Carolinas Medical Center

Reviews 3

MA

Matthew Mitzimberg

My wife seen a doctor in CMC for pain in her right flank. Upon diagnosis the doctor found that she had a gallstone in a remanent gallbladder that had been left from a previous surgery. He instructed her that he would do a scope procedure to locate the stone and remove it if possible. After the procedure she was to stay in the observation wing for six hours to make certain no issues arose. After the procedure I was informed that the procedure was not successful as he figured it would be. Obviously I was a bit disturbed by a doctor performing a procedure on my wife with the feelings that it was not going to work. Once she was taken to observation she began having stomach pains and was told by the nursing staff that it was just gas pains and after the six hour period she was sent home with no further discharge information. After returning home she continued to have pains that were increasing in level. Wednesday morning around she returned to the emergency department only to find out that she had pancreatitis caused by the procedure. In addition she was being admitted due to the pain and hospital staff was not able to fully diagnose what was happening. By Wednesday evening she had several scans, blood tests, and ultrasounds finding that the pain was a combination of pancreatitis and a gall stone being lodged in the remanent gallbladder causing irritation and inflammation of the gallbladder area. Nothing further was done on Wednesday. Thursday another ultrasound performed, at this the doctor instructed that he would be putting my wife on antibiotics due to an infection in her gallbladder. She had already went through two other ultrasounds of the gallbladder area and they did not put her on medication for this infection. The hospital staff then said that they would be sending her home on Saturday without surgery and once she was recovered from the infection they would schedule the procedure. The thought of the staff sending my wife home with the same pain she presented with initially six days later made me very uncomfortable. Needless to say after quite a long conversation with multiple staff members, and threatening legal action they blocked out time on Friday for her to have the procedure done. At the time of the surgery we were instructed that the procedure would take 30-45 minutes. She left the PRE-OP area at 1:47pm and the surgery began promptly at 2:00pm according to the hospital staff. Receiving an update at just before 3:00pm, I was told everything was going fine, she was stable and that she was doing good. Receiving another update at just after 4:00pm of the same nature I began to get concerned as it had now been two hours for a 45 minute procedure. I asked that they get me more of an update and received nothing. Around 4:30pm, I demanded a doctors consult and finally received one around 4:45pm letting me know that there were some complications by all in all the surgery went well and they were in the process of closing and she would be in recovery were I could be with her as planning in about 30-35 minutes. When she reached recovery, we had talked with several of the staff including a doctor and nurse that were going to be in the operating room, letting them know that I needed to be back with her as soon as possible as she has panic attacks when she wakes up from anesthesia and it is much better for her if I am there. We were instructed that this would not be an issue and they would come and get me as soon as she was rolling out of the operating room. This did not happen, in fact I was informed that after she reached recovery that it was against HIPPA laws for me to be with her in recovery even though she had signed the paperwork and asked that I be there with her. At this point I asked to speak with the hospital administrator. After several attempts I was able to reach the Nursing Admin who listened to my concerns, agreed and immediately had her moved to her room where I could be with her for recovery. Although the NA was amazing and the surgery was successful I am very disappointed in the care that she received.

BI

Bill Randolph

Was taken to CMC-Main by EMS for breathing problems and a rather severe headache. Was seen promptly, however, had a heart attack while in the ED. Due to no beds available, was taken to CMC-Mercy, where I had a heart cath, which showed 3 arteries blocked. Incidentially, received great care while at CMC-Mercy. After a couple of days, transferred back to CMC-Main, where it was determined that before anything could be done about my heart issue, they first had to address the case of influenza present in my lungs. Was one sick puppy. Originally, was going to most likely have heart by-pass surgery, but with the influenza and COPD, was determined not to be a good candidate for it. So, other options were discussed, and was decided that angioplasty/stent placement would be my best option. Got a little frustrated with the docs, for one said this, the other one said that....however, it was Dr. Rinaldi who finally decided, I guess, that a stent would be best for me. Once this was decided upon, they explained the entire procedure, risks, ect.....and Dr. Wilson and staff took care of the actual placement of the stent. Ordinarily, this is a rather common procedure, with few complications, though they do occasionally happen, as was the case with me. Access for the angioplasty/stent was through the groin, same as the heart cath at Mercy had been. Within a few hours after the stent placement, started having some rather intense pain in my right upper thigh, and was taken to Ultrasound, where it was determined that I had a pseudoanuresym (sic) and a rather large, and growing hematoma. Ouch! So, a procedure to help eliminate this was taken, cant remember exactly what it was called, but after two more visits to the ER, the groin/intense thigh pain has finally abated, and also, want to commend all the nurses/doctors that attended, and are still attending me in follow up appointments. The staff on Tower 6 and Floor 6A-especially nurse Lisa Conley were fantastic. Kudos!

RO

Robert Ellis

I went in to this hospital for elected surgery. It was for a TURP on my prostate, also known as a roto-rooter. My prostate is 4xs bigger than it should be and it was crushing my urethra and blocking the flow of urin. The hospital was made aware of this surgery 3 months in advance of the actual surgery on August 20, 2015 by my urologist surgeon. I went in for a routine 2 hour surgery and did not leave until 9 days later. The main reason it took so long was that the hospital ran out of my blood supply, o-, during the surgery and put 4 units of o+ blood into my veins to keep me from bleeding out and dying. They also put in 4 units of the correct blood, o-. I could have stored blood for this operation. There was plenty of time for this but nobody seemed to think this was a problem. Even though I already have bladder cancer, I am 71 years old and my prostate probably was cancerous. No one told me to store blood just in case there was a clotting problem. No. They waited till I was bleeding out in the recovery room, having convulsions and almost dying before realizing the blood bank would give them only 4 units of o-. I spent 4 days in ICU while my hemoglobin score dropped from 13.5 to 5. I was in intense pain and they were very stingy with the pain meds to the point that I was hallucinating and losing my mind. I spent 4 days in Tower 4 recovery area before being discharged to a rehab facility for 7 more days of misery. I will never use this hospital again. This is a true account and can be verified.