Children's Hospital of Philadelphia - Main Building — Attraction in Philadelphia

I'm very frustrated that we wasted our time coming to CHOP for my son's tonsillectomy. We opted for CHOP over our local hospital because our son is autistic and we heard good things about their treatment of special needs children. I was impressed that we were prioritized as far as scheduling so we got in early (since he wouldn't understand why we couldn't feed him) and that they had the Rover in the room pre-surgery but that's where my satisfaction ended. His procedure went well and we returned to the same room to await his awakening from anesthesia. We were several hours in the room because we were told that there were no rooms available. The wall on which we were sitting backed to the doors to the OR and creaked and slammed every time they opened which is VERY often and for several hours. At one point one of the nurses indicated she had a couple of times reported that they need to be fixed. We were then told despite having a SCHEDULED procedure with a SCHEDULED overnight stay that we did not have a room and would have to spend the night in the PACU in a room "slightly smaller" than the room we were already in where we would have to use the hall bath shared by all of the families in the PACU versus having a bathroom in the room like the "regular" rooms. The TV in our room was at most a 21" in the far corner and partially blocked by the VCR player... So we are/ were expected to corral a hyperactive, autistic child for 24 hours in a tiny room with a tiny TV and no other forms of entertainment. And forget trying to fight to get him down the hall to use the public bathroom. Fortunately, our first nurse had mentioned that we "might" be able to walk around with him which we did and then wandering into the Family Center we learned that on the wings with the "regular" rooms for the real patients (maybe we got the Hotwire or Orbitz rate for our hospital room??) there were playrooms available to the children with a daily entertainment schedule. We were told that our nurse should have told us this. Our nurse, however, said she was filling in from the ICU and joked that we knew more than she did about the floor as this was her first time here and her shift was ONLY 4 HOURS. So we spent several hours walking between the amenities offered to the other patients not camping out in the PACU. I obviously gave CHOP too much credit in their ability to understand and accommodate special needs children.

When we asked for help, we were sent to the charge nurse who said that CHOP doesn't turn away people even when they are full. So even if you SCHEDULED PROCEDURE with a SCHEDULED STAY, BEWARE you could apparently end up sleeping in whatever broom closet they can fit you in with whatever staff can fill in for a 4 hour shift to care for your child.

At our home hospital, we were told that BOTH parents could stay in the room with the child. At CHOP, on the phone I was advised that it was possible that both parents could be accommodated to stay with the children, if not one could stay in the waiting room apparently IF that child is in a "regular" room and not the PACU. In the PACU, I was first told that only one could stay and when I inquired about the waiting room, I was told that it was locked at night and was asked if my husband wasn't going to drive home 1 hour and 15 minutes (keeping in mind we got up at 3:45 am to be here for surgery). It is 9:53 pm. Our son is still awake and we are still awaiting the melatonin we indicated this morning that he needs to sleep. Did I mention that we were up at 3:45 am?? My greatest fear of this procedure was trying to keep an autistic child entertained for 24 hours in a hospital room. CHOP managed to make it a living hell.

Oh, in case no one tells you, you can go to the gift shop to get a $5 voucher to order a meal from dietary to eat with your child. I found out listening to the hold music, trying to order my son ice cream BECAUSE IN THE PACU THEY DON'T HAVE IT (unlike the other "regular" room wings) so my son who just had his throat butchered had to wait 45 minutes...

My friend warned me not to go here, but my blood test said I had a high possibility of having encephalitis and I matched the mild symptoms. We were admitted and tests were delayed till three days later and the attending blamed my MOM for my issues. Their scheduling and communication is horrible. I wasn’t allowed to take the medication I’d been taking for a year because they couldn’t decide on whether they’d test or not (they didn’t test until much later). They called in child life, who told me the lumbar puncture would be done soon. Child life told me they’d numb my lower back with a cream and then numb it further with an injection. We CONSENTED to the procedure including an injection of NUMBING MEDICINE. We’ve searched up how they’re done and you’re either on anesthesia or almost completely/completely numbed, and it’s done by an EXPERIENCED doctor. Not only was it done by two newer residents, but one had only done four punctures; they administered the sedative too late and argued with my mom over how long it’d take to work. She’s been a pharmacist for over ten years. Not only did they administer the sedative too late, but they didn’t numb my back with the needle. I was awake and fully aware of the procedure. I remember everything, my hip hurt so bad I wanted to snap it in half, I wanted to slap the people doing the procedure, they didn’t even position me the right way and they let the even newer woman try to get the spinal fluid. My mom wasn’t aware that they weren’t going to numb my back, and I wasn’t aware either until they were already using the lumbar needle and I felt it. I asked them two times when they were going to numb me and they wouldn’t tell me until last minute. It was written on the consent form that I’d be numbed with the NEEDLE, not ‘sedated’. They preformed the wrong procedure and held me down for it. My mother wasn’t informed that they weren’t numbing me until I was crying and telling the woman to stop, which she didn’t. I only let them continue because I was never told how much it would hurt- because they were supposed to numb me. They left a 20 GAUGE NEEDLE in the room, a pin on the FLOOR, and threw out my retainer. If I were younger I would have fought back and sustained injuries because I wasn’t sedated or numbed. After the procedure I was supposed to get an MRI (which had been put off all day long) because the sedation finally kicked in AFTER THE PROCEDURE. They pushed off the MRI AGAIN and the sedation wore off, and by the time I was inside I freaked out. I told them that if I had my backpack and things outside the room (not even inside) that I’d be more calm, and they refused. My metal items (glasses, earrings, ring and bracelets) were placed inside the technicians room, right next to the MRI room, while the things that calmed me weren’t allowed to even be outside the technicians room or at least closer to the hallway I was in. While all my tests were delayed based solely off the fact I didn’t have seizures, my best friend was taken here and was immediately tested for anything that could be causing her problem. This hospital cherry picks which diseases and disorders they believe most in. They believed my symptoms were too mild and delayed the lumbar puncture, leaving it to be done by inexperienced doctors. They refused to test my lungs after I explained it was hard to breathe. A doc continuously told me I just had to work harder even after my last PT’s made me WORSE. Update: they blamed my mom again for not “making me eat more” instead of the fact that I will throw up if I eat more. The doctor claimed she told us last appointment to see a nutritionist, but neither my dad, mom, or I heard that, nor were we given any information. She told me to go back to the same physical therapist that wasn’t even specialized in my condition. I also remember a woman testing me for POTS, which my primary doctor did and found my heart rate elevated to around 140 on the screen. The CHOP nurse had me sit for two minutes and stand up and claimed she “didn’t see any sign of POTS,” despite performing...

Absolute terrible service , my child who has a seizure disorder and potential c- diff was made to wait in the ER for 3 and half hours plus without even being properly triaged . She didn’t receive a wrist band , at any point & we can run the cameras back , no one was alerted to her allergies , there was no band received for that as it typically is .. and she begin to have diarrhea thru the long wait due to the virus she’s had the past week and in turn she begin to get worked up and her fever returned . I asked how much longer the wait would be abd for an approximate timeline .. as I’ve observed plenty of patents come in after one in which I knew personally with less servere circumstances… literally come and go and my child was still suffering in the ER … the Nurse on duty was unaccomidating and almost seemingly unwilling to engage .. as I waited for some kind of answer on when my severely sick child would be seen . I asked if it would be more then another 30 mins and he said he couldn’t promise but shouldn’t be . Well it was . After 45 mins of them calling more then 3 patients who arrived after us .. I reluctantly decided it best to take my fevering , baby who now was covered in feces home.. as she was in her 3rd bowel movement and we had difficulty changing her in the nasty public restroom . I ultimately watched them call two more patients who had come after us exhibiting no signs of eminite health scares then I ordered our ride so I could take my child home to change her and give her medicine to help reduce fever and prevent seizure . I am pissed and very upset that my child and I spent. 3 plus hours we can’t get back in the ER after already being across the street at the Berger building for 3 hours prior this was wayy less then pleasant This is the second poor experience in this particular Emergency Dept but this is the first time it was so horribly handled that I had to leave with not only an even sicker baby then I arrived with . She still now will have to go to another ER to be seen .. because she did infact have a seizure once we got home from her fever that arose& I informed them but that did nothing to medicate the situation or get her seen. Now my kid is home fevering still sick potentially has c-diff and I am skeptical to return her to this terrible hospital because they haven’t even returned my call. I called to speak with charge nurse after filing formal complaint and was told by Jennifer in WR I could not speak to any charge nurse and then she took my information and said a nurse on duty would call back and it’s been an hour with out a returned call. This is negligence and unprofessionalism tht promoted us to leave in the first place and CHOP is looking at a pretty decent lawsuit if we do go to another practice and something is severely wrong with my child with so much documented instances of me trying to get her helper seen and have a team leader consult about next steps. This place wasted my time , cash as it’s costed money I didn’t have to travel to and from and I felt like the poor treatment was racially motivated , as as kid who came in after us was pulled to the back cuz her mother told them she was seizing but I was looking at the child. Who literally just had woke out her sleep. This place is incompetent , and of all the amazing experiences we’ve had here . Today ultimately casted a shadow on them all and I will be contacting the PA board of insurance aswell to file a formal complaint because they need to do better on managing and transparency in the ER wait times. We got there at 12:15 and didn’t receive a text saying my child’s room was ready until 4:15 pm that’s 4 freaking hours for a child who had 2 seizures in past week, has a virus, and cold and caught fever while there … when she has a history of febrile seizures … 0/10 would not recommend....