Melrose - Wakefield Hospital

Reviews 4

BR

Brian N

Solely based on the ER. Monday at 10am. Drove my wife to the ER who could barely stand, vomited the entire night, felt tingling and numbness in her entire body, locked joints and a pain level varying between 6-8 out of 10. Got her checked in at the front desk who provided a wheel chair. We got promptly called to the triage dept to collect information and vitals and that is where it turned to a shocking amount of unprofessional-ism, lack of caring and utmost lack of respect for human life. The triage nurse, should be absolutely fired, without a doubt, on the spot. She was extremely rude asking questions to my wife and then scolding her for answering the question. My wife was barely functional as it was and insisted my wife answer the questions and not me, her husband, who was basically at her side the entire time last night and knew the answers to all the nursess questions. The nurse entirely ignored the pain my wife was enduring or the fact her body was extremely stiff and she had vomited the entire night and just noted her vitals were fine. I dont know what the triage nurse assumed she had, but she couldnt have been more dead wrong as obviously we were not placed as a priority and just was seen as a number. Next, we are in the waiting room for over an hour and a half while my wife is hunched over in pain (now 8-10 out of 10) and all the other people in the waiting room, not in wheel chairs, appear fine and content whom also noticed my wife is not. I inform the person at the front desk my wifes pain is getting worse and so is her condition and the front desk person tells me there is nothing she can do and that we have to wait like everyone else. I can no longer endure my wifes pain which is extreme now so I try to help my wife out of the building to bring her somewhere else. Remember my wife can barely move so I am trying my best to limp her out of the hospital. The front desk person insists us not to leave, that she is most likely next in line and it should be a short while and convinces my wife whose in agony and entirely vulnerable to stay. Another hour goes by while multiple people who clearly dont have an emergency as critical as my wife are treated including people who seem to know the staff and welcomed in before us. At that point I have absolutely had it and we left the hospital, over two and a half hours of waiting, for my wife, who clearly needed immediate medical attention and the staff who clearly should have noticed this and done something about it. If the triage nurse listened to us instead of ignoring us and scolding my wife, she would have properly diagnosed my wife and came to the conclusion (which Urgent Care of Stoneham did within 8 minutes door to room) she was critically low on fluids [vomiting the entire night] and potentially low on magnesium and potassium hence the joint pain and muscle weakness. I was told later by multiple people (EMTs, a doctor, etc) who apparently are kind, understanding and give a damn, that someone that low on fluids needs IMMEDIATE care and that a nurse should have know this, especially one tending to people coming into an ER. Thank gosh I left this ER with my wife otherwise my wifes condition could have been grave if not permanently damaging. My wife ended up having to be treated with 3-4 full bags of IV fluids on top of a full bag of magnesium sulfate. This hospital including some of their staff better get their act together before they have a MASSIVE lawsuit.

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Anna Quigley

By far the worst hospital experience that Ive experienced. I was concerned that I may have had appendicitis from the symptoms I was experiencing so I thought Id probably check it out. They were very unorganized in the ER and I had to wait longer than I ever had to wait for someone to show up. They told me this would be the procedure and what they were going to do. They didnt do half of the things they mentioned what so ever. And if they felt that it was unnecessary they could have informed the patient wondering what they were doing. They were going to do blood work so they started it with just the tip and left. Didnt return for a solid 3 hours without any response from anyone. The ER doctor had about 4 words for me then split quickly after the 5th hour approached. Horrible experience. Onto billing. The woman didnt process my insurance right because after I got two, NOT ONE, but TWO bills from them I quickly called my insurance. They stated that they didnt even run it through as asked. I called the billing department TWICE and never heard anything back from them. They will not return your call in 24 hours as they stated on their answering machine message. I placed a third call in for them today. Lets see IF I do get a call back. I work in the medical field myself and am generally understanding, but this was by far the worst experience. The person who stayed with me as well agreed.

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Amy Monks

Brought my son in after he had fallen from his skateboard. He had a compound fracture and his bone had come out of his arm. The PA on duty originally told us they would put it in a splint and we should follow up the next day with an Orthopedic doctor. After being in the ED for over an hour he was finally sent to X-Ray where the X-Ray technician directed my sobbing child to lift his arm to place it on the plate so she could take pictures. My son said he could not and the lady snapped at him. My husband asked her to please be patient as he was scared and hadnt been given anything for pain. Her response was "we dont just throw around pain killers- thats how addiction starts" and then told my son and my husband they both needed to leave. Another attempt at the X-ray showed that my son needed emergency orthopedic surgery and he was transported via ambulance to Childrens Hospital where he underwent a 4 hour surgery to repair his shattered arm. I would not send anyone I love to this hospital ever, for any reason. Please do your research and know that if you call an ambulance YOU get to choose which hospital you are transported to and this hospital will not provide adequate emergency care.

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Patricia Papineau

Dont go there, I told them I had a kidney stone before and this pain wasnt the same it was different but they decided without consulting me to CT scan me for a kidney stone, why?? I had a sharp abdominal pain along with back pain, they said I had kidney stone but where it was placed it wouldnt be causing me pain. So they didnt help instead the doctor/she prescribed tramadol pain medicine, I took it and I shouldnt have taken it because I had a kidney issue, which I obviously something they should have considered before prescribing this drug to me...I landed in Winchester hospital in severe pain unable to breathe and then days later in MGH emergency- because I was urinating blood all because of the tramadol... and on the way out the Melrose Wakefield ER the male nurse berated me saying this hospital ER was for emergencies only! DON"T GO THERE.. They should be closed down they are so bad. I will send a letter with the name of doctor and nurse who did this to me to the adminstration but I am sure it will be ignored. DON"T go there !! Go to Winchester or Mass General both of those ERs were professional, efficient and cheaper.

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