This was a nightmare! While my husband was on a business trip in Texas he experienced a swollen leg…read moreand visited an Emergency clinic where he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg. He was treated, given a prescription, and told if he experienced chest pain to find the nearest ER. Sure enough, chest pain began on his drive back home to Florida. He was directed to this facility in Monroe, LA. and arrived around 10 am. When I heard the news I headed his direction. In the 7+ hours it took me to get to there, he was properly scanned and received news of having blood clots in both lungs, as well, and was admitted to stay for treatment. I arrived by 6pm, he still had not been assigned a bed. My husband sat alone, unchecked, for over 4 hours. All of the nurses were very young and the nurse assigned to him stated it was only her first day as a nurse. In over 4 hours, not a single nurse had stopped to offer water, a restroom, food service, etc. If the staff was so busy, we actually witnessed several employees lounging and napping in the last trauma room nearest the ER restroom. This along with the constant personal chatter and laughter among them sure did not attest. After the night shift arrived, we were informed, only after asking, there would be NO bed for my husband. We were told to hang out until the following day when our doctor would discuss a plan of action. He did not have an iv bag...
Thankfully, Whitney was our night nurse. I asked if it might be better if I drove him home to our Hospital, Ascension Sacred Heart, which is one of the very best in the U.S. Dr. Fig was called in and we are still in shock over this man's behavior. He came in telling us we had come to the "wrong hospital". After hearing what blood thinner was just given to my husband, he said, "oh no, no, no! That was the wrong thing to do!" (This left us both feeling frightened, to say the least). With nurse Whitney present, he stated, "this hospital is more of a band-aide clinic", it is a "ghetto clinic", "trash comes in, trash goes out everyday", "all the staff here is bad, accept of course for you" and pointed at Whitney, he "didn't plan to stay any longer than he had to", etc... He said "all of Louisiana has the worst medical care system" and told us we should've gone to the next state, at the least. He mentioned FL was the best. When asked if we could be discharged, he said we would have to sign a AMA and our insurance probably would deny payments, leaving us responsible. We were unsettled, tired, and disheartened, but thankful for Whitney who brought in an extra blanket and pillow in addition to 2 water bottles. The following morning, Dr. Ankush Bansal (the only good physician) discharged my husband with the needed treatment to allow us care at home where we would have "the proper specialists available".
This may be a low-income facility, but nothing should dictate the quality of care one receives. If compassion and professional pride is not in your character, choose another profession.
