Comments on: St. Elizabeth’s Hospital (Boston) ER: wait 0 minutes to be seen, 9 days to be treated

By: St. Elizabeth’s evades, lies and libels others rather than simply apologizing « Something better to do

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:55:36 +0000

[...] wife received your response, dated February 12, to my January 26 letter to John Holiver. When coupled with the problems which prompted our letter, your appalling response [...]

By: Ann

Ann — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:35:36 +0000

I just want to say that I do not recommend to anyone to send any family member to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. My father died at St. Elizabeth’s on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 after what my family and I feel was absolutley horrible care.
I am a student doctor and I felt that my father’s medical treatment at St. Elizabeth’s was the worse I have ever encountered. For example, my father’s feeding tube was stopped for days without my mom’s permission. Then on the Saturday before my dad died, the doctor in the Intensive care tried to discahrge my dad out of the hospital with a blood pressure of 75/35. That is crazy! Then when I complained about that, the hospital administrator made two security people from St. Elizabeth’s escort all visitors to my father onto the RICU unit and stay with us while we visited my dying father. There were so many things. Then on the day before my dad died, my mom and I requested my father’s medical records but the attending hospital blocked the record from being released. I think that everyone should be aware of how horrible St. Elizabeth’s is. Ann

By: jik

jik — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:54:21 +0000

Hi Ann,

I am so sorry for what you are going through. It sounds terrible, certainly more painful than the problems my wife recently experienced.

It might be helpful for you to contact your father’s primary care physician and ask him to assist you with ensuring that your father receives the appropriate care from the hospital. Your father’s doctor should be able to access and review the records of his treatment at the hospital. If, after doing so, he believes that the care your father has received is correct, then he should be able to help you to understand it. If he agrees with you that there were issues, then he should be able to support the requests you have made to the hospital and help you make the hospital abide by your wishes.

Another course of action you should consider is contacting the St. Elizabeth’s patient advocate at 617-789-2040. The PA will serve as a mediator and facilitator between you and your mother and your father’s caregivers at the hospital and help to achieve the goal that both you and St. Elizabeth’s share, i.e., providing your father with the best possible care.

Best of luck to you and your parents in this difficult time.

- Jonathan Kamens

By: Ann

Ann — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:05:43 +0000

Dear Mr. Kamens:

My father is a patient at St. Elizabeth’s currently and myself and my family are having a terrible time trying to deal with this hospital. There have been many issues regarding my father’s care at St. Elizabeth’s and myself and my family are very unhappy with the care that he has received there. Now because we voiced our concerns about my father’s care by expressing our desire to have a lawyer send a letter to St. Elizabeth’s on our behalf, the administrator of St. Elizabeth’s and the attending doctor has ordered that myself and all members of my family have security present with us at all times while we are visiting my dying father. Neither myself nor any member of my family have ever done anything at all that would warrant that we have a security escort with us at St. Elizabeth’s. This is causing my family complete emotional duress and harm as a result. If I had the decision to do over again I never would have sent my father to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. This is a horrible situation. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you, Ann

By: St. Elizabeth’s apparently faster at responding to complaints than treating patients « Something better to do

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:12:09 +0000

[...] envelope containing the letter I posted on my blog earlier today was left sticking out of my mailbox this morning for the letter carrier to take when he delivered [...]