George Washington University Hospital — Attraction in Washington

I was taken to the GW hospital after experiencing sudden pain in the lower left quadrant of my stomach.

Once I arrived I was one of four people in the reception area. I was quickly processed. The intake clerk asked a few questions and said I'd probably get a CT scan. I then was taken to another room within 30 minutes of my arrival.

Once in this back area, I spoke to medical staff about what I was experiencing. They listened, collected blood samples and took my vitals. After a couple hours of waiting in writhing pain and with no communication from medical staff I began to vomit. Once staff finally came to speak with me again, I asked what their plan was to further investigate. Staff said that they found nothing in the blood work and attributed the pain to spasms in the gut. I asked how they arrived at the conclusion, the medical team said because there was nothing else that pointed to it being anything else. Staff then said they were planning to discharge me and would provide me with meds.

I was flabbergasted! Why on earth weren’t they investigating the nature of my pain to include a CT scan? Why were they not managing my expectations as the intake clerk did? Why weren’t they communicating with me leaving me to sit for hours? All these questions were tormenting me.

Hours later when medical staff came back to update me I told them I was leaving to seek medical attention somewhere else as they didn’t seem interested in my problem. Furthermore, I said I was stunned by the lack of concern and interest in my well-being. Staff at this point attempted to change the narrative I was describing by saying they were interested in my well being. However, the fact they were planning to discharge me undermined their credibility. Another staff member came along to speak with me as I was gathering my belongings. The staffer encouraged me to stay as he sees that I am in real pain. He further advised that I should get a CT (what the intake clerk said) scan to investigate the nature of the pain.

I decided to stay after the verbal commitment to provide me with honest care. After the CT scan it was discovered that I suffered from a Renal Infarction of the Kidney. With this discovery, they were now able to put a plan together to treat me. The services thereafter were lukewarm however many of the nurses performed well. I was in the hospital all weekend and treated with pain management and blood thinners to prevent further clots as they investigated where the first one may have originated. They also attached a heart monitor device to my chest to measure for irregularities - although the device never appeared to be on or connected to anything.

I was released on Sunday at 4:30pm. Once released they sent a priscription to a local CVS pharmacy. I then got call from the pharmacy saying they can't fill the prescription because insurance information wasn't included. I told hospital staff to see if they could just fax or email my insurance but they said it wasn't their policy to do so. I said fine, I just wanted to leave the hospital at that point. Once the nurses provided me with my last doses of medicine I was free to go.

As I was leaving I realized they never took the heart monitoring device off of my chest, was it even working the duration of my stay? After leaving the hospital I get to the pharmacy. The tech tells me they don't accept my insurance! Now I have to call GW to call the pharmacy to tell them to send the prescription to another pharmacy. After about an hour of figuring out I was finally able to get my prescription about 8pm. The very next day I get a call from GW hospital telling me that the CVS pharmacy doesn't take my insurance and they need to know where to send the prescription. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!

This experience goes to show the implicit bias in healthcare. These biases are likely to affect diagnosis and care. Had I not advocated for myself I would have put my life at risk and not been able to plan to address the issue long term. Hopefully this review helps to...

My mom had back surgery on Fri, Jan 31. Our experience with GW Hospital was nothing short of a nightmare - from the beginning to the end. I will share only a few of the incidents here. On Sat, shortly after my dad and I arrived, my mom began experiencing pain in the abdomen, related to the method they were using to collect her urine. Earlier, a nurse had said that a bladder scan determined the bladder was half empty. Now, thinking it needed to be reviewed again, I went to the nursing station to ask that someone check in on my mom because she was feeling uncomfortable down there. Someone came, said that the nurse would redo a scan in a couple of hours, per the next scheduled time and that they can't empty unless it's full, and left. My mom's abdominal pain got worse, much worse, and I went back to the nursing station to ask that someone see her because she was very very uncomfortable now. The staff member at the nurses station told me that my mom was not the only patient there and that they would get to her during rounds. This left me with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Long story short, the nurse finally came, upon further insistence of course, along with the head nurse. They did a bladder scan and determined it was full. By this time, my mom's face looked like a tomato because of the pain. Once the nurse removed the urine, my mom's entire body relaxed, and the color in her face started to return slowly. But the experience freaked her out, naturally. The staff member at the nurses station spoke to my dad similarly that day. On Sun morning, we learned that no one came to my mom's room when she used the call button the previous night. She told us that the table tray had been pushed away from near bedside during a routine visit. When she was very thirsty and experiencing dry mouth, she used the call button to call a nurse, but no one came (and because she couldn't reach her water, she remained dehydrated much of the night). I ordered breakfast for her Sunday morning upon arrival and almost 1.5 hours later, enquired about why it hadn't arrived. They told me that her diet had changed after the order was placed and that the order was cancelled. By whom, I asked and they said the doctor or nurse. Why weren't we told about it I asked since we had been waiting for a long time and they said something to the effect of they only learned about it when I called to enquire about the delay. A little while later and almost two hours from the firm the order was placed my mom got her breakfast. Because of all the nonsense we had experienced so far, my mom didn't want to be alone that night. I stayed with her. But that too didn't come without a fight. The night nurse greeted me with "visiting hours are ending". I told her I'd be staying the night and she asked if I had gotten permission. I asked from whom and she excused herself. She returned with a supervisor, who also noted visiting hours were ending. I told them that there seems to be a language barrier and the supervisor said something about a translator. Sighing, I told them that our experience here so far had been terrible and that I couldn't leave her alone because she feared being alone with the hospital staff. Some of what has already been noted here was shared with them. Long story short, they understood why I was staying overnight when I hadn't stayed there previously. Finally, after almost 80 hours of being bedridden (many hours more than the 48 hrs we were told she would be having to lie on her back), my mom was finally discharged. Hospital staff took her down in a wheelchair and while putting her into the car, my mom fell down. My mom fell down while in the care of a hospital staff member. On top of everything else endured during her stay, she had to experience this too. All in all, a terrible hospital experience. We will not...

The west star was for the cleaning staff and nthe kitchen thank you for your service everybody else is terrible I be absolutely awful you work for money you don't care about people you put me out the hospital today after you know I cannot think for myself at home you told a whole bunch of lies in your paperwork that I did not sign for discharge I was never offered a hotel my sister never said I can come over her house you know you sent me home bullied me out your hospital and I had no help and do I would have to wait till Monday or Tuesday so I have to sit up in my urine and my feces I can't clean myself I can't feed myself too well my arm is getting a lot better thank God but knowing I had no one home to help me stay until I had a secure place to go I never refused another apartment unit you were lying I have mold in my unit and the aide has the right not to want to come in here till it's gone or proven that it's gone you know this but yet you still lied my name is Randall Hall I'm going to make a big deal out of this because I didn't have several surgeries done there by Dr Rosslyn years ago at GW it was it was a great hospital you gave me oxygen when I fell asleep in the emergency room just imagine if I had went home when you was trying to make me to go home earlier I could have passed away but my persistence to stay is will save my life you said that I had sleep apnea I don't know about that but I had been sleeping in chairs for days because I had no aid to help me because the landlord refused to show them proof that is no mold in the house when they just took a test Friday you know all these things your fake social worker Liam lied and falsify some information to get me discharged everyone knows the truth for the last 3 days I was there I'm home without even away to get up and go to the bathroom I'm glad I ate them I'm glad my arm got better but I'm not going to try to do too much so I don't for like last time and I'm back in the hospital tonight was really sad 😭 the people want to take me right back to the hospital when they sing that everything is jealousy was lies and I had no one there to help me to help me the best way they could they even cleaned up the spot where I was found when the ambulance came to get me and took me to The hospital after I fell you had me laying over 3 hours in a stretcher in my feces from head to toe I had to get my dress torn off of me I have back surgery and neck surgery I took a real bad fall my arm was already messed up because of my muscle I could not hardly move it still I need on a stretch of an emergency room for 2 days you finally gave me a room after you seen that I suffer from what you call sleep apnea only gave me oxygen when I was there but never sent me home with any you said I had no medical reason to be there so if I die in my sleep tonight or tomorrow because I'll be here by myself for a while I have no aid service or no one coming and I told you that you knew that just REMEMBER my name RAYNELL HALL THE ONE YOU PUSHED OUT AND REFUSED TO HELP WHEN I NEEDED IT THE MOST SHAME ON YOU I repeat everything on that discharge paper was a lie I was talked to about a hotel I never was offered another place to live none of that all of it was a lie and my transport told me they felt bad you lied to them and told them someone was going to be here to help me FYI I will...