Caldwell Memorial Hospital

Reviews 5

MA

Martha Greer

My spouse was taken into ER for internal bleeding. Our experience was HORRENDOUS. Two of the night RNs refused to assist him to move. He was not bathed or bed changed in the 5 days he was there. They did not know he had been catheterized. They apparently had not even read his chart to know he was a DNR (do not resuscitate) patient. I know this because at their refusal to help him move, he went unconscious....they called a code blue and crash cart. I was in shock at what was happening. But by Gods grace when the crash cart got there, it had no leads with it. By the time they found some he was coming back around. He was move immediately to Intensive Care and given 2 pints of blood. The next morning he was taken to surgery and the bleeding stopped. I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THE SURGEON WAS A KIND GENTLE CARING MAN. I HOLD HIM AT NO FAULT FOR ANY OF THIS. When the bleed was stopped and he was stable I ask the surgeon when he could eat, and go home. I was told...."Today if you wish." He gave me some advise on how to keep this from happening again. But the female doctor over ICU refused to let him leave. Said his white cell count was up. But if he would let her X-Ray his chest, she would wright him an RX and let him go.After he complied, she started making other excuses why she still would not discharge. We had to FORCE our way out of that Hellhole. A caregivers creed is TO DO NO FURTHER HARM. I personally have worked in the medical field for 40 years. I have NEVER seen a patient so violated and traumatized as by poor husband was.

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RO

Roy Guy

We took my 35 yr old husband to CMH ER at the end of January on a Wednesday. He presented with chest pain, shortness of breath, and when they checked his BP in triage the top # was 236. I dont remember the bottom number. They did a chest xray, and the ER doc told me, "well his heart does look a little bit big, but he is a big guy, so that is probably the cause of that" and asked me if he is under a lot of stress. I told her yeah, that he was. She diagnosed him with anxiety, prescribed him hydroxozine and sent him home. She said if we wanted to follow up with a cardiologist we could, and gave us the number for one associated with the hospital. I called a different cardiologist the next day, who told me if he was still having those symptoms, to take him to Frye. On Friday of that same week, we did bring him to Frye, where they did an ultrasound and found that my husband had an ascending aortic anuerysm. Where his aorta came up out of his heart and should have been 2-3cm across, his was 6.8cm. They performed emergency surgery to repair. Caldwell ER never even contacted cardio and sent my husband home a ticking time bomb. He could have dropped dead at any moment if that anuerysm had ruptured. When I called to let someone know what had been missed (out of courtesy, I thought they would want to know) the woman I spoke with said she had a second radiologist look at his xray, and they didnt see anything wrong either. I have no confidence in this hospital and couldnt recommend them to anyone.

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RA

Rachel WidenerBentley

Took elderly father here one evening for what we thought was a heart attack - he normally goes to the VA Hospital in Asheville, NC. I didnt want to risk driving that far should this had been a heart attack. Well, its a holiday weekend, or immigrant Drs office instead of an ER - they did the paperwork, took his temperature, bp and the nurse said she would get him some ibuprofen and be back. 4 hours later she never came back, I went down the street to the convenience store and bought some for him. After another hour had passed he was feeling better and we left. We couldnt even tell anyone why we were leaving no one was around anywhere except staff outside smoking across from ER under the gazebo. Three weeks later Dad receives 2 bills from CMH -one for the ER Doctor for $600.00. (we never saw this person) And one for the hospital for $800.00 for an extended visit. The needs for immigrants are more important than those who are paying and have real needs. Another gentleman came in from a furniture factory while we were there with his arm wrapped in a bloody towel -he also left with his boss to go to Watauga Hospital because no one ever came back for him also. See what I mean by real needs vs. medicaid? There are no priorities - and anyone going to Robbins Urgent Care is immediately sent to the ER....they are too busy watching tv online to be bothered.

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A

A Private User

I was very unhappy about my stay at Caldwell Memorial Hospital, When I first came in I was treated as a drug seeker, and have never been to a hospital in 30 years, and I am only 31. Once the doctor in the ER finally saw past her misconceptions of her patient and saw that I was really sick, they began treating me. After the remark that I was "really sick" only then did I begin to recieve treatment, which wasnt really satisfactory. Finally I was admitted and was held as a patient by the doctor, after telling him of the same symptoms with my brother and two of my uncles grandchildren, I felt fine after 2 or 3 hours the same as my brother. While in my room with the doctor I told him I took zantac all the time for heart burn, well the doctor didnt leave me anything for heart burn so I had to suffer from heartburn and from lack of sleep. I felt like I was a prisoner in this hospital which I am sure many people feel, however I feel I should have been treated a little better as a person and a patient. It took like 4 hours to get a tylenol for a headache, while one nurse said it would be taken care of, Well I guess his shift ended then two hours later I finally received two tylenol when it was time for other medications. I will never come back to this hospital!

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GR

Gretchen Harris

My older sister was trimming my younger sisters hair tonight. She is a trained hairstylist and has never cut herself before. She accidentally sliced herself and we rushed to the emergency room here at Caldwell Memorial Hospital. The cut was deep and about 2 inches long. Giving her stitches should not take very long and there is 5 people in the waiting room tops. We have been waiting for 2 hours and still havent recieved any service beside them taking her blood pressure. They havent given her anything for the pain and she is holding a kitchen paper towel against it to stop the bleeding which is very abrasive. They havent done anthing to help here or us and I am extremely displeased with the service, the staff, and the efficiency of the emergency room here. DO NOT COME HERE FOR ANY URGENT ISSUE AS THEY WILL BOT HELP YOU. You are better off driving out of your way to Frye Hospital in Hickory which is what we should have done. I urge everyone to stop coming to this hospital and boycott them due to their rude staff and inefficiency to help people in emergencies. Go somewhere else.

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