Southeast Health — Local services in Dothan

If I treated an animal the way the emergency room staff treated me at Dothan Southeast Hospital I would be arrested and charged with neglect.

I was in the emergency room on January 25, 2025 screaming in pain all day until late in the afternoon begging for a drink of water. I injured my back and was in the worse pain of my life. A nurse came to my bed earlier in the day and told me she was given the unfortunate job of getting me out of bed. I tried at least 10 times to get up yelling in pain. I could not move without brutal muscle spasms and nerve pain. All I kept asking for was a drink of water. A nurse in the E.R. who was doing something with my IV said “you must be really dehydrated”. I said yes I’ve been asking for some water. She left and I never got any water. I was still yelling and my back would spasm without me even moving and it was in the afternoon and I was taken and put in a room that had walls and a door that shut so no one heard my screams. I would push the button and ask for a drink of water and at one point after 30 minutes + a nurse opened my door and asked if I was ok and again I begged for water and said I am in the worse pain ever. After a long period of time with no help I hit the button again and this time the one labeled pain. Someone answered and I said I haven’t had a drink of water all day or anything to eat and I am in terrible pain. This all started at 12:30 AM when I was injured and it’s now late the next afternoon 4 or 5 pm. One nurse opened my door and when I asked for water she told me “you know we just had someone die in here” and she left shutting the door. Finally they brought a tray of food and set it down on a cart where I could not move without screaming so I could not reach for the tray and was unable to eat or drink anything, I still Have no idea what was on that plate under the top cover. I worked 29 years on a Fire Rescue Dept. and fully understand that my back pain wasn’t life threatening although brutally painful and unable to move but this goes way beyond just triage of a patient and he is low on priority in an emergency room setting. This was abuse of your patient. All day the TV played some message about how great the hospital care is and cleaning constantly etc etc and I was left begging just for a drink of water. I was treated much better once moved and admitted although I was left laying in my own urine for 5 days because I was unable to move without screaming in excruciating pain. I visited my primary physician last week and am still treating a bed sore I got while in your hospital. I’m still in horrible pain waiting for back injections at L-1 disc level. The lady who came to my room from therapy dept. and tried “unsuccessfully” to help me get up was really nice and cared about my condition. The treatment from nurses and staff once admitted was good. The care given by emergency room staff was rude, with zero compassion and all I asked for was a drink of water and they were so put out by my request even knowing I was dehydrated. They determined early in the day I was not in need of emergency surgery so no excuse for the way I was treated. Had I needed emergency surgery I could understand nothing allowed to eat or drink due to surgery. Any attention given to this problem would be much appreciated. Thank you:...

Well, my dad was in CCU and he got to go up to the seventh finally. He was so critical that they didn’t know if he was gonna make it through the night when he first arrived because he flatlined for 20 minutes and they had to perform CPR . The hospital called me because I’m first of Ken so I flew here from Indiana at last minute paying a ridiculous amount of money to make sure I was here for my dad. He got to go up to the seventh floor because things started to get better. After that then he got severe again and he got put back in CCU tonight and isn’t doing good! I get back to the hospital and the nurse he now has tonight won’t Talk to me and said she could only talk to my niece which is his grandchild who is 20 years old! I am the power of attorney. I am his Next. We’ve even signed paperwork for me to be power of attorney for his medical things. I tried to explain to her that I’m her power of attorney not his grandchild, but she didn’t care if she ran off down the hall and had the secretary or whoever sitting at the desk “handle me” But I’m assuming because My Niece played around when he was on the seventh floor and put her name and number on the board somehow some person changed the power of attorney in the system to my Niece which is his grandchild! I told the nurse that I am the power of attorney. I even signed paperwork my dad signed paperwork. My dad wants no one else as his power of attorney but this nurse refused to listen to me said she wouldn’t talk to anybody, but Lilly and walked off! She did not try to find out that I am the power of attorney. I’ve talked to every nurse and every doctor this entire time he’s been here and made every decision or whatever this whole time but since My Niece wrote her name on a board and his room when he was up on the seventh floor They put her in the computer for some reason as power of attorney and so now this new nurse on 4 Refused to even speak to me about my own father! She refused to check to see who is true power of attorney was. So instead of this extremely rude nurse updating me on my father‘s condition she just took off down the hallway her name is Becky Chance. Instead of her, trying to figure out that I’m the real power of attorney in the situation, she refused to talk to me and said for me to call my niece! Finally, the lady at desk looked at the paperwork and saw that I am my father’s power of attorney, but I left without any information because Nurse decides to disappear and she chose not to talk to me because I wasn’t the power of attorney. So that nurse Becky chance is probably literally Giving medical information to my 20-year-old niece because she didn’t take the time to check in to see who the power of attorney was. My Niece is his grandchild and not his next to kin. Not on the paperwork that my dad himself signed, appointing me his power of attorney for his medical needs. I’m gonna talk to My Niece and guess what that nurse has been telling My Niece things instead of me and that is definitely violations of HIPAA laws so she violated HIPPA laws. My dad didn’t want his 20 year old grandchild involved in any decision making for his...

The most horrible experience for my nanny. I never would have thought, really any of us, would experience something like we did at Southeast. She sat 18 days in a hospital bed with no answers. Went in on 11/10 for very sharp constant pain behind her eyes. They began with a CT and MRI. Said it was possibly a brain tumor, then the next day or two apparently it wasn’t that. Then they gave her the 2nd MRI and it was possibly MS, so spinal fluid was drawn on 11/14 and 12 days later MS came back negative. Those 12 days were the worst for her, all she did was sit there and take pain meds. We tried to transfer to Birmingham during the long wait of the MS results but was said she didn’t meet the requirements. So on 11/27 they decide to do a brain biopsy on 11/28 no scheduled time which her nurse at that time knew nothing about. I’m not sure why or if this is normal for only one test to be done in that period of time. I honestly don’t think charting was done or entered correctly, because every time a different nurse came in it was something different about her medicine or what time she could take it. We never ever got a straight story. My nanny was not taken care of, she felt neglected unless her family was there. But obviously there can’t always be someone there, so we trusted in these nurses and PCA’s to be there for her. Not one nurse that I saw seemed genuine, or compassionate to my nanny nor cared to help her do the smallest things. She was on so much pain medication and hurting so bad she couldn’t think straight or hardly sit up to eat, drink or walk from being so nauseous and dizzy constantly. Of course several of her family and friends were in and out but so many different things happened that none of us can comprehend. Several times we ALL asked for things and it never got done and if it did it was hours later if at all. On the last night she was there, and this blows my mind and I’ll never forget it, she asked her nurse to please help her get up and bathe, since around lunch, and to also change her sheets. Not ONE person came around to even do that. So I finally get there around 630pm and a nurse walks in right after me not saying anything but slightly freaking out looking around and she confused us, which made me think she knew they weren’t doing there job, my nanny looked at her and said what are you doing dear and she said do you need anything, my nanny then told her she was getting a bath and wanted her sheets changed. That nurse said oh! Let me get a PCA. We both told her to not worry about it since it’s taken that long. So I get my nanny in the shower, I’m taking her old sheets off, and 2 ladies walk in with sheets (not sure what there title was), dropped them in the recliner and said “here’s your sheets” and walked out and shut the door. It was a complete nightmare and my nanny broke down the last 3 days she was there because of the most careless, inconsiderate so called healthcare workers. She literally thought and even SAID multiple times she was going to die in that hospital. As a person ESPECIALLY to work in the medical field can you be okay with what you put...