Frances Dalton's Online Review Report Card

Just had my first appointment. It was Great. Absolutely great. I think the lower score yelp review here is BS, makes the case for needing to read the actual reviews and not just look at the number. Thank you Dr Dalton, looking forward to my visits in the future.

This doctor charges a $99 private practice fee for special email access to Dr Dalton and a high tech portal, but when you email her, she just refers you to come in person. She wont fill out paper referrals for you without you coming in person. She has no telehealth options 10 months into a global pandemic and does not seem to understand basic laws of exposure. Total racket and unethical.

Dr. Dalton has a wonderful and professional bedside manner. She is a general practitioner and also a gynecologist. She also has distinctions regarding Covid19 with her work outside the area in the trenches recently and settled my anxiety of me having it even with a negative diagnosis.  I admire smart women and shes definitely one of them. Were blessed to have a great doctor in our area.

I have never written a review before. I am finally writing this brief synopsis of the flagrant disrespect and awful treatment I received from Ms. Dalton (not a doctor by any true standard) as I was seeking help from a severe opiate addiction in 2017.I have since cleaned up on my own and life is absolutely beautiful. Thinking back on the past few years and remembering the brief 20 minutes with Ms. Dalton before she hurried off to a meeting (not counting the 45 minutes I spent in the waiting room), I remember her behavior towards me making me feel worthless and crazy. I am not one, even in the midst of a chaotic crisis such as addiction, to equate my self worth with the mistreatment of another. I remember, a few months after seeing Frances Dalton, lying in bed going through heinous opiate withdrawalssince I clearly could not access proper recovery treatment through Ms. Dalton, as she was not only outrageously rude and dismissive, but also refused to orchestrate any kind of referral to outside treatmentand casually browsing her Yelp reviews. I remember, feeling as awful as Id ever remembered feeling, that a wave of assurance and grace came over me as I realized that I was not the only patient whom socalled Dr. Dalton had mistreated. I hope this review is the final tale you have to read in order to cross Frances Dalton off your list of potential healthcare providers.I found Ms. Dalton on my list of providers from my insurance. I checked out her websiteseemed clean, modern, & efficient enough for me. I was seeking a primary care provider, as I had just moved to Oakland, but my main reason for scheduling an appointment was to get a referral to some kind of addiction treatment program, as is common practice. I dont need to mention again that I arrived early for a 20 minute appointment (she makes it very clear, in the booking process and in her hurried demeanor throughout, that an appointment with her is TWENTY MINUTES and NO MORE) and waited at least 45 minutes to be seen. When Ms. Dalton finally calls my name, she seems flustered and... elsewhere. Her questions and responses to me are dismissive and hurried. She takes me back to a room where I am thrown up on an examining table and, in what had to be less than a minute, she was apparently satisfied with her charade of going through the motions in taking all of my vital signs. It really felt like I was playing doctor with a child. Ms. Dalton was clearly in a rush, but I was looking forward to receiving help for the pressing issue in my life, anyways. I disregarded the bizarre excuse for a checkup, and sat down across from her in her office, where a large computer screen she is already focused on is facing her.Im not sure when I brought up the subject of my opiate addiction and explaining my purpose for the appointment. I do believe the trauma of her disgusted reaction may be blocking that memory from me. I do remember it was extremely painful and humiliating. I had never had such a judgmental and inappropriate response from a healthcare professional before. This woman has the bedside manner of a prison guard. Of course, being at the lowest point in my life, I kind of just figured that, if Im going to admit my addiction to anyone, I should have to deal with the consequence of being judged, cringed at, and chastised. No no no NO NO NO! a HEALTHCARE PROVIDER is supposed to CARE for MY HEALTH! I was there on my own, taking the initiative to turn my situation around! I went there for help, and left feeling hopeless.To add insult to injury, when you see Ms. Dalton for any medical issue outside of, perhaps, a bandaid or an aspirin, you are not paying a doctor for their medical expertise. You are paying a rude imbecile to consult Google or Wikipedia. I am NOT KIDDING. She literally googled heroin addiction and showed me a wikipedia article. She asked invasive questions about how much I use and whatnot, not to write them in a patient file, but for what seemed like her own voyeurism. Her face was twisted up in disgust for the entire appointment. I explained to Ms. Dalton that what I wanted was a referral to a doctor who could provide me with a prescription for suboxone, so I could continue working as I transitioned to a drugfree lifestyle. Another search engine consultation was made, as I sit there in her office, stunned. I am looking around at the medical school diplomas on her wall, wondering if they are even real. The real cherry on the cake was yet to come. Our 20minute appointment was over, so she quickly escorted me to an empty room with a phone (I felt like I was in some sort of detention hall) where she handed me a random number on a paper and told ME to call and ask for a referral. Um, what?? What am I paying you for? Im referring MYSELF? They were so confused. They didnt accept my PPO or provide outpatient treatment. This review is too long. Shes awful, 0/10, DONT DO IT.

TLDR = Nope!Starting off to say that I sat on posting this review for more than 6 months. I felt one that maybe I should just silently move on from this doctor and two honestly I was afraid she would withhold my records or try to charge me for them (another reviewer alluded to this), so I sat on this. Out of nowhere, something reminded me of this whole years long debacle and I felt the need to revisit and finally post so that I can do my part to upvote the people who have had similarly negative experiences, in the hopes that it can help others from taking the chance. I was a patient for 6 years and I admit I was a cad to have stayed as long as I had; I really loathe personal admin. Dr Dalton has a $100 annual fee for being the last local independently operating physician in Oakland that she asks patients to pay. I dreaded having to go in because I had gotten used to sitting through a sales pitch of this for the first 10 min of every appointment before I can actually talk about what is wrong with me which was surreal when I was especially unwell. So pushy, insensitive and a waste of the little time we have together. The last time I was there upon leaving and being handed my bill, the receptionist flatly stated what was due. When I looked at it, it included the $100 fee. I asked if this was mandatory, she said no, i asked her to remove it from my bill, she gave me the sales pitch again herself, I said no and she finally removed it. They had almost TRICKED me into paying it. Outside of that nonsense, there were times that she basically told me to stop worrying and that I didnt need tests, when I insisted on them she treated me like I was a disagreeable pushy patient. Once the tests were done, there was something v important that I learned as a result. There were times where she was flighty about sending referrals and caused me a lot of hardship in getting access to care. One in which I had to sit in a specialists waiting area for two hours while she had  aggressive back and forth convos over the phone with the specialists admin team (she hadnt sent the referral even though her team said they would and then she decided the hill she wanted to die on was insisting that I did not need to have a referral from her to get treatment despite what my insurance mandated and encouraged me to get the care and have the insurance company reimburse whatever I wind up paying later the insurance company would not do this and she refused to believe what I told her I was being told by the insurance company).Dr Dalton i know there were times when you had your moments, you made yourself available via email quite a bit at times and I do believe you had good intentions. In your pursuit to and Im assuming here, to survive, you marketed yourself as an approachable, smart, contemporary doctor and in your own words asked us to see you as an organic farmer in a cooperative with folks who would reap the benefits and then you asked us to invest in you on top of our medical insurance fees in order to show our appreciation. You did this with such aggression that it nullified the offering you claimed to have. You may want to rethink this approach. Unfortunately I dont have actionable suggestions for everything else and I thought about this word choice I went through.

Dr. Dalton was attentive, cordial, informative, and I didnt feel rushed.

Finally made the call to change doctors and boy am I glad.  Had my first appointment with a new doctor and finally getting all the needs of my health addressed. So tired of getting my medical concerns brushed off, waiting 3045 minutes for my 20 minute appointment, and nickled and dimed at every visit with Dr. Dalton. Billing nightmares because Dr. Dalton refers me to a lab that is not covered under my insurance, not bothering to check.  Forgetting to call in prescriptions, misguided advice on refills.  I can go on, but Im just real happy to say I no longer will visit Dr. Dalton. However, she decided to hold my medical records hostage, because she cares more about money than she cares about her patients.

They turned into a private practice and decided not to inform patients before they come in. Just be aware when you show up theyre going to try and charge you $100 extra. Thought Id tell you because she wont.

Her idea of customer service and taking care of patients is:1. failing to deliver on a promise to refill necessary prescriptions in a timely fashion;2. setting up a phone IVR menu that provides no option to speak to a human or even leave a voicemail; and3. an email inbox that apparently isnt even monitored in case of urgent issuesIts incredible that someone can even stay in patients in this era with such evident aloofness verging on disdain toward customers. Imagine my wonder upon finding her Yelp rating even as high as 2 stars.Steer well clear.

Dr. Dalton is fantastic. She really takes the time to treat everything that is wrong with you in one appointment. She really values my time, shes responsive, she is genuinely helpful. I have been used to the mill mentality at other larger institutions and seeing Dr. Dalton was a breath of fresh air. She took time and listened to each issue I was facing in ONE appointment. I cant say how helpful that was as a busy professional. She really took the time so I wouldnt have to come back three or more times. Her bedside manner is outstanding. I highly recommend her to everyone in the area who wants a doctor whos willing to spend some time with a patient.