UVA Health University Medical Center — Attraction in Charlottesville

I’ve contemplated this post for a while, but considering UVA never responded to my feedback given directly, I feel like it’s time it share it elsewhere.

On August 9th, we brought our 2-day old daughter to the Emergency Department at UVA, what we believed was the best decision at the time based on her symptoms after a challenging birth and our belief in UVA being “the best children’s hospital.” Our experience, however, was far from what we would have expected. We waited in the ER for over 15 hours and received chaotic, mismanaged, unprofessional, and arguably dangerous care.

In that time, it took many individuals from many different departments to get blood work from our baby. They collectively stuck her 14 different times, the first 13 being completely unsuccessful. The best children’s hospital in Virginia and they are wildly unable to draw blood work without leaving 14 bruises on my daughter, from her heal and hands to the top of her head. Unacceptable. After multiple pleads and HOURS later, they finally brought in sonogram and successfully took blood in a matter of minutes. Why wasn’t this done in the first place or after the first few attempts? They couldn’t answer.

At this point, all of her vitals had remained stable and the blood work came back without any concerns. The overwhelmingly amount of doctors coming in and out, many of which had no clue about our treatment plan, all agreed that her symptoms appeared benign. However, all also agreed that we should complete an EEG to rule out seizure activity. My husband and I were on board with this plan.

Completely unexpectedly, a NICU doctor whom we had never met entered our room. Without asking us a single question or assessing our baby at all, she stated that we would immediately begin a NICU admittance. This provider, again without any assessment, stated that we would also immediately perform a spinal tap to test for and begin antibiotics for Meningitis. We were shocked. Our daughters vitals were stable and her blood work looked great. Why did she need a spinal tap and antibiotics? What symptoms did she have that suggested the need? The answer given was “none, it’s just protocol.” This doctor, under supervision of UVA, wanted to stick a needle in my 2-day old daughter’s spine for NO reason other than it was “protocol”. When asked about the risks of a spinal tap, she stated that there were none. Not only did she want to do a completely unnecessary and arguably dangerous procedure, but she was dishonest about the potential risks. This provider remained in our room for almost an hour attempting to coerce us, with rude comments and an intimidating demeanor, to follow this treatment plan STILL without assessing our daughter or asking any questions about our health because “time was of the essence” - after spending 14 hours waiting? This person should not be involved in caring for anyone, but especially babies and infants who cannot speak for themselves.

With my husband being an ICU nurse and having educated myself somewhat on medical interventions, we refused this treatment and left the hospital - a choice that also had consequences, but one we believed was the best for our daughter. It’s devastating to think about the number of babies and infants UVA is performing unnecessary and dangerous medical interventions on simply because some people don’t have the knowledge and are, understandably so, trusting medical providers to have their best interest in mind. They did not have our best interest in mind and I fully believe this medical system failed us. We were new parents 2 days postpartum from an extremely complicated birth. Instead of compassionate and patient centered care, we received disrespectful and mismanaged treatment and are expected to pay over $5,000 for it. My hope was that UVA would respond to my complaint and restore my hope in the system, but they have not. At this point, our only hope is that our story will hopefully prevent others from experiencing anything similar with...

Would give 0 stars to their labor and delivery unit if possible. I had a c section last week and they were awful! First,, I had to call the cleaning department myself the first evening to get help getting MY blood cleaned up of the floor. The nurse that was there until 7p was great with helping me change my pad, but every time I stood I would get blood on the floor finally they brought depends which fixed the issue. The nurse helped me get cleaned up but not the floor or my sheets. Literally got to the point I was covered in blood from the knee down and blood all over the room! Blood on my newborn. My newborn pooped a ton it got on my sheets I wasn’t given new ones until night shift came in. Called cleaning number and someone came to help me get the room back to a sanitary condition. Was told not to bring clothes for baby was given only 2 swaddles and no clothes during my stay. Had to use the going home outfit and get more from family. Begged and begged for things for the baby-swaddles, clothes, diapers that fit. Finally a night nurse brought me a ton thank God. Second over night at 4am I had to refuse vitals until someone brought me diaper cream for her when she had been red for over a day. They would say they’d bring stuff in then never come back then come for vitals The morphine made me itchy, I would tell them 2 hours before anti itchy meds were due please get them on time they’d be 1-3 hours late. UVA is known for lactation specialists, yet the ONLY nurse that helped me breast feed was extremely rude and told me it was pointless to try because my milk hadn’t came in yet. Even though I told her I’d been pumping ounces of colostrum. She eventually after 5-10 minutes of “help “ excused herself to give me privacy when I wanted help. I kept pumping and syringe feeding her to avoid nipple confusion ran out of syringes could not get them was brought bottles and formula instead. Eventually I gave her a bottle and 6 days post partum I can’t get her to latch so I’m going to switch to formula TWICE I had bled through any pad/depend given and had to sit on toilet until my husband demanded they bring me one. Had my husband not been there I would’ve been left in horrible condition. I was given vouchers instead of being able to order food bc of food allergies which is fine but when I couldn’t tolerate food I couldn’t get crackers, couldn’t get water, couldn’t get my medicine which by the way NO ONE WENT OVER MY HOME MEDS SO I BARELY GOT THEM. They tried giving me labetalol several times after labor when I told them when I got labatalol after the birth of my last son my bp plummeted I only have high bp during pregnancy I said please check my bp if it’s low I’ll take it if not I don’t need it. Kept bringing it to me any way when they finally checked after me refusing to take medicine my bp was fine, and they said I didn’t need it. It’s been great since like I suspected it would be. Thankfully I asked which meds I was being given so my bp didn’t get dangerously low again! I asked about an anxiety med I was on before pregnancy and they said it would reduce my milk supply as a side affect so I said I didn’t want it and was doing ok I’d talk to lactation the next day (who never came lol) and see what was safe and they brought me said medicine any way and the doctor tried telling me I asked for it. My experience was a nightmare. Baby and I were left in unsanitary conditions. I get if I was asking for anything unnecessary but I was asking for basic necessities. The night nurse my last day was amazing. That’s the only good thing I...

I could almost write a novel about my two and a half year's experience with the entire UVA Health system. I've been a patient in their hospital and a patient of many of their doctors and thus have experience with many of their administrative people, nurses etc. Overall, a major disappointment. I thought before I moved to the area I had done my "homework". I didn't complete it by not actually going around and talking to the residents in the area and getting their viewpoints on UVA because had I, I would have not used the UVA system and went elsewhere. In all honesty there were some people who like UVA, a lot didn't for the reasons why I give them two stars. The system itself is so huge you can get lost in it fairly easily. Let me start with the UVA hospital. The doctor's are and a majority of nurses are satisfactory but the facility itself is not. You walk through the entrances and it is like walking through Grand Central Station; the many times I walked thru those doors, I never saw signs of security. The many level parking garages have no security and are dark. Inside, when I stayed, the staff was inconsiderate and talked loudly at night even though I complained about the loud talking and laughing. The food is horrible. They really need a big improvement in food, staff training and security. With few exceptions, very few, the doctors although professional, well you don't feel a personal connection one should. I heard this from a couple of other patients afterwards as well. What is nice is where one can register on line on the UVA website and you can keep track of your appointments, request refills etc. however, trying to communicate an issue with your doctor's staff is like trying to chat late night with your credit card company I.e., you invest time but reap no results. That's been my experience. UVA DOES HAVE A COMPANY HANDLE "Patient Satisfaction Surveys". I always filled them out but stopped doing so as the last one I filled out I had requested someone from UVA contact me in the comments section and no one had. One thing I find odd and that is where I moved from, the hospital system there was in a mid sized city and most doctors and nurses were wonderful but the difference between there and here is that there, my phone calls would always be returned and all my questions would not only be answered but additional information would be offered. Here at UVA not always, but more often than not, phone calls slip thru the cracks, and if you don't know the questions to ask, you may be wasting your time calling again and again and well feel a bit foolish. No, their isn't any axe to grind here I am just trying to relay my real experiences and frustrations with the UVA Health system in hopes others can "shop around" more carefully than I did. And of course, I hope someone in the UVA system who can actually do something sees this, puts him/herself in the patient's position and will actually make some needed improvements because after all, the UVA system should be advocating for the patient and not the...