Dr. Marta R Stella

Since my mother has been under the care for severe dementia by Dr. Marta Stella, she has been in distress and pain all day every day. I would not even give her one star, but I had to in order to post this review. As of 1/31/21, my 76-year old mother was sitting with me and arranging words for a scrabble game. Less than one year later, on 1/14/22, she is slumped over in a wheelchair and strapped in at the kitchen table, but she is mostly bedridden with bedsores. My mother is emaciated and dehydrated; she must weigh 90 pounds soaking wet. Her abdomen is hard as a rock and so distended so that she looks about nine months pregnant. Her head is bent to the side and she cannot lift it up. Her neck is rigid and she is jaundiced (yellow face). Her feet are purple and swollen. She has tardive dyskinesia (tardive dyskinesia, TD, is a movement disorder that causes a range of repetitive muscle movements in the face, neck, arms and legs). She cannot eat solid foods, she has had chronic diarrhea for two years (that I have cleaned up all over the bathroom and from leaking diapers) and she has pinpoint blood dots all over her arms. She is completely incoherent. When she was able to communicate, she complained of abdominal pain every day. Under the hospice physician (who has never met my mother in-person), my mother has been maintained on Depakote, an anti-convulsant medication that is CONTRA-INDICATED IN PATIENTS WITH DEMENTIA. One of the major consequences of depakote (valproic acid) is liver failure. Patients on Depakote are supposed to be monitored closely. According to drugs.com, "liver function tests should be performed prior to therapy and at frequent intervals thereafter, especially during the first 6 months" for patients on Depakote. To my knowledge, this routine bloodwork has not been performed. My mother was a respected physician assistant who treated thousands of patients during her 20 year career and she is dying a horrible, agonizing death. This is a living nightmare all day, every day. This is unconscionable. Watching my mother die is like watching a deer suffer and die slowly in agony, pitifully and helplessly lying on the side of the road. "During a four-year investigation, federal officials found that Abbott violated FDA regulations and state and federal laws. The company illegally promoted the drug to control agitation and aggression in elderly dementia patients." https://www.drugwatch.com/depakote/lawsuits/ Illegal Promotion of Depakote to Control Agitation and Aggression in Dementia Patients "The FDA approved Depakote for only three uses: epileptic seizures, bipolar mania and the prevention of migraines. The FDA never approved the drug as safe and effective for the off-label use of controlling behavioral disturbances in dementia patients. In 1999, Abbott was forced to discontinue a clinical trial of Depakote in the treatment of dementia due to an increased incidence of adverse events, including somnolence, dehydration and anorexia experienced by the elderly study participants administered Depakote." https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/abbott-labs-pay-15-billion-resolve-criminal-civil-investigations-label-promotion-depakote "There are currently no FDA-approved drugs for treating dementia-related agitation, and other drug makers have been penalized for marketing drugs for this use. Abbott Laboratories Inc., for instance, pleaded guilty in 2012 to illegally marketing an anticonvulsant called Depakote in nursing homes as a way to control agitated and aggressive dementia patients. But the drug had only been approved for treating seizures, bipolar disorder and migraines. The company ultimately paid a total of $1.6 billion in civil and criminal penalties." https://ihpi.umich.edu/news/little-red-pill-being-pushed-elderly

Look elsewhere for a neurologist. Her care was unprofessional, condescending and discourteous. She did not listen to my concerns or issues. Also, she did not fully review my medical chart yet made assumptions about my results and diagnosis including giving me the results of a test that had not been competed yet! I would not recommend this physician to anyone.

Dr. Marta Jimenez is simply wonderful. She is both caring and professional!!!

I don't know about the doctor because I didn't get a chance to meet her. I called last week to try and get an appointment and was told to have my primary's office fax them my latest medical records and then within a day or two I would get a call to schedule an appointment. My dr's office faxed my info right over. Waited 2 days, no call, so I called and left a message; no call back. Same thing the next day and day after. Hadn't been able to even talk to anyone and no one has even bothered to call me back. Today I left a message(still noone answering) saying how rude and inconsiderate they are to not even return calls. All messages were left during business hours. Told them don't bother now since I found another neurologist and that I don't know how they can run a practice that way!!

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She took the time to review my files from another doctor and facility in order to give me the name of the dementias I am dealing with. Something my prior doctor was not willing to do. It gave my wife and I peace knowing what we thought was now confirmed.It will enable us to move on and enjoy as much of a normal life as the dementia allows to. We also now know what to expect in the future. Thank you Dr. Jimenez

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