Mercy Hospital Southeast — Attraction in Cape Girardeau

I was an Xray tech in the SE ER in the 90s before I became disabled, I then lost a kidney in 2000 to renal cancer. In 2006, the scar on my right side herniated, involving my liver. I was hospitalized and surgeon Dr Joseph McCadams was called in. Laparoscopic hernia surgery was scheduled for July 2006 on a Friday, by Sunday my right side was swelling and turning red. I was refused an appointment when I called his office the next day & ended up in the ER the next day. They called him and he instructed them to send me home, that I was fine. I called his office the next day, and again was refused an appointment, being told I would have to wait for the post op appointment already set for the following week. The pain was becoming unbearable & I started running a fever so I went back to the ER & was admitted, Dr McCadams later appeared in my room in the ER, angry that I’d been admitted and telling me not to expect any drugs from him. He came to my doorway in the hospital each morning, mocking me for crying in pain. He gave me no fluids & insufficient antibiotics, I felt so alone and scared. Post op patients are so vulnerable, and to be verbally abused and mocked by the very person who did this to me was life altering. I ended up leaving ama & had my elderly parents drive me to St. Louis, to SLU ER where I was quickly surrounded by people, admitted and scheduled for emergency surgery the next morning. I spent the night with 4 IV machines trying to rehydrate me and pumping me full of antibiotics. I was at SLU for nearly a month after that, my surgeon told he had not expected me to live & that the care I had experienced under Dr McCadams care was very poor. The infection damaged my pancreas, leaving me with chronic pancreatitis for 5 years and even now, I live with pancreatic insufficiency. I have severe right side muscle damage and use a walker if I have to walk very far. I did report him to the state medical board once I recovered enough from the resulting PTSD but it was likely too late, many years had passed by then. I can’t recommend this person at all, he can be quite abusive to vulnerable patients. I had left my review on Dr McCadams Google reviews many years ago but when he moved to Mercy from the clinic, he had his Google reviews turned off, effectly deleting all the bad reviews, including mine. That's why I'm putting it here on the hospital page, I don't want anyone to suffer the way I did from his abuse. Be...

I went to the doctor with my Mom. The same doctor my Dad was seeing prior to coming to your hospital. He asked what happened and was baffled. I left with alot of questions. Apparently this doctor ordered a tube to be put into my Dad's lung to drain the fluid off. That was all that was supposed to be done.

My Dad told us all that if they could save him then he wanted them to...but if they couldn't he just wanted to go home and have a cup of coffee and enjoy his family while he could.

Instead your hospital took the tube out. A tube that was not meant to come out.. Then he got a biopsy. Then they put him on a ventilator and then had my mother sign dnr orders and put him on comfort meds. The tube was put in initially so he wouldn't drown in his own fluids with the intention of him going home and spending time with his loved ones.

When my Dad came in he was okay. He was ordered to be on a c-pap per his actual doctor and had been using it long term. The hospital negligently left him off of it for three days causing his co2 levels to skyrocket. They lead my Dad to believe he needed a biopsy. They told him he would be on a ventilator short term. My Dad told them he did NOT want to do this if they could not successfully get him off the ventilator. He had previously had a biopsy on his lungs. He did not need another one. They were simply supposed to put a tube in and send him home. After that they told us my Dad needed surgery and wanted to put him back on the ventilator. This surgery would not spare his life...are you out of test subjects for all of your student doctors? The hospital never put the tube back in. Again, his doctor requested that he have a tube put into his lung and him go home and enjoy what time he had left. Instead this hospital made his final days a living hell for both him and his family. Your lovely weekend icu doctor could not even look us in the eye and avoided us at all costs after he coerced my mother to sign dnr orders and have him put on comfort care. My Dad drowned in his own fluids...when all you were supposed to do was put a tube in his lungs to drain the fluid and leave it in..it would not have spared my Dad's life...but had you accurately done your job and followed his doctors orders he would have been able to come home and die peacefully with his family. You stole what little time my Dad had left. You...

I brought my-year old son to the ER this morning for two reasons. He suffers from extreme anxiety (among other things) and has a stomach condition that is exacerbated when he’s under stress. When we arrived he had been vomiting for a couple days and was very dehydrated. The other reason was that for the last month or two he has been becoming increasingly more agitated and angry, to the point that he is having scary outbursts several times a day, is unable to be calmed down and is acting irrational and making suicidal and homicidal threats. His brother committed suicide one year ago and it’s common knowledge that because of that, he is considered high risk.

My son was giving the doctor false information regarding his stomach condition and when I tried to correct him, the Dr. stuck out his hand and refused to let me talk, I presume because my son is not a minor.

So I took the nurse aside and explained to her that my son had just HOURS ago told his girlfriend he wanted to die, and even played a voice recording I had gotten ON THE WAY to the hospital of him saying he wanted to kill someone. I showed her a screenshot of him saying he hates himself and is going to jump off a bridge and talked about all the anger and the trauma and his brother’s suicide. She said she would talk to the doctor.

Four hours later my son was released with a prescription for Zofran and NO mention was ever made about his mental health.

Three days before my other son died, he went to the doctor complaining of having trouble eating and sleeping. Instead of recognizing the signs of depression, the doctor gave him a anti-nausea medication and an antihistamine to help him sleep. Three days later he was dead.

I understand that my son is 18 and is in charge of his own healthcare decisions but this is why things like involuntary holds in a behavioral health unit exist. I feel that the decision to release him was dangerous and irresponsible considering the circumstances.

As it stands now, we are back to square one - my son is raging and miserable and wanting to die and I’m left waiting for the other shoe to...