Dr. Elsie Rosso Hidalgo, MD

Very poor experience. Our appointment was at 10:40 a.m. and the medical assistant took our 5-day old baby temperature, which came back at a very hypothermic 94 degrees. The assistant claimed the machine must be broken. We were instructed to derobe our baby to his diaper in the very cold office. We did not see Dr. Hidalgo for nearly 2 hours despite inquiring about the delay. Dr. Hidalgo was very intense and said we were find to go home without rechecking or verifying the temperature. At that point, I brought up the concerning temperature. They retested my child, which again came back at 94 degrees. They then tested my child in another room and claimed that the thermometers were not working. I demanded a rectal thermometer, which I saw came back at 91 degrees but the medical assistant claimed "did not read" to Dr. Hidalgo. I told Dr. Hidalgo that the thermometer read was 91 degrees but she again claimed that it must be a mistake and sent us home. Because of the long delays… in the office, we did not leave UCI until around 1:20 p.m. Instead of following Dr. Hidalgo's advice, I took my child to CHOC's ER, which confirmed the severe hypothermia of 94 degrees and also confirmed that the baby was hypoglycemic and bradycardic with a heart rate in the 70s. Given the life-threatening condition, he was immediately admitted, placed in a heating incubator, and was hospitalized for the next 6 days to regulate his temperature and to get his heart rate back up. To Dr. Hidalgo's credit (which is why I'm giving 2 instead of 1 stars), she did call us several times that same night when the baby was already hospitalized to inquire about his status. She did express concern for our baby's wellbeing at that time. However, we are still disappointed that she did not take the severe hypothermic episodes seriously during the office visit and put our baby's health and life in severe danger.

She's very thorough and straightforward.