It's about time that someone put this hospital in it's right place. People that live here no it to be one of the worst hospitals around. Civista is careless in all it does, yet continues to get away with it.
I know all of the following facts to be true of Civista. I know that they bill people personally when state funded insurances don't pay. Which is in violation of Federal laws. You see, any hospital, doctor, etc that excepts a state funded insurance as a insurance payment has a list from the state of how much they pay for each service reindered. They list the payment as to what that service is actually costing. They also tell the hospital when additional notes, records, etc are needed in each patient case. Yet, Civista files these away as insurance denied, patient responsibility.
Anyone on a state funded insurance should check their credit reports once in a while, you'll be really surprised. When the patient calls to have these removed from their credit reports, they are given the run a round and nothing is ever done. But, if you find these bills on your report, you can call the state insurance you dealt with at that time and they can help you with getting the hospital to remove this. All the insurance company does, is call the hospital and inform them that they are in federal law violation, that usually does it.
Civista's ER has to be one of the worst nationwide. One example is: One of my sons had strep throat and scarlet fever, a few days later, my toddler was experiencing some of the same symptoms. Our doctor told us to take him to the nearest ER, which was Civista. After waiting 3 hours, he's finally called back, just to wait another 2 hours for a doctor to see him. The doctor looks him over real quick, says they'll do a throat culture and release him.
The following day, he woke up screaming and couldn't move, again I was instructed to take him back to the ER. Upon getting there, I told the security officer at the check in desk the situation, he said I had to wait, I asked how long the wait was and he said 3 to 4 hours. The triage nurse walked up, I told he the situation, she got real rude and told me to wait, I told her that I was not going to wait, my child was here last night and appearently didnot recieve the proper services and now look at him. He just laid limp in his seat, she said she didn't care, he would have to wait, I then asked for the ER supervisor of COS and was laughed at and told they would get her.
After an hour, my son was burning up and turning red. I walked to the counter to ask where the lady was, and saw that they had scratched his name from the list. I left and rushed him out of the was to SMH. He was very sick by then and needed IV's and meds. They also asked why he was not thouroughly checked when one of his brothers was so sick. Another specific account, my husband dropped a tool box on his foot at work he was told they couldn't do an MRI, when I asked why, I was told that they WERE NOT a hospital but a local medical care center. It turns out what could have been splinted and healed, became infected, bruised, torn and broken, because he was made to walk on it. He also had to under go a surgeons care and physical therapy.
The "doctors" at Civista say they are doctors, til you have a question and find out that they are actually physicans assistants. They lie to their patients. Many patients do not want a PA to see them or there child but expect a doctor to do so. According to law, they are to inform each patient that they are a PA and make sure that it is ok by the patient to be seen by them. Civista deliberately denies patients that information and lies about who they really are. Yet, when you get a bill, they sure insist you saw their doctors and charge you for the "doctors" service.
I can honestly say, I have never met anyone who was happy with the way they were treated at Civista.
As to Civista's medical malpractice and wrongful death, I know this goes on more then you would expect, but I have actually been a witness to sure. Back in '99, my grandfather was hospitalized to recieve a 24/7 intervel of chemotherapy. On the third and fourth day, he was given improperly mixed bags. On the fourth day, he complained to their staff that he was experiencing very bad adominal pains. These pains had gotten so bad by the time I had arrived in the early evening, that I went to find a nurse (which was a job within itself), after going up and down the halls, I finally found one who insisted I speak to his nurse. She said she would page her.
After at least a half hour, she finally came in and asked what the problem was. I took her outside his room and told her, I was sickened by his pain, were they going to run any tests to see what was causing this pain. She said, we gave him something for the pain. I replied, that's all fine, but as you can hear he is in alot of pain, you need to do more and find out what the situation is. I was assured she would call his doctor.
My family also elected to request him be moved to Washington Adventis Hospital where they knew what they were doing, and wa stold that they could not do that. So, upon arriving home later that night, I had found this never happened.in the middle of that night, he was rushed to X-ray, because he had gotten extremely ill, it turned out, as a result, his colon ruptured and needed emergency surgery. That was done and he was in IC for the next 24 hours. He was then sent back downstairs to the same nursing staff. The next day I had noticed he was showing symptoms of pneumonia.
I went to the nurses station and asked them if anyone had gotten himout of bed to try to walk. I was told they didn't know. I told the young lady that she needed to get on the phone with his doctor to have him perscibe an antiboiotic for the pneumonia and that he had not gotten and of the meds he was to take the entire day. I also informed her that I do have a medical background and knew what I was talking about. She said, yes I know he has pneumonia and I don't know who was here earlier, but I will call his doctor. I told her that when someone has a colostomy, they have to be incouraged to get up and walk around as much as possible.
The following day, I had found that again nothing was done and again, he was never given his meds. My father and grandmother had gone downstairs and filed a complaint with the COS of Civista on their actions. They were told that something would be done. That night his pneumonia had gotten so bad that he suffered a heart attack and ended up back in ICU. He was now on a ventalator and could not speak to us. My family stayed with him all day and evening.
About 5pm that evening he was running a very high temperature, they brought in a cooloing blanket and we were told it was in place and working and should bring down his temperature. At 7pm, my mother and I had to leave for the night and checked on him and said goodby, we noticed he seemed worse and my mother felt the blanket, it wasn't working at all. I walked out to their nurses station and told the woman, I asked if anyone had bothered to check it, and was told they were busy. That night my grandfather suffered fatal heart attacks, as a result. He was now completely dependent on the ventalator and was primaraly gone. We were told that there wasn't anything else they could do and kept his wishes to be taken off the ventalator. We were really shocked when the death certificate stated that he passed due to septic shock caused by his cancer.
When trying to get an attorney to represent my grandmother, no one would. They would speak to the hospital and because he had cancer, his estimated time of death could be at anytime. We still strongly feel that we were robbed of any time that he could have had with us. My family even went so far as to pay for the medical records, funny though, as anyone would expect, these were altered to make them seem not at fault. And to date, not even an "I'm sorry" from the COS.
My grandmother, in the last few months, spent alot of time admited to Civista, she also had Cancer, that just last week ended her life. There were a couple of nurses that were desent to her, of course she knew them from when they were children. But it's amazing to see that after almost three years of this pain, Civista has not changed. The nurses she didnot know didn't really seem to care about her needs or questions. She had no idea til the last two weeks of her life that she was that ill. The staff was still so lazy, that her lineans would be dirty and unchanged, her personal hygene wasn't taken care of until my mother would come in and do it, her IV would be beeping for hours at a time with no one to change it. She was unable to get to the bathroom by herself after awhile and during the night would press the call button numerous times with no response, that she would try to get herself out of bed to go to the bathroom, never making it.
It's amazing to see that the people that are there to help you consistantly neglect you. If Civista's problem is low staff or something of that sort, then fix it. Each year, the US has a growing number of nurses that are seeking employement. Get rid of these lazy good for nothing nurses and get people that want to have this job to help people. Maybe someone should investigate this hospital all together and tell them the changes they need to make. No matter what the circumstances, they should be held accountable for their negligence. Please understand that at NO time did my family ever intend or seek a lawsuit of money, we made it very clear to the attorney's we sought that we wanted this hospital to be publically accountable for their actions, so that others were not robbed of time they could have had with their loved ones.
In close, if you have to drive that extra mile to a better hospital and can, please do it. I am truely sorry for the other families that have endured the same pain inflicted by this hospital's negligence.
April
Waldorf, Maryland
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