Southwestern Vermont Medical Center — Attraction in Bennington

I have never in my life experienced such horrific healthcare. The emergency room is a waiting room for auditions for a circus act. First, not ever have I witnessed a single person from the staff wash their hands. The staff does not listen to the patients, I guess they feel they know everything. Which gets me to the next complaint, lack of privacy. The staff not only ignored my concerns they ignored the people around me as well. Dismissing their concerns. I'm pretty sure I'm not suppose to hear the complete history and complaints of another pt.. I know what medications other people are on, their address and whatever else there is to know. There was one poor pt complaining about a headache. Well apparently she has been in a few times before and without revealing why she had a headache they pretty much said you had those test last month why are you even here. Drs words not mine. Taking into consideration her primary diagnosis I'm pretty sure she needed a other round of test. Well if you're reading this and you want the world to know your problems this will be the place to be. HiPPA. Will just love this place. I felt like I was in high school. The staff along with ambulance staff were literally bad talking another pt and I believe their child was there listening to it all. I sure hope that was reported. How dare you say anything about about a patient you cared for, no matter what you think. You people are disgusting. If I had a chance I would file a complaint myself, but I dont know the parents and it's none of my business. Another woman lie there I am assuming for a long time. She was elderly and asked how much longer. The nurse I guess said that a bus pulled up and they took priority. The woman said how are they any more important then I. She replied well there is an emergency.and all of the staff is required to care for her. That was an outright lie. There was more staff in the middle of the er talking and laughing having a great ole time. There were empty rooms. I will never return to that hospital and if I accidentally get bought there I will demand be transferred another hospital my family knows this as well. I wouldnt feel comfortable bringing my pets there. It's a Mockery of the healthcare system. I've been to under developed countries that have better healthcare. The excuse is always the same, it's a country hospital it's hard to get good staff. Well first you just admitted to how horrible the care is and second other providers in other places say it's a joke avoid if possible. Who's the administrator? Oh dont complain that the er is to small, you have so much waisted space, I think it's about time for a remodel. ...

This is for my most recent visit to the ER. I have had fine experiences here (which is why it's 2 stars), but this last was extremely disappointing. When it involves your child, it just hits you differently. We went to the ER back in October because my son fell and hurt his clavicle. He was nauseous and in a lot of pain. We waited for a long while to get in...which I figured it was busy. They took us for x-rays while waiting. They gave him acetaminophen after bringing him back to a room. When they came back to check on the pain level, he expressed that he was still in a lot of pain. He was basically shut down from the amount of pain he was in. They ignored it and gave him nothing else. They said the x-rays were fine and said it was muscular...that he would need to use it and move it and got us ready for discharge. He was still nauseous and they literally handed us a puke bag for the road...nothing to ease the nausea. WELL, if that wasn't disappointing enough, I brought him to the orthopedic a couple of weeks later because it wasn't improving. They re-x-rayed and said that the ER NEVER X-RAYED HIS CLAVICLE, only his shoulder (and they cancelled the clavicle x-ray). So they wouldn't have been able to see the fracture that was there!!!!! So all of the advice they gave was the complete opposite of what he should have been doing. He could have hurt it further because of their negligence. So not only did we leave there with him nauseous and in pain, we left there with incomplete and wrong information....

Extremely disappointed in the overall knowledge and attentiveness of the women’s and children’s department, specifically the pediatricians. The traveling pediatrician they use (Dr. Harris) did not take the time to look into our specific situation nor was he able to list off any of the potential side effects/complications of the treatment our new born was getting. We’re overall extremely let down by the birthing experience of our first born, everyone seemed to tell us something different while not truly having any knowledge of the situation. The second we questioned the treatment the nurses used extreme scare tactics to push us into moving forward with a treatment for an issue they couldn’t even pronounce correctly, without giving us any information, knowledge, or crucial details of the treatment. Our experience was by no means individualized for our specific situation, it seemed like they were just pulling cards and throwing them at us to see what would work, while telling us that are situation is extremely high risk.

On top of all of that, they talk to you like you were born yesterday, and the two pediatricians we talked to had two very different ideas for a solution and could not agree on what to do.

I would steer very...