University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center

Reviews 3

KA

Katie Birmingham

If I could give zero stars I would. Every time I have come to this hospital has been for an actual emergency (as in drove there by an ambulance emergency). The first time was due to severe pain in my pelvic area to which the doctor played it off telling me I needed better pain tolerance. Come to find out it was a tubal pregnancy and the pain was from my tube almost bursting. The best protocol for this procedure is surgery; they cave me a chemotherapy drug instead to terminate the pregnancy. This drug did not work and two weeks later I was back because the fetus continued to grow and burst my tube. As I arrived the second time with EMTs, a nurse saw me in the ER in the fetal position crying from pain and flat out said "I hope shes not in labor because I dont do babies." If we completely ignore the attitude of this nurse, I must say it is completely UNPROFESSIONAL to say anything along those lines to anyone because you do not know the situation. I was then rushed to emergency surgery and they had to remove the entire Fallopian Tube because of the damage. In my opinion (as well as my OB/GYNs,) if they had done the minor surgery the first time, I wouldnt have lost the tube. The third time I came here was due to a second pregnancy. I walked into the ER because I had morning sickness that was so bad I had not been able to keep anything down (including water) in over 48hrs. Being almost 10 weeks along, hydration is extremely important. The person at the ER desk completely ignored the fact that I was pregnant and did not note it in my chart until I questioned her 2 hours later as to why I had still not been admitted or at least put on an IV/Saline drip to get me hydrated. Then when I was admitted, the nurse who went to administer the IV completely botched it and I ended up bleeding all over the bed and my clothes before she managed to bandage it up and administer another IV in my other arm. I then had back flow in the IV tubing that no one noticed until it reached the Saline bag (2-3ft of tubing full of blood). The fourth and final time I went to this hospital was recently. My husband was complaining of chest pain and having difficulty breathing. So to rule out a possible heart attack, I drove him to this hospital. They had a CNA administer his IV (illegal in the state of Maryland unless certified and a CNA level 2 from what I have read) and she did a horrible job at it too. When I asked her why the RN was not administering the IV, she snapped that the nurse was busy and that she could handle it. We then waited in the waiting room for three hours to be seen. I dont know about you but I find it ironic that they have a poster in their waiting room promising "timely" care yet we had to wait three hours to even have him admitted to a bed when he was having chest pains that may have been a heart attack. Even if it was not a heart attack, a nurse could have told us to ease the stress of not knowing so my husband and I were not sitting around thinking the worst. Finally after six hours of being in the ER, he was finally discharged and he didnt even get to see the Doctor! They had a PA look at him and a Physicians Assistant is no where near as qualified as an MD. When my husband asked to see the MD instead of the PA, the PA replied in a rude tone that the MD was busy and that he was basically as qualified as an MD. So please, by all means, go to this hospital if you want a bunch of lazy, rude, under-qualified people to take care of you when you are in a possible life threatening emergency.

WE

Wendy Onsted

Hideous treatment in the ER (again). When I asked if any hospital could be as bad as Southern Maryland Hospital Center, I didnt mean it as a challenge! I have atypical anaphylaxis, which means my organs swell internally first. Last night, I was having an episode, I told them that, they did take me back immediately, but then shoved me in a room for three hours with nothing more than ONE vitals check. My heart rate at that time was 164/78, that didnt seem to phase them at all. I told them how my body was reacting, they walked away. Literally, three hours without contact from a soul. They didnt sent a CNA to redo vitals, they only left me hooked up to the heart leads, no blood pressure, nothing. When I had come in, my temperature was pretty low, they didnt do anything about that either. With my anaphylaxis, I pass out in seconds. Nobody would have known that had happened. Three hours later, i had a biphasic (rebound) anaphylactic reaction. I was screaming for help. Finally a doctor came in. He wanted to give me pill steroids. At that point, it was way too later to wait for a pill to work. He sent a nurse in to put an IV in for IV steroids. As the nurse is putting the IV in, he tells me that the doctor has already filled out my discharge papers. What???? He hasnt even put steroids in me and hes already determined its safe to send me home? I had the doctor come back in and explained biphasic reactions to him and how dangerous they can be - especially when I had waited three hours for the first treatement. He didnt care, he released me to the streets five minutes later. Please! If you have a loved one in this ER, be very careful about what happens to them. This hospital is notorious for releasing people to the streets without a confirmation of a ride right after they have given them opioids and benzos. Theyve done this to me before. The only thing that saved them from liability is that I waited by my truck in the parking lot for a friend to take me home. Not everyone is going to wait. The same applies with pumping someone full of large amounts of steroids. Erratic driving can happen there too. They have zero regard for what happens to someone after they discharge them. If they were bartenders, they would lose their license, their bar, be fined, and quite possibly get locked up! Also, this hospital has the bottom of the barrel when it comes to hospital inpatient care. They underserve food, the nurses dont monitor nutrition. They put patients who are puking and coughing all night in the same room as patients who arent puking or barfing all night, causing the intentional spread of disease. Its just the worst. I think that they have finally surpassed Southern Maryland as the worst hospital in the region! I feel sorry for the few good doctors and nurses that are there. This hospital definitely doesnt deserve them.

BR

Brian And Judy Meekins

The ER is the absolute worst! I took my daughter in for pain in her stomach. She has had headaches for the past few months, for which she takes medication. Not sure what was going on, we there and the nurse up front said she was taking a urine sample to see if there was bacteria in her urine. My child does not drink water like she should, so I was thinking it was an infection and this sounded fine. When she was finally taken back 4 hours later, another nurse asked for another urine sample. I told her one was already done. The nurse said that was a pregnancy test. We both laughed because not only is my child not sexually active, she is not dating anyone. Well than I received a bill for $26 for the pregnancy, I went off because we are paying for a test that we did not was being taken. The patient advocate said it is routine for them take a pregnancy test when there is compliant about stomach pain. I told her that if this was routine, the ER nurse would have disclosed this information up front, not say she testing for bacteria. The patient advocate said it is in the paper you signed. My response is that at 1:00AM in the morning and our child is sick, the last thing I am thinking about is your scam or small print, you tell me everything up front! I have been to the ER at another hospital, as well as my husband, and they tell you everything, if you are able to talk and understand what is going on around you. This was the worst experience we have ever had with a hospital. I do not like liars but they do not feel anything was done wrong. Even when I took my daughter for a follow up with a GI at the Children’s Hospital, the paperwork asked “are you sexually active, have your ever been pregnant,” and so forth. This is truly unprofessional and seems to be a way to get money from people by not disclosing all of the information. Furthermore, while she was there the entire 6 hours, she never received any treatment for the pain. She asked the nurse and the doctor but they kept telling her they will be right back. Of course, they never came back with anything but they try to draw blood twice! I had to travel to Wal-Mart in King George, VA (the ones in MD close at 12:00AM) to get her some medicine (we were from out of town, so I did not have anything with me). She went in pain and left in pain. In addition, I was double for blood test and scan that was done to look at her gallbladder. No response on these charges either. I will never go back to that hospital/ER again.