Brooks Memorial Hospital — Local services in City of Dunkirk

Believe it or not you might be better off going to WCA/UPMC Chautauqua. It seems very hit or miss here. When I took my mother with serious abdominal pain we waited for over three hours. We went to jamestown and they took one look at her and rushed her to the back. Her appendix had started to burst! They said if it was very close to fully blowing out and she would have ended up with sepsis and she already had some internal bleeding since it had started to split open enough to start bleeding. They said they had to clean up a lot of blood in her abdominal cavity. Surgery at UPMC Chat. went fine and they had her in the OR maybe 20 minutes after we went in. I had to run in to get her wheelchair. Her BP was insanely high from the stress. The nurse said it was one of the highest she had seen in years. When I told them at Brooks I was very scared and we weren't there to waste their time but that she was in very bad shape they just ignored me completely. If we had continued to wait she could have died. I want to add that it's odd since I went there with a sever nose bleed that wouldn't stop and they took care of me right away. That may be because I was pouring incredible amounts of blood out of my face but I still can't believe that they almost killed my mom. An actual medical emergency and you go to the ER only to sit around in filth watching someone that came in complaining of a headache go in after waiting half an hour as we were waiting 3 hours. Terrible triage that makes no sense. When I told the surgeon what happened at Brooks he said it completely depends on who happens to be working in the ER at the time. When I asked if he had worked there before he said "I would prefer not to say." That tells me everything I need to know. I didn't make this review to bash the staff. They're understaffed and stressed out but when you show up with a serious situation like this they should help you out somehow. At least have an RN take a glance at the patient to see they need...

I have issues with my kidneys, and two years ago spent 6 weeks in a PA hospital following rhabdomyolysis, and have congenital defects in my ureters that have resulted in diminished function over the years, so last week 12/5/22, when my right kidney was noticeably swollen and causing breath-taking pain, I knew there was a problem, but still made myself wait 36 additional hours to speak to my doctor, who told me I NEEDED to go to the ER, so I went from the Doctor to the ER, only for them to tell me that there's nothing wrong at all and it's either in my head or a muscle ache, and so did NOTHING. I spent an additional 5 days in absolute agony, unable to eat, sleep, etc. My Urologist just called me out of concern for what he saw in the diagnostic tests that were run AT BROOKS (where nothing was wrong remember?) And desperately trying to get me in to see him before the holidays. Of course he told me if the pain becomes too severe before I can see him, to return to the emergency room, to which I couldn't help but laugh and ask "why would I waste my time going back to the same place that couldn't help me when the problem was clearly staring them in the face?" And he agreed but acquiesced that he has to say it, and if I do have to go to a hospital, I know for damn sure, it'll be to one that can actually provide proper care, and Brooks has proven time and time again that they are NOT capable of handling anything above triage level. Do yourselves and your loved ones a favor, and go anywhere else, you will not receive help here, and as my case shows, you can end up in even worse shape by trusting them to do their jobs in the first place. This is not my first problematic experience with them, and I can prove every claim I make beyond reasonable doubt, this ER is a flat out joke and should...

zero stars

As a Fredonia University student, this was my first and definitely last visit to Brooks Memorial Hospital. I went in on December 2024, to inquire about a skin condition I suspected was ringworm. The initial intake was standard (insurance, vitals), but that's where the positive aspects ended.

The doctor I saw briefly agreed it looked like ringworm but stated they had no dermatologists on staff and couldn't prescribe oral medication (which I believed I needed for a severe case). Instead, I was advised to go to a pharmacy for over-the-counter treatment. Since they weren't offering any actual treatment, and the wait time to speak with anyone further was long, I left the hospital.

It turns out, the initial assessment was completely wrong. I later saw a dermatologist in Brooklyn who properly diagnosed my condition as eczema, not ringworm. This misdiagnosis by the doctor at Brooks Memorial Hospital is concerning.

Fast forward two months, and I received a letter from my health insurance stating that Brooks Memorial Hospital had billed them for three different lab tests that were never performed. This is completely unacceptable and feels like a blatant attempt to defraud my insurance company.

To add insult to injury, they also apparently don't accept my insurance, and this was never communicated to me during my visit. It feels like Brooks Memorial Hospital is taking advantage of college students and running some kind of scam. I strongly recommend avoiding this hospital if you can. They provided no actual care, offered an incorrect initial diagnosis, and then tried to bill for services that were never rendered. A truly...