[Carmen]

I just went to the methodist hospital er after slicing a good chunk of the end of my finger/nail off cutting some basil (smart.) I'm hyper sensitive to blood and almost puked/passed out seeing it bleed so i called a car and went to the er. I figured it was prol. something I could throw a bandaid on but I wasnt in the mental state to make that decision so in I went.


Intake was normally impersonal for any er and since the bleeding had slowed they seated me to wait.
After about an hour (and im physically in pain, pacing, its still bleeding) a doctor who I later found out was going to lunch break walked through the waiting area and saw me, took a look at my hand and took me back. Turns out he is the resident plastic surgeon and tells me that ideally I'd get a stitch to save the nail, but I could do ok with an antibiotic and a bandage since he could tell I would surely pass out if they went to stitch me. Cool. friendly. He leaves and says since he grabbed me out of turn I'd have to wait for the PA to come in and do my paperwork.

The PA comes in. This is the conversation
Him: so you're refusing stitches
Me: yes, he said I didnt need them so I'm going to wait it out
H: well, why did you even come in then? couldnt you tell it wasnt that bad
M: um, no, it was bleeding and i was hurting so I came in.
H: well, if you dont need any service you're wasting everyones time
M: can you just write my script please?
H: Yeah but I mean if you cant even look at it how can you possibly expect to clean it? This is a waste of time.

This continues until I guess he finally understood that I wasn't going to let him stitch me, but I was kind of mortified that the PA was pressuring me into treatment when the plastic surgeon told me I didn't need them. He was very brief when speaking to me and didn't look me in the eye once. He basically threw my paperwork at me and walked out the door, at which point I asusmed I was done and left.

While in discharge, I heard the woman next to me complaining that a nurse had said "no wonder you're on so many pills" when she complained about the tightness of the ID bracelet. Is this place ALWAYS like this? I'm really considering writing a letter to the hospital about my experience (excellent with the plastic surgeon, but terrible with everyone else,) but I'm wondering if I'm being too sensitive (and I am admittedly in a lot of pain still and maybe should wait haha...) Am I over reacting?

[Carmen]

Full disclosure- i'm on a total endorphin high and may be coming off as a whiny bitch.
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[Underhill_MT]

Wowzers! So sorry you were treated like that. And the comment to the lady about the pills is just beyond rude. I hope you're quickly on the mend and can get back to that basil without further incident.
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Be the change you want to see in the... neighborhood.

[Carmen]

yeah it hurts like a sombitch. My boyfriend is SO cooking dinner tonight.
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[LincolnAnnex]

I think that is par for the course at NY Methodist. Last year my gf had a terrible allergic reaction to god knows what with hives from her face to her ankles. We got to the ER around 7pm - just as the Mets/Cards WS began. We watched the ENTIRE game in the first waiting room. Then we got moved to a second waiting room - all whilst receiving no indication of our wait and while she is scratching her skin off. Finally at 1am (6 hours later!) we are greeted by a completely imcompetent and irritable nurse who tried 5 times to find a vein in my needle-phobic gal - who finally asked her to stop trying. At 230 am a doctor finally saw her and said give her bendryl! Then we waited another 30 mins for that same nurse to find and administer the bendryl and then another 30 mins to see if there was a reaction. So we stayed from 7pm to 4am with 10 mins in the doctors care and 500$+ bill in our pockets. I wouldnt send a dying George W Bush there - well maybe on second thought......
In fact when she sliced her hand in quite similar fashion to you, we cabbed it to LI hospital when we are a 5 min walk from NY Meth.

[veets]

I have has some mixed experiences with ER at Methodist over the years.
The interpersonal skills of the people you met today, both the Plastic surgeon and the PA are sub par. No question on that one. You are a sensitive person and sensitive to your own emotions. I say that because you are saying yourself that you need to calm down before you write your letter or whatever. Good you came here to complain first. Finfers really Bleed a lot so it is hard to evaluate your own wound hen it happens and I think you did the right thing going to the emergecncy room.

Hope it heals and you calm down and the pain calms down.

[tajmb]

Been there, done that. The only thing unusual about your experience is that the surgeon saw you and tried to help you. Unless you are experiencing heart pain, very close contractions, or bleeding from a cut artery go to a manhattan ER.

[Carmen]

If i had my wits about me or someone had been home I would have prolly done a better job of taking a look at it and not freaking out so much and I might have gone to another hospital. Next time I definitely will and plan to avoid methodist like the plague (although that plastic surgeon was realllllly nice and it was really cool of him to take time out of his lunch to see me after just spotting me in the waiting area.)

[Brooke Lynn Knight]

When my son had an asthma attack, my pediatrician, who works out of Methodist but also has admitting privileges at NYU, advised me to drive into the city immediately and get him admitted there. Bear in mind we were actually in the Methodist building when we were told this, and my kid was having a really severe asthma attack. That tells you something.

We ended up spending the weekend at NYU. Thank God we weren't at Methodist!

I also had a HORRIBLE childbirth experience there -- the nurses were mean as hell. I mean, really nasty and full of contempt, no matter how nice I tried to be to them. Very hard for a woman in heavy labor to deal with. And one woman who tried to take my blood botched it again and again, so many times that my arm was horribly bruised for literally months.

Methodist could be such a great hospital -- why does it suck so much?

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i blame such comments on boredom and drinkng, this is why we need more green spaces
-- Karl the Druid

[Jamzer]

[veets]

[shishkab]

[eggcream]

I've had a few surgeries there with no problem.

[Mookie Wilson]

this is why i eat out every night.

[queencallipygos]

[Hamilton]

[Carmen]

for the record im still in a helluva lot of pain and the asshole PA refused to give me a script for pain meds even though the surgeon told me AND him (verbally) that he'd give me something. He told me "well he's at lunch and your don't need a prescription pain med"
what a prick.
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[wirenut]

This type of poor hospital experience is common to the majority of hospitals in the outer boroughs.

The manhattan hospitals are better in most aspects including courtesy and respect.

That being said, you will get better treatment when you know someone, sad but true. I got great treatment for my father two years ago at a Brooklyn Hospital (not known for being the best) because I knew the ER Charge Nurse. When I walked in with the EMS crew and my father and she hugged me... well you get the point.

It's good you vented here first, but you should write to a chief executive and keep them informed. Don't expect much but it is worth it. Be sure to include the POSITIVE stuff about the plastic surgeon. You will come across as credible.

The repetition of minor emergency care in an ER can wear down any employee, but management must emphasize respect at all times.

[raw]

You expected Club Med? What the hell planet are you living on? You're lucky they did not amputate your leg!

ER these days SUCKS.

My last three ER experiences were so hellish, I'm going to try to die before anyone can take me back to New York Methodist, Bellvue, or Beth Israel.

In Manhattan, Beth Israel was actually OK, as far as customer service goes. BI's ER team was prompt and nice, but they did not treat my injury properly so it got worse after they sent me home and they also hit me with someone else' bills, so I was on the phone for endless hours fixing the stupid situation.

If you are in an ambulance on your way to Bellvue, try to die before you get there.

New York Methodist is a joke. It's always packed with (I'm assuming uninsured) parents taking kids to get ear ache medicine.
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I blame such comments on beer.
© karlthedruid 2007

[raw]

[homeowner]

[filmlover44]

Last time I went there, I was nursing my daughter who was about 9 months old. I needed stitches in my hand too. When I expressed concern about taking antibiotics while I was nursing, I was curtly told that I shouldn't still be nursing her. She was just a jerk. I've had a much worse experience at another hospital.

In a real emergency, I hope that they will still save your lives even if they are huge jerks.

Call you doctor for some pain meds. Do you know what the surgeon would have prescribed you?
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Ok, now I'm crazy. Another goal achieved.

[Brooke Lynn Knight]

[veets]

Just to clarify this... there is a separate Pediatric emergency room at Methodist. You may see lots of kids waiting around but the babies and kids are triaged separately and not waiting around with heart atack victims. We had a peds emergency recently with a 2 year old. It was the result of a fall and needed some stitches and we had no complaints on the care. The Plastic Surgeon was excellent and provided good follow up care.

[queencallipygos]

[veets]

[Jamzer]

[filmlover44]

My worst experience in an ER was not in New York and I was treated like total crap. Not only that but after already being treated like garbage, the doctor completely ignored my assertion that my child was allergic to penicillin. When I questioned the nurse as to what she was about to give my child, he demanded to know how I knew she was allergic to penicillin. Oh, I don't know. Maybe it was the rash and the bleeding from the nose that tipped me off? Then again, I'm just the idiot who showed up at your hospital at 3 AM with a screaming child. Stupid me.
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Ok, now I'm crazy. Another goal achieved.

[Violet]

I've only been to the ER once, and I went to Methodist.
I couldn't see my regular doctor (they were at NY Downtown in lower Manhattan, and I had an appointment to see them the afternoon of September 11, 2001. Obviously that didn't happen) and I'd been sicker than I've ever been in my life.
After a week of being sick I went to the ER at Methodist and curled up on the floor for a few hours, until they called me in.
The ER doctor insisted that my problem was that I was pregnant. She did not believe me when I told her that there was no way that I was pregnant. They took an x-ray but otherwise did not take tests (I offered to take a pregnancy test to prove that the diagnosis was wrong) or offer any treatment (aside from telling me to be sure to stay hydrated).
I was sick for several more weeks before I found out what the problem was. Awful.
(But then, doctor who ended up treating me was also really bad...)

[mylkshayk]

Carmen- I hope you feel better soon, and the pain subsides! What a horrible thing to have happen.

I personally loathe that hospital, because I hold them responsible for my grandmother's death (the nurses sent in a high school kid/candy striper to turn an 88-yr-old woman with a broken hip, and ended up twisting her leg and all kinds of other complications occurred...) You are definitely not alone in having bad experiences with that hospital. Also, a neighbor of mine was an employee there for many years, and she has lots of horror stories to tell.

Anyway, I am glad you got out of there alive. I hope your hand heals soon!

[vidro3]

that's a sucky experience. for what it's worth, my brother broke his pinky toe a few months ago, it was pretty gnarly, it made a total right angle to the rest of his foot. we went to the emergency room and waited about an hour before being treated, and that was only because he knows an emt who works out of there.

[Trisha A]

I've been to the Methodist ER twice. Once for myself and once with a depressed semi-suicidal friend who had just taken an overdose.

for myself, I went with a friend who is a nurse, who told me to call 911 and get an ambulance as they would treat me better and faster, and she went with me. she stayed for hours (it was 2 AM) and as long as she was there it was great. She did all the things for me that they should have been doing. As soon as she left it got hellish, on a gurney in a hallway for hours, abandoned in radiology, waiting forever for a bed. However, once I was admitted it was fine. It also helped that I had another friend who was a charge nurse there and I think she put in a good word. The lesson: don't go to Methodist unless you know someone.

My second story is actually pretty horrible. Long story short, a friend took pills to kill himself but not enough so he slept a long time and then called me all groggy and depressed. I took him to Methodist ER, they determined they didn't have to pump his stomach but that he needed to be admitted to the Psych ward. He had to wait for room so they put him in a room in the ER with a guard to watch over him. I went home to get some sleep and when I went back in the morning, he wasn't there. They'd forgotten about him, the guard had left and he'd gone home. (He said at one point, to get their attention, he took a wire that was in the room and made a noose and pretended to hang himself. A nurse came in to get something and didn't even look at him He answered when I called and I got him to come back and he went to the psych ward. It's a miracle he didn't try to kill himself again. He's okay now.

[Jack Krohn]

I was treated at Methodist in the early 90s for a mugging. While the wait was long (four hours), the staff was generally caring and competent. I was fortunate to meet a doctor who advised me on how to navigate the system, which helped to expedite my treatment. The aftercare that I received was similarily friendly and competent. Actually, dealing with the billing issues was a major pain in the ass, but that had more to do with my HMO than with Methodist.

While it does not excuse the rude behavior of the staff, working in the ER is an extremely stressful job. Few hospitals have sufficient staff to provide quality care. As noted by other posters, many people visit the ER with complaints that could be suitably addressed in outpatient settings; this can have a cumulative effect on hospital staff, making them agitated and impatient. Again, this does not excuse rudeness, but helps to explain it.

[Carmen]

^I can appreciate how difficult it must be working in an ER, however I think being just downright rude is unacceptable in any job position.

As a sidenote, I also watched a mother allow her daughter to puke on the floor behind a row of chairs 3 times while sitting there waiting, each time asking "did you just puke" "yes" "get your ass back over here." There was literally a pile of vomit in the middle of the room and I was the only one who seemed to notice/care. Luckily I was saved by the plastic surgeon before it started to stink.
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[Nuclear Redaction]

My only ER visit in NYC was at Methodist.

I went in last summer when my finger mysteriously swelled up. I would've gone to my regular doc but it was the evening before the 4th of July and he was in the Hamptons or somewhere, and Blue Cross told me just to go to the ER. Waited about 3 hours for screening/intake/triage or whatever they call it, then another hour to see a PA, who sent me to radiology. Radiology dealt with me fairly quickly, but then I had to wait about another half-hour for the PA to finish dealing with another patient. He looked at the X-ray, told me I'd broken a bone in my finger, gave me a splint, a sling and a script for Tylenol with codeine and told me to follow up with my regular doc.

So ... my regular doc refers me to an orthopedist, who does his own X-rays and says it's not broken, it's sprained; should heal on its own in a few weeks. He rolled his eyes when I told him where I'd gone for the initial dx.

Not an egregious horror story, I guess, but you'd think they'd have people on staff who can tell the difference between a fracture and a sprain on an X-ray.
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To have ambition was my ambition -- Gof4

[sewster]

About 2 years ago, I had a bike accident (hit a pothole, flipped over handlebars) and went to the Methodist ER because I had 2 huge, very deep cuts in one knee that needed stitches. I was bleeding and crying, and the intake person said, "don't worry, you're a bleeder, they'll take you soon." He handed me a gauze bandage for the meantime, and then I sat in the waiting room for 3 1/2 hours, bleeding profusely, blood literally running down my leg, until they called me in to do the stitches. (Which took another 1/2 hour from the dr. looking at it to actually doing the stitches.) It was ridiculous.

Last week I had a severe allergic reaction to something while I was at work. My boss insisted I go to the ER, but due to the previous experience, I called my doctor's office instead. He was kind enough to see me right away, I waited 20 minutes once I got to his office, and was fine a few hours later. Moral: unless you cut a limb clean off or are having a heart attack, try your dr. first if at all possible.

[Carmen]

Unfortunately I don't have a doctor since I've not really been sick since moving to the city (2 years ago.)

I think I'll go start a thread about primary care physicians today...I really should get my own doctor. Going to clinics is super lame.

And, in case anyone cares, the finger is doing better, bleeding is basically stopped and it looks like its going to heal OK as long as i remember not to type with it.
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[SamosetSal]

I disagree with going to a Manhattan ER because I've had bad experiences in those ERs (St. Vincents, Beth Israel). I also live closer to Methodist but go to the Long Island hospital ER with my kid because it is much better. Both times I went there with a very sick child they have a much more efficient, smoother, faster system for doing triage on kids and figuring out what they need right away. Took him to the ER at Methodist and it was just a frightening, miserable experience for him, being crammed in with all these sick kids in a tiny space. I tell parents this all the time: don't bother with the Methodist ER unless you absolutely have to, LI is much better. For myself, I can stand to wait usually and put up with the rudeness. For my son, who is six, no.

[backtopsb]

Despite living two blocks from Methodist, I have informed my family to take me to LICH if anything serious ever happens to me after 6pm.

Methodist isn't bad during the day shifts--but once the night people come on, oh boy. I went there about two years ago with bad lower abdominal pain. (I knew it wasn't gas, and I knew it wasn't something that should wait for my doctor's office to open the next day.) I went to Methodist, knowing it wouldn't be the best because ER's just aren't fun, but the beginning of the visit started off well enough. I ended up getting into a bed and being seen by a PA and nurse who were great! They seemed to be on point with questions, and things were moving along swimmingly.

Until the shift changed. (At least the original people were nice enough to tell me they were switching and gave me the names of those coming on.)

I understand the new shift has to catch up on existing patients, but it was ridiculous. The people treating me could/would not communicate with each, nor would they communicate with me. At one point, a nurse comes over and says, "So we need to get you to your CT scan as soon as possible." Really? Since when. "Oh, the doctor didn't tell you? Oh well." At another point, the Dr and RN seemed to debate whether they should give me something. (Arguing next to my bed.) That was only one small bit of a long, 9 hour ordeal. (5:05pm until 2:20am.) I know I didn't have breathing difficulties, or a cardiac emergency but even the one person I could see who DID was left along for long stretches of times. it was terrible.

Eventually, I was diagnosed with one thing... and then received a phone call the next morning confirming this diagnosis as well as another one. "Oh, you didn't know that showed up on your CT scan? Well, it did." I'm fine, everything worked out okay, and I can laugh about nine-hours of fun at Methodist. I still have doctors based there, and will go before 6pm. But even if I'm dying, if it's after 6pm, take me to Atlantic and Hicks.

[raw]

[GiGi]

If someone has not thought about it already, maybe we should contact some higher up about all these horror stories. It is very frightening taking in someone that is sick and to be treated so poorly and with such disdain is one of the most stressful situations. I have been in the emergency room there as well and cried out of fear and frustration.

Administration 780-3301
Medical Board Office 780-5110
Public Affairs 780-5367
Lyn Hill, Vice President Communication and External Affairs

[pitu]

[raw]

[raw]

Is it right to single out any one hospital? Maybe we're seeing the impact of our country's health insurance crisis. Is emergency room service in Queens as bad?
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I blame such comments on beer.
© karlthedruid 2007

[Carmen]

Its one thing to have to wait a long time, and I understand that ERs are overcrowded and its a difficult/stressful job, but I don't think that's any excuse for blatant rudeness. They treated me like I came in with a hangnail and berated me as such when half of the end of my finger was hanging off.
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