Dr. Hong Yang, MD

I felt completely gaslit by Dr. Yang. She didn’t listen to me or examine my areas of concern. As I shared some of my history with her and the journey I’ve been on with my primary care doctor to try to figure out what’s causing all of my many symptoms, I shared my tentative diagnosis of fibromyalgia that was given after initial tests seemingly ruled out other diseases (yet he still submitted my referral to rheumatology to continue exploring other possibilities…). She responded by asking, “Who diagnosed you with fibromyalgia?” which surprised me because this is all within Kaiser and she supposedly had my chart right in front of her… and yet, about one minute later, she claimed that she had reviewed all of my lab results & tests (but didn’t notice my diagnoses?) & because my fingers weren’t malformed, I didn’t have any signs of an autoimmune disease. She didn’t examine my rashes, didn’t care to see photos of my swollen joints or my white numb patches I get on my feet. I left in tears.

I saw Dr. Yang after I had previously been with another rheumatologist who was monitoring me for lupus, sjogrens, and RA. I have 3 years worth of positive blood tests which I sent over to my primary. Apparently she only got my most recent test - and despite me offering to send her more - she blew it off and said that having posisitve ANA once can be from 'anything'. She insunuated that all of my previous doctors were wrong about me having an autoimmune disease and that I might've had a chronic pain disorder instead. I asked her to clarify what she meant by that and she backtracked and said 'Let's just order more tests and go from there'. I took the labs that day and like all of the other tests I had my antibodies were positive. There was no follow up and apparently I wasn't even able to book an appointment with her for 6 months! I felt very dismissed by her and did not feel like she was hearing my concerns. Also, she could barely understand what I was saying which was concerning.

The appointment was hectic! I requested a second opinion to find a more "human" rheumatologist to help me understand my conditions and can guide me thru them. She kept telling me repeatedly: You have a lot of issues; I am not changing your medication, I am not giving you more medication, and so on. Then I asked about why my neuropathy was getting she told me that was not my specialty; I asked her why I felt like a truck ran me over every day, and she said that doesn't have anything to do with me. Ask your primary doctor! In the end, she again says, I am living your Medicine the same way; I am not changing you anything. Really, you treat a patient like they are Medicine seeking. Instead of listening to them! You need to take some classes in empathy!

My experience with Dr. Yang have been very positive. She has shoen me an extreme amount of consideration and empathy. I am very fortunate to have her as my doctor.