9/13/26

Letters to the Editor 07.02.26

• Jul 2, 2026

• Medical Appointment

The bravery of this doctor– wish more were able to be like this (“A 2023 mistake leads to a nearly $50,000 fine and a federal warning for CHOMP,” June 18-24). That is one powerful machine to be standing up to. The stories people could tell. — Kymm Navarrette | Salinas

I am so sad to read this. I retired from this facility after 35 years of nursing there. CHOMP was always top-notch with excellent RNs and MDs and whenever I was in need of hospital care, no other facility would have been considered.

The Monterey Peninsula cannot afford to lose this facility. I pray CHOMP gets back on track. Robust training programs, safe nurse-to-patient ratios and employee retention are key. The practice of bringing in expensive, temporary travel workers does not foster consistency with safety protocols and it produces a fractured teamwork model. They are often receiving an absurdly higher wage than the experienced long term workers who are loyal to the facility. — Karen Schofield | via social media

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This is shocking to me! I thought they were one of the best in the county. — Cathy Hurst Neilson | Salinas

Our family has unfortunately had many terrible experiences with CHOMP’s ER. They sent my daughter home with bloody diarrhea several times saying she had the flu but she ended up having E. coli and was hospitalized for a week. Another time she went into the ER with terrible debilitating migraines but they kept sending her home again saying it was the flu but she had spinal meningitis, ending up at Stanford. I went in several times with bizarre symptoms caused by a traumatic brain injury and was told that I had anxiety. Each time I came in, the doctors treated me terribly and kept pushing anxiety meds on me which I refused. —Sabriñia Baeta | Monterey

My brother was there less than a year ago and was given too much medication in his IV. It took them three rounds of Narcan, four nurses and two doctors to bring him back. —Kristy WolffSalzillo | St. George, Utah

My gosh, all these horror stories. And I always thought CHOMP was the best. — Allyson Pumphrey | Spreckels

And they received two consecutive “C” grades from the national hospital safety reporting organization Leapfrog (“CHOMP gets a second C grade over patient safety issues as its parent Montage continues to grow,” May 7-13). These were the result of high infection rates and documentation deficits. But, hey, if you prioritize a koi pond over quality hospital care, go for it. — Diane Mandeville | Salinas