My husband became ill while we were visiting Rome. He has many complex medical problems so I asked the desk clerk at the hotel for the best hospital in Rome. Sadly, they recommended Policlinico Umberto I. It was by far the worst experience my husband has ever had. When we entered the ER, there were numerous people in the small entry and people were yelling. I struggled to find someone who spoke broken English so we could understand the procedure for registration. We were asked who we were standing behind when we came in. Since we didn't know, he was placed at the end of the line. Because my husband could not stand, we were shown a waiting area with 6 metal chairs. We sat there for about 2 hours before we were escorted to a room to register. At this point we were given another number to wait in another line. While there, someone noticed how bad my husband looked and brought over a stretcher that had to be at least 40 years old and in disrepair. Hours passed before he was moved from the large waiting room to a hallway. Yet, another long wait. Once he was actually moved to a room with 4-6 men, the longest wait began.
There aren't any gowns, pillows or blankets for the patients or chairs for families. Staff rarely wash their hands and infection control is non existent. Some tests were ordered but he never saw a doctor, nor did anyone give us the results. The ER is inadequately staffed and patients just lie on stretchers, sometimes for days in their street clothes. If they need to be fed, they are out of luck unless family is there to help them. My husband received 2 meal trays during his stay there. Both were contraindicated for someone with vomiting and diarrhea. They do offer bottled water but no gingerale or juice. After he had been lying on the stretcher for 27 hours and still hadn't seen a doctor, my husband begged me to get him out of there. At this point, I demanded that a doctor be notified to give me a prescription for the medication he needed and a copy of his paperwork. A medical student or intern approached us and said my husband should stay for observation. That statement was beyond ridiculous. We left against medical advice without my husband ever being seen by a doctor. To make a bad situation even worse, the medication prescription we were given is not available outside of a hospital in Italy! That was another nightmare but enough said. read more