HCA Florida Silver Springs Emergency — Attraction in Ocala

Yesterday I was taken to emergency dept (ED) via ambulance after suffering an injury to my back while exercising in the pool at my gym. Excruciating pain prevented me from being able to walk or get myself out of the pool. EMTs had to lift me out to get me on a stretcher. I was having a difficult time even breathing because of the intense pain. Arriving at the ED, in my wet bathing suit, I was put in a room; vitals were taken and the nurse asked me on a pain scale of 1-10, what was my pain level. I answered 15. She asked again-“1-10” and I said 10. She left the room and 55 minutes later, a doctor opened the door and stepped barely inside the room, asking me “what do you want to do?” I was shocked. He never came closer to me than 6-7 feet. Never examined me; never listened to lungs or heart rate. Never looked at my back. My immediate response was “I need something for pain as I have been in here for almost an hour without anything.” He then told me that people were dying and he was busy. He left, saying he was going to order meds. My friend Judy arrived shortly before the doctor appeared. Also a nurse, she noticed that the nurse’s call button was hanging on the wall and not with me in the bed (see picture). Day one, of any school for nurses or nursing assistants, is that you NEVER leave a patient in a bed without access to the call button. You’re also not permitted to put both siderails up, as that is considered “restraints”. The ED nurse comes in with IV meds, stating that doctor ordered IV morphine and Valium. She stated that she was going to use the IV port that EMT put in. The EMT did NOT start an IV and the nurse didn’t know that! Can we spell communication? It is now a full hour of me laying in bed, without pain meds, in my wet bathing suit. Now the nurse has to start an IV. After she gave me meds, she left. Still no call button by my side. My friend helped me get out of my bathing suit. I had my T-shirt and shorts to put on. It has always been a practice, that when you give IV morphine, you follow up and check on patient at least once approximately 15 minutes after meds are given. Not this facility, as I laid there for another hour until the doctor walked backed in. No one asked what my pain level was after the medication. Again, the doctor never got closer than 6 feet, never examined me; never asked where the pain was, never asked how I got hurt; however, he asked me what I wanted to do. He said because I didn’t fall, he saw no need to do x-ray or CAT scan. He made reference to an MRI I had done months ago-or maybe the one from a year ago-and when I asked him “what MRI” he didn’t know and couldn’t answer. I still don’t know what MRI he was talking about. I was beyond livid and even with morphine and Valium on board, my pain never got below 8. His only suggestion was “discharge with pain medication” and that’s exactly what he did. The level of care and compassion at this facility was totally lacking and borders on actual malpractice, in my opinion. Is this what government healthcare looks like for elderly people on Medicare? Thankfully I had a friend who came, and she helped me walk out of the ED. No one from the hospital helped me. Walking was extremely difficult and as we walked by the wheelchairs grouped against the wall, I thought to myself-Why did no one bring one to my room to help me leave? If a facility is so short staffed that prevents them from providing good care, they should close their doors and tell EMT to go to another facility. How can anyone determine appropriate treatment, without even examining the patient? We now need advocates with us, for healthcare, because clearly the hospital staff don’t care. Not one person, nor the discharge instructions, advised heat or ice. They didn’t recommend anything. NOW--they are sending me a bill for the my visit there! I would be sending an apology--not a bill--but hey, I guess if you are a healthcare provider, you don't have to apologize. You can get away with malpractice unless you sue....

I went into the ER on 10/27 around 12pm and ended up being there for over 5 hours. 4 days later I’m still in pain and basically wasted my time there. I came in with a painful issue. I was in a lot of pain. To the point where I couldn’t sit. I was uncomfortable throughout my wait. I even told the nurse and the NP/PA that I really can’t sit down because I’m in so much pain. The waiting area was extremely small, and there was a woman with 4 little kids that were just running around and taking up all the seats in the waiting area. I was put into a treatment room somewhat quick, but after that, it felt like I was just put in the room and forgotten about. I used the call button 2 or 3 times to get an update on when a doctor would be coming to see me because I was in so much pain. They said they only had 1 doctor working and that I would be next. They had me speak to the insurance registrar through the tablet while I was waiting for a doctor, and I was told I had to pay $300 after my insurance, and I wasn’t even seen by a doctor at that point, or treated for anything. So I’m not really sure what I’m being billed for, but I think it’s pretty messed up to charge me that and not even see a doctor. I was finally able to get some kind of pain medicine after the 2nd or 3rd time I used the call button. I was literally crying because I was in so much pain. Shortly after that, a doctor finally came in, and after taking a look at my issue, all he could do was write me prescriptions and give me a number for Shands to call to look into a possible surgery. Which is great, because that is something I need to do to stop the issue from recurring, but that didn’t help me with my issue or my pain at that moment. Since it took so long in the ER, by the time the nurse sent the prescriptions over to my pharmacy, I couldn’t get them filled until the next day, and come to find out the one I needed the most to help me cost over $160 after insurance. I basically wasted my money and my time and put myself through more pain by going in. The PA/NP and the doctor I saw were really nice, and I could tell cared about my well being and tried to make me as comfortable as they could, but it was just very unorganized and not patient focused at all. And here I am, 4 days later, still having issues and still in pain, using home remedies to treat my issue and pain because the ER couldn’t help and all they care about is money. Not the patients. I’m just really...

Highly disappointed in this Er and I can see from others why they rated this place so low. From the minute I walked into this place I was instantly treated like garbage. Came in for sharp stabbing pain in my stomach that I’ve been dealing with for a week and I just wanted the pain to stop and be at a peace of mind to find out what’s going on . From the minute I walked in they treated me like I was just some pill junkie trying to score drugs. They told me they were going to run a full blood panel as well as put me on iv fluids and a ct scan. Instead they drew partial labs never gave fluids and never did a head to toe pain assessment to find out what kind of pain I was at. Instead they had false documentation of what “ THEY” thought my pain was at. How can a hospital not ask the simplest of questions what is your pain at. Pain is the top priority for a assessment and clearly this place does not care They refused to have a conversation they all just kept rolling their eyes snd never making eye contact with me just looking at the ceiling and cutting me off every chance i tried to speak. At the end of the visit the doctor came in gave me no answers and just said you can go , not offering anything possible solutions for my pain. The whole time it felt like he didn’t want to be there and just wanted to get out as soon as possible as he inched closer to the door. I personally had to ask him is their anything I can buy or do to help myself to relieve my pain. My doctor looked at me and said “I guess ill write you something this might work” and ran out the room. So now I’m still experiencing my pain with no answers.So overall if you want and er to judge you,mistreat you, and false document information regarding your health this place is the place to be. Have never felt like garbage until I came here I’m going inform other members of this community as well as other hospitals. This place needs to know your offering to help sick people not score some extra cash. Overall thoughts ( false documentation,terrible assessments,terrible communication,and left in the dark) if you’re into a hospital with these traits this might be the right...