Temple University Hospital - Main Campus — Attraction in Philadelphia

My experience with this hospital has not been just a let down but also a major thorn in my side. My son is in chronic/illness/pain and has been since he started dialysis which this October makes about 3 years. Long story short on his most recent stay at Temple which is currently the main campus the doctor is denying him pain medicine unless I sign him up for pallative care which pretty much is pain medication to make you comfortable but no antibiotics to help make you better??? What???? My son and I have had this discussion. He wanted me to always do whatever was possible for him. I have nurses harassing me doctors threatening me...one nurse even had the nerve to say to me "you can sign for this and then cancel if you do not want it later (pallitive care) later.???...wait...WHAT??? I don't want it now! Nor did I ever ask her opinion. They know he is in pain! Never at any hospital in Philadelphia have I encountered this but Temple. At the Jeanes Campus it was even worse! There my son ended up with complications was intubated and sedated..they were pushing me to DNR and I wouldnt do it. When I wouldnt do it they actually said to me..." ok when he comes to, we will talk to him and you will have to deal with his wishes." I told them "good then you can stop harassing me!" Let me just say once he was able to talk again he told them his wishes....which was what I had already told them and still they persisted with ..."Your going to have to change his mind...??? ???? Someone please make this make sense?!?!? Now just let me digress to the day b4 yesterday(11/18/2023) at theTemple main campus...I went into hospital to visit with my son . As soon as I got into room I knew something was wrong. I touched his hand and it was completely limp his eyes were starring nowhere...I go for the nurse and try to make her understand there is a problem and she just says oh that's not how he usually is just sleeping all day? I said he's not sleeping something is very wrong!!! I ask one question. Have you checked his glucose numbers today. She says no, why? I tell her... He is a type 1 diabetic! She says well the doctor didn't tell me that?! What?!! I find out that they have not checked his glucose since he was admitted. Dont they keep records around here???...do they check them!!! Apparently not!!!She then took 20-30 minutes to check his glucose and when finally she did it was so low it wouldn't register a number!!! Actually she didn't even do it she passed it off to a pca or cna who took it. Finally it was the cna that alerted people that there is a problem. Ok so now the room is full of nurses and doctors....bcoz I had to go krazy to get their attention because apparently my word means nothing...and believe me this happens more often then not!!!. I advocate for my son becsuse he can no longer speak due to screw ups from one institution to Even after they get his glucose number to a safe level and I'm asking how did this happen if your monitoring his vitals? And guess what? They didn't check his glucose even though he is a type 1 diabetic?????? A Dr tells me he is sorry and I just shake my head.... Now then they begin to tell me how they bagged him before I got there. I ask them How did that happen? No answer just crickets and after that you just let him lay there and didn't check his glucose? ...as part of his vitals????? Your bagging him and he's going into a diabetic coma???? And you don't even know it?! And I walk in and absolutely nobody bothers to inform me about this and now you want to deny him pain medication if I don't choose to sign for pallitive care?? And omg you dont even want to hear about me listening to complaints from individuals who are supposed to clean my son up... then make a mistake and say it out loud while I am there and try to clean it up by saying...."oh but you can trust me to take care of him correctly". With the side eye no less. I do not reccomend this hospital. Do not get sick. Do not come here. You may...

After having a procedure in 2010 and the treatment I received at this hospital after surgery left me with PTSD. Then to have to have another surgical procedure 15 years later, I was beyond anxious. However, with the new surgeon Dr. Bakhos and the support of my amazing pulmonologist Dr. Criner I had now qualms about being at Temple again. For the most part, the nursing staff was good. Not one of the 4 times in 7 days did I push the nurses bell did they respond. Either my husband or I would have to go find somebody to help. Then there was the time a nurse gave me an insulin shot after I repeatedly told her not to. That for me was absolutely infuriating. I don’t take insulin and this was very clearly discussed right up front. And in the four days prior to this happening every time my glucose was checked, they would ask about an insulin shot I would decline and tell them wait a couple of minutes. Check it again and the numbers will go down. And they did. However, This one nurse checked it said the number was high. I believe it was a 171 and for contacts for the seven days I was there. It was between the low 120s to the 170s. I understand that is high, but I am not diabetic. I do not take insulin. This is all in my notes from my general physician that is on file with Temple provided by Doylestown Health. She told me she was giving me insulin and I told her no, no insulin but despite my multiple protests, she told me I didn’t have a choice and gave me the shot. The pulse ox attached to my finger that apparently was supposed to be changed daily was left on for over four days before it was changed and then not put back on properly to where I finally got sick and tired of the alarm going off for extended periods of time to where I just removed it myself because it was completely ignored. Since I had to be in a hospital gown, it would have been nice to have been offered the option to put a fresh one on each day Instead of having to repeatedly ask every couple of days for a new one. I really wish that based on the incisions, I went home with somebody would have given me a little more preparation on how to properly dress them with bandages. Again, definitely a much better experience than 2010. And I had some really great nurses, but I had some that just while they did their job it just didn’t seem like something they did not want to do. I have no complaints about any of them other than the one that gave me the insulin shot after I repeatedly refused it. And I must say once I could finally eat solid food it was actually very good. Even the one day when my lunch was delivered and sat at the nurses station for three hours and was completely cold when I finally got it because the young lady that brought the lunches left it there for reasons I never did understand. She said it had something to do with restrictions on my chart.

Dr. Gerard Criner and Dr. Bakhos are absolutely amazing. I feel so grateful to have them managing my care. Their staff or team as I like to call them are always kind, professional, and never cease to make me feel at ease with everything that needs to be done for my care. I am so eternally grateful for both of them and their teams. They are 5+ stars all...

I drove to Temple ER like a bat out of he'll because there were no medic units available to come to my aid. To save my life what appeared to be a heart attack or blood clots in my chest I drove myself. They took me right away. I was informed I has many blood clots in my chest n I needed surgery ASAP. Waiting in extreme pain for several docs to see for immediate surgery a shooting victim came in and all hands on deck for that. Now 6 hours go by with no meds and not seen one doctor I finally got 10mg of pain meds. Another 4 hours go by and I ask when will I see the surgeons etc.. they came back 2 hours later and said they went home their shift was up and so was the ER doctor and they don't know who I am or why I'm there a hour late I was told. I asked for a wheel chair so i could get to my vehicle and they said no. When I tried to leave the entire building locked up and I had to walk 4 blocks around the building to get to.my car. I didn't sleep for I had a scheduled appointment with a doctor. He saw the condition I was in and made one phone call and I was seen at another hospital. I didn't have a heart attack and I didn't have blood clots in my chest it was scar tissue from blood thinner injections that moved and the IVC filter that was scaring up and in improperly . I had it emergency removed the following day by a phone call made on the DL. I felt hugely better. Maybe I'm extremely lucky they forgot about me in the ER and the doctors went home because their shift was up or something bad could've happened to me. Oh, and they billed me for equipment in the er bay (heart monitor) that didn't even work and they had no blankets or pillows either can you believe it and they billed for all kinds of stuff and didn't see me and forgot all about me. P.S. Important..I was scheduled to have emergency surgery in a week and a half. Recieved phone call at night that it was canceled because I smoke cigarettes. Yup, my doctor abandoned me for the hospital policy is no surgery if you smoke. Than why didn't they say that when I wait 9 month for a appt., office visit after office visit, blood work, films n it's mri's, classes, buying medical equipment for after surgery, extra food for after surgery because I wouldn't be able to get out, and hiring a few people to help me and so on. I'll lose a job I applied for to and much more and most importantly my quality of life in many many ways and the pain all because I smoke. Don't schedule a appoint if you think you'll need surgery cause they'll bill you and your insurance and do all I did to at great cost than get canceled be case you smoke...