Northwestern Memorial Hospital

Reviews 3

MA

Magilla Gorilla

I recently had the displeasure of experiencing what the Emergency Room is like at Northwestern. Perhaps, they were awful simply because it was a Sunday and inexperienced people were on call there. However, if thats the best they have to offer, they should probably shut down. I had a Tonic-Clonic Seizure for the first time in almost 8 years. I was non-compliant with my medication, so it was completely my fault. My wife was unaware of the fact that I skipped 3 doses in 6 days, so she called 911. Note: My neurologist has been wanting to wean me off meds for over two years. Good thing that I refused her proposition. Although the staff was courteous, they did not listen very well when I asked three separate times for a clean replacement for the I.V. that the paramedic contaminated. He kept apologizing for the sloppy, bloody mess that he was making in the ambulance, so I excused his incompetence. I cant imagine how terrible he is in a life or death situation. I chalked it up to the possibility that that was his first attempt on a live person. I must say, even though the ER staff seemed a bit unknowledgeable, upon arrival I was tended to in a timely fashion. Things went South shortly after that. The nurse said that they dont start "new" I.V.s. Appearantly if you come in with one, regardless of whether or not it is contaminated, they will try to use it to get "clean" blood samples. I explained to the nurse/s and physician/s that I skipped 2 doses due to a toxic feeling I get and 1 because we arrived in the city late Friday evening and I forgot to take my evening dose. The doctor said, "we will give you a Boost Drip if your levels are below the therapeutic range." I asked him how many milligrams? I was astonished when he said "17 Hundred". I replied "17 Hundred! If you administer that at 50 milligrams per minute, thats 34 minutes of Phenytoin directly into my bloodstream. You could stop my heart". He then said, "Well, maybe just a Gram". I told him that I dont think someone my size should be given any more than 7 or 8 hundred milligrams. He asked how much I weigh. I said 182-184. He told me that "We have to convert that to kilograms". I said "Divide 183 by 2 point 2 and youll have the number. Probably somewhere around 83". This physician appeared to be deficient in remedial arithmetic skills. He never said another word, nor did he return to see me. They sent a different doctor in for the remainder of my 7 plus hour stay. I caught him making a mistake that could have cost me my life. How many times has he ordered too much medication and the victim didnt catch it? John Hopkins University released a study that claims that "Physicians Errors" are the number three killer in our country behind Heart Disease and Cancer respectively. Mistakes by doctors cost more people their lives annual than any other cause except those two that I previously mentioned. Read the study. Its disturbing. They finally started a new I.V. several hours after I pointed out that the medics initial one was most likely contaminated. They gave me two bags of fluid without asking me how much water I drink. So, I had to urinate over 10 times. I was not dehydrated. The bathroom closest to my stall was infested with drain flies & pipes in the wall were leaking water, so it smelled like mildew. The floor in my stall was filthy all around the baseboards. The one "useable" bathroom didnt have any paper towels so I had to open the door after urinating, wash my hands and then exit the bathroom. They had a "Blow Dryer" in there, but 60% of men and 42% of women do not wash their hands after using the bathroom. An ER with germ and virus infested bathroom door handles? What should have taken 2 1/2 to 3 hours took over 7 due to their incompetence. Also, while at my local post office talking about my experience, I was informed that one of the mail carriers had open heart surgery there and for some reason they left the BP cuff on his arm for over 6 hours. He is suing them & may never be able to use his right arm again. Never go there unless you want to die.

MI

Mike Morrison

My brother in-law had a kidney transplant in 2008, He was told the transplant had failed. Transplant Dr came in to his donors (cousin) room and told her and her husband that the kidney had quit working after the transplant was completed, he then left the room. His donor was left with no counselor to talk to and only one nurse offered her support. It took 17 months to remove the blockage while nephrostomy tubes were placed into the transplant kidney to remove the urine which built up. The final Surgigal Pathology Report stating "Received in saline labeled with the patients name and designated on the requisition as "foreign body, renal pelvis," are multiple irregular, tan-brown-black, soft tissue fragments measuring 1.2 x 0.8 x 0.2 cm in aggregate. The specimen is entirely submitted in a mesh bag in one cassette. " It took an Interventional Radiologist who was creative in trying to find the blockage along with a great Urologist who removed it. In November 2015 My brother in-law entered the hospital under care of the transplant after weeks of vomiting. He was released after the doctors informed him it was a stomach bug. In December 2015, 29 days later he was admitted back to Northwestern Memorial Hospital still vomiting and unable to keep anything down, A CT scan was reported - "The transplant kidney is seen in the right iliac fossa. There is no hydronephrosis in the transplant kidney, and there is a stable mild prominence of the superior pole collecting system". Another comment stated - . "Findings suggestive of cystitis and transplant pyelonephritis, with adjacent external iliac lymphadenopathy. Given the findings on the recent ultrasound, an abscess cannot be excluded. Correlation with urinalysis recommended. This was reported to D---- -----------". the doctor who received the report came into his room to report that he had an infection near the kidney, two hours later she said that she was cancelling a consult with Infectious Disease and allowing him to go home with the stomach bug. His brother heard the comments made about the infection near the kidney as he was on the phone and his brother sat the phone down when the doctor came in telling her that it was his brother checking in. The family met and decided to remove Northwestern Memorial Transplant Clinic as his transplant care specialist and decided to move to University Wisconsin, Madison for improved care and we all made a good choice. Within 24 hours of his Docotrs apointment at UW Health he was admitted, had an ultra sound and CT scan and a tube placed into the abscess area and puss draining from next to the kidney. It is my families opinion that Northwestern is more concerned with taking over more land in the area near the hospital to expand rather than patient care. There are great doctors at NMFF but Northwestern Transplant Clinic has failed us for the final time. Mike - A Caring Brother in-law.

NI

Nizel Adams

Went to the ER after almost losing my leg. Showed up at 6PM, stood around and finally got called at midnight. Doctors couldnt care less about my concerns and ignored everything I brought up. After the initial nurse checked me out at 12:30AM, it wasnt until 2AM that they thought I might be hungry (which of course took another hour to find a measly apple juice and ham sandwich so I didnt eat until 3AM.) After the initial round of ultrasounds, I was left in the cold hallway unattended for TWO HOURS!!! They completely forgot about me and the doctor admitted to doing so. It took another doctor walking by me for the 6th time to think "Hey something might be wrong, this guy could get pneumonia out in this cold hallway" to finally get some help. After finally getting me back into my ER room, it took them another 8 hours before they could find an overnight room for me to stay in. I was in the overnight for 3 days, TV wasnt working properly so had nothing to watch. Food seemed to be a rare resource as well as asking for regular things youd think you would be provided on average (like pillows) even though Im paying for everything! Instead, I slept on two rock hard blankets stacked on one another to form a pillow, but they only had one sheet left so I had to instead use one of the blankets to cover myself so as to avoid freezing to death. Upon release the doctor wrote down the prescription confusingly and didnt even call it in ahead of time (even though she supposedly took down the Walgreens fax number and also "called" them) so when I show up to pick up my meds the staff at Walgreens have no idea whats going on. It took another 3 days to get in contact with her again to set things right and get my meds only to find out that for such a serious condition they prescribed meds for only 7 days!!!! I was barely healed by the time I ran out and it has come back. And after this experience, they send a bill for over $12K. Each subsequent visit to a local care facility resulted in another $400 minimum bill where they looked at me for 20 minutes and gave me $10 worth of medical gauze. They also scheduled me for a massage for no reason and then wouldnt refund the charge on my card at first. They also scheduled me to meet with a doctor who works in an office over 80 miles away from me, talk about inconsiderate. I tried scheduling appointments with doctors to look at other issues, none of them responded. Never going back here again. Dont believe the hype. Update: I found another doctor at another hospital willing to actually look into the concerns about my leg, turns out I had a severe condition going on with my leg veins that required surgery to remove it and now Im doing better.