they were not nee20 ded. She did say that she needed a baseline for me, gave me lab orders, a couple of doctor references and told me she didn't want to see me for six months. I felt rather uncomfortable, but chucked it up as no big deal. Because of work obligations, I was unable to return after six months. I went to the lab, got my labs and went in to see her. Yes, I was 20 minutes late - I do not drive anymore and have to depend on Uber. I live in Irvine, I requested Uber at 7:40 for an 8:20 appt - and I have no control of this. With that started my chastising, I was late. She asked me when was my last eye battery - 2 years (since for the last year she has been treating me and never said anything), she asked me about a colonoscopy, I told her it was in my package of records that they refused to take when I fist came in. Same thing with my dexa scan. At this point, I was much more than uncomfortable. She asked why my bp was so high - if it is, doesn't she have to review my meds, she calls them in. She asked about a mammogram - my daughter got a false negative and a month later was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer - I just don't believe in them. In the end, she wound up telling me that how could I expect her to take care of me when I don't take care of myself! And the hostility was on. I was told to wait for references to an ENT, an MRI, an orthopedist, an ophthalmologist, someone to do a colonoscopy, and for a repeat dexa, I was also expecting prescriptions to be called in - for valcyclovir or zovirax cream, for something for my back pain until I can do the MRI, and maybe bp meds. After waiting quite a while, I was given a reference to one doctor, the others would come in the mail (what? a case of hurry up and wait?) and that my scripts had already been called in. They were never called in. Now what? And, by the way, I am no idiot. I'm a business analyst at a healthcare software company. I work with clinicians every single day, and understand the protocols and workflows. What I don't understand was the need for derision and judgement. She even judged me for dressing how I feel comfortable. I am at a loss... v. mcgrody

She’s my top choice when I transfer to California because of the videos and reviews but really got disappointed right after the first visit, she doesnt meet my expectations as per review. Not giving any compassion to your health concerns. Just an average doctor i would say.

Great Doctor

Started off by telling me what was wrong, although those aren’t medical conditions that I have, she wasn’t concerned about what I had to say, As far as office filled out medical forms, saw her staff, who input those in computer, asking more questions, Dr. Tomioka came in and started again, like my time 1 hour, to this point didn’t matter. While I expect questions, she jumped to conclusions with no bases. None of which were why I was there.