Nationwide Children's Hospital — Local services in Columbus

I did think a few times before posting my review. I have had several issues now. So, I had to leave them a negative reviews First, my daughter has special needs. A couple years ago she got extremely sick and she spent a long time in the PICU. One doctor, he was a resident doctor back then, advised me to just let my “daughter go”. He said that she was in pain and she would be better if I did not keep her alive with all those machines doing all the work for her. She was on a ventilator. Then she required also dialysis. I did think about what the doctor was telling me. No mother deserves to hear anything so heart breaking from someone who is supposed to be doing anything to save your child’s life. I told him, that she never gave up on me before and that I was not going to give up on her . Well, everyone according to the comments I heard, was really believing that my daughter was going to die. So everyone was so nice and kind to me because they felt pity. However, a few days passed and my daughter was still alive. With all those machines attached to her little body but she was fighting for her life. So, I noticed some of the nurses and even the social workers were changing theirs attitude towards me. They were being rude and nasty. I have another little daughter and back then she was 3 years old . Children aren’t allowed to be on the PICU but because they thought my daughter was going to die, they let my little one be there. When everything was getting better, the nurse in charge of the PICU just removed the privilege of my little daughter to be on the PICU without telling me absolutely anything. So I asked her what was going on and all she said was that because of the condioof my other daughter changed and she didn’t die like they thought they had to stop the privileges for my little one. I was so hurt. I was treated like a piece of trash by nurses and social workers only because my daughter didn’t die like they thought. I even had a couple arguments with them because they said the only reason she was still alive was only because of “them”. I told them that yes I agreed to that, but all the stuff that was going on with my daughter would require more time, that even a cold needs a couple days to get better . I have learned so much from that horrible experience at this hospital and I don’t ever want any parent to go through that. I feel like being Hispanic didn’t help. Now almost three years later, I went back to do some shadowing/observation for OT. I went to the OT floor and they put me to observe a couple OTs. One of them Meghan was the sweetest ever. She was so nice and helpful. However, some of them looked at me, like if I were a weird animal. They were arrogant. They forget that they were students one day and that someone gave them the opportunity to shadow. I really wanted to give this hospital the benefit of the doubt, and thought that maybe one time happens. But twice is just not right. Everyone working at this hospital seems arrogant and they think that they are better than anyone else. What a sad situation, because they have a job only because parents like me take their children to them. My daughter is not a patient of them anymore. I have found a better hospital and even though it’s far away I trust them with my...

I always thought Nationwide was supposed to be one of the best children’s hospitals. I have had nothing but bad experiences. My daughter was sent to the NICU at 2 days old, because she was aspirating when drinking a bottle. The NICU ran all the tests and checked to make sure there was nothing anatomically wrong to cause the issue. We were told nothing was wrong and that she just needed time to mature. Fast forward to 12 months old and she can’t swallow anything that’s not a puréed consistency. Referred to nationwide occupational therapy. The feedback after the consultation was that we could do therapy if we wanted, but it was up to us. No clear answer on whether or not it was needed or if she’d outgrow the problem. However, nationwide will gladly take your money for a consultation knowing that they can’t actually offer therapy. I have been in the waiting list for 2 months now. Luckily, I found another therapist who immediately diagnosed lip tie and tongue tie. So, if I had waited for therapy at nationwide, not only would we still be waiting, but the therapy would have been useless because she can’t move her tongue! Circling back to the NICU, one of the symptoms of tongue tie is aspirating fluids! They never even checked for ties. So, I’ve now paid thousands to this hospital and it’s employees completely missed diagnosing a common problem. They also fraudulently let me pay for a therapy consultation knowing they couldn’t actually offer therapy. I hope I never have to go back there. It would have been so much easier if we had this diagnosis when she was younger. Now, we have to traumatize our 15 month old with the procedure and mouth stretching exercises required for 4 weeks after (much easier to do when there are no teeth involved!), plus we need therapy to teach her to unlearn her acquired eating habits from having restricted tongue movements. Thanks, Nationwide! You’re the best!

UPDATE: You’ll be shocked to know that upon review, Nationwide found no issue. As for the therapy consultation completely missing the ties, the response was that my daughter showed appropriate range of motion for the food she ate at the appointment and that I’m on the waiting list for therapy. What an insulting reply. The food she ate at the consultation was baby purée. At 13 months! I was there because she couldn’t eat anything else without gagging. I was sent away with instruction to just keep feeding her puréed food. What a joke. They couldn’t even wave my co-pay for the appointment? By the way, 4 months later and I’m still on that waiting list. I’m so glad I found Flourish Integrated Therapy. She has since had her tongue and lip tie revisions and within a week, she was able to eat age appropriate foods. Thanks to Flourish, I’m not still feeding my 17 month old puréed food and waiting on Nationwide to charge me for ongoing therapy without identifying...

Do NOT send your children here. We have visited several departments between our 2 kids and our experience with the pilonidal clinic is our last. Dr Criss & Dr Van Arendonk seriously need to be investigated. My son's torture started in October '24 when he was diagnosed with a pilonidal cyst. He had been on antibiotics prescribed by an urgent care Dr while we waited for an appt with one of the doctors/surgeons from the clinic. From the very first visit we expressed how his dad had something very similar and had the full surgery and has ben fine since. I think my son was seen around 6x between the two doctors. They did silver nitrate twice, which was excruciating and seemed to only make it worse. They did a "clean out" procedure, where they just basically flushed the holes with liquid & made them slightly bigger. My son was put under for this, missed about a week of school and cost us thousands of dollars (we were charged over $10k for an out patient procedure; the surgery center was supposedly cheaper than the main hospital). Oh and they still charged $1.00 or $2.00 for parking 🙄NOTHING WORKED! Both Criss & Van Arendonk dismissed us and ignored our request for the full surgery. We were just told to "keep with the saltwater baths" "it needs more time" & "you're doing great"! Talking to us like we're children. I thankfully, found a rectal surgeon who took our concerns seriously. She even said she could, "feel the inflammation" just by pressing on the area (my son said neither Nationwide Dr did that). He had the full cyst removal and is now left with a 2 CM deep, 2 CM wide and nearly 3" long gaping wound because the cyst grew! She said it had, "a lot of hair"! This could've been resolved MONTHS AGO! Nationwide's own site says to have the cyst removed & cleaned! My son had to be put through anesthesia AGAIN, missed school AGAIN and has to heal AGAIN because of the INCOMPETENT doctors at Nationwide Pilonidal Clinic. Parents, please drive elsewhere for your child's treatment! I was willing to go to Cincinnati or Cleveland. The only good experience we ever had was with the GI clinic. Another bad experience was with Dr Mary Hart (ENT) when I took my son there at 6 months old because his breathing was off. She literally sat across from me and said, "what do you expect me to do? He's 6 months old." She didn't even examine him. Well after 2 seizures, 3 trips to ER, choking on food, breathing difficulties, antibiotics & steroids, he had his tonsils out at 2 1/2 years because they were huge! Nationwide doctors ignore your concerns and think you're just an overly emotional parent. Go literally anywhere else. Why does Nationwide have a monopoly on children's health care?? *I tried calling several times to speak to a representative, even left a voicemail and I NEVER heard back. Their generic response to reviews is just for publicity to act like they...