UM Baltimore Washington Medical Center — Local services in Glen Burnie

This hospital has displayed unethical practices pertaining to my family member. My loved one was admitted to this hospital on March 10, 2023 after he was found unresponsive. He was taken to this particular facility because of their skilled specialties. I must say the Intensive Care Unit was very compassionate, professional, and did a great job. On March 13, 2023 he was downgraded to the 4 South Unit, and this is where the nightmare started. On March 14 he was evaluated by a medical physician whom at that time was trying to discharge home. My family member at time stated (“ He still wasn’t feeling well and wanted to appeal the discharge “). The next morning the same physician assigned to him came back, and proceeded to initiate his discharge despite him repeatedly telling her he does not feel well. His primary care physician and I discussed this matter, and we both felt his medical condition was unsafe for him to come home due to his extensive medical history. Later that evening I received a phone call from a nurse who was caring for him who told me the physician ordered the discharge and felt it was safe for him to leave. She then proceeded to give me discharge instructions which consist of him being on a 18 hour tube feeding and withholding the feedings for 6 hours. After hearing the discharge instructions the information did not sit well with me, and I expressed this with the medical staff member. At 7:30 pm that night I received a call from him stated (“he did not still fill well and the staff was forcing him to leave”). As we spoke, you could hear the staff going back and forth with him. Instead of being a advocate for him, and contacting the provider on call and explaining the situation things were handled differently. While listening on the call, you could hear the staff member’s telling him he has to go or security will be called and they will have him removed. Once security arrived (several) to his room you could him them reiterate that he has been discharged. I then interjected and ask them were they medical staff. Anyone that approached and assessed the situation could obviously see that he is fragile, and weak weighing no more that 90 pounds. ? How could he be a threat to anyone in his condition. Another staff member came into the room and said “I don’t care where you go but your getting out of here”. This was very disturbing to hear.I told security and that particular staff member if they place their hands on him it would be a lawsuit. I yelled out for someone to get a patient advocate or the nursing supervisor. Not sure whom out the group responded but was told that the nursing supervisor was not available/gone. I then grabbed another phone and called the nursing supervisor myself. The nursing supervisor explained to me she has no knowledge of why I was told that , and was on her way to see him. I then called his primary care and we both listened on the line along with family members to the commotion that was taking place. The primary care physician told me he was going to place a call to the hospital and would call me back. His primary care then placed a call to the hospitalist, expressing his concerns which at that time he deemed for him to stay. At that time everyone had exited his room. His primary care physician called me back and said he was going to arrange a meeting with the care team at the hospital, hisself, and I. Agreeing to the meeting I hung up the call with his primary care physician, and continued our call when around 8:17 pm he stated “ I’m shaking and feel weird “. Moments later he stopped responding. I called his name over and over again win no response. I stayed on the phone to hear everything that was going on. I then called the nursing supervisor once again from another phone and asked could she please go back and check on him. She stated she just checked on him he was ok, I told her mam please go back and check on him again, he stopped responding while on the phone. It wasn’t until after 8:47 pm when his nurse for the shift finally entered his room. To...

I went in for a routine D&C to remove a uterine polyp. I was fine going into the operation, actually doing a fair amount of singing the night before. I love to sing. I woke up from the surgery and breathing was difficult and painful. I mentioned this to a nurse, but instead of listening to my breathing with a stethoscope, they gave me more pain medicine, then sent me home. The next day breathing was terribly difficult. I went back to the BWMC ER, but they were unable to access records for my surgery. They diagnosed mild-to-moderate pleural effusions and atelectasis in my lungs, and told me the pain was because of the breathing tube the anesthesiologist had used--but they were guessing. Even though I was at the same hospital, their ER doctors didn't have access to the records for my surgery. I mailed out notarized letters asking BWMC to send all my medical records from the surgery to me and my primary care doctor. They failed to do so. I contacted the patient advocate, and they said that they would have the head of anesthesia look into the matter--they were more concerned with optics than they were with getting me well. Instead of getting me information about what happened so I could get better, I got administrative letters saying they were going to look into things. (I didn't give a damn about their procedures. It still really hurt to breath; my primary care said he could hear fluid on my lungs, and they didn't seem the least bit concerned.). Finally the anesthesiologist spoke with me--gave me a whole bunch of medical jargon and was rather unkind when he spoke. But he told me he didn't use a tube that went down into my chest, so the ER doctors were treating me for something that didn't occur.... It's been a month, and BWMC still hasn't sent the records it promised. And they never sent them to me. The problems from my first surgery prevented me from having a breast excision biopsy that I need in order tell if I have breast cancer. It's been a month, and I still have not been able to have that surgery because of complications from the routine D&C I had at BWMC. BWMC is callous, and the administration is more concerned with covering themselves when things go wrong than they are with patient care. My primary care physician believes I had some kind of bad reaction to one of the drugs the anesthesiologist used, but he has no idea which one because BWMC won't send out my medical records. And I'm afraid to go under general anesthesia for the breast excision biopsy I need because we have no idea what drugs I may have reacted to. So I'm still coughing, and still don't know if I have breast cancer because of BWMC's screwups. I suspect BWMC is fine if you're having outpatient surgery and are generally healthy, but I'm somewhat medically complex--and instead of doing the basics like listening to my lungs and sending medical records in a timely manner, they've gaslit me, forced me to run in circles, and been cruel. If they don't fix things soon, I'm going to get a personal injury lawyer.... I still can't sing--I wonder if I'll ever be able to sing again. I can't even process how worried and upset I am.....Today (day after Thanksgiving--some anesthesiologist from BWMC called me about my ongoing complaint and ill health following a routine outpatient procedure a month ago. Based on the letters I wrote to the patient advocate, the anesthesiologist proceeded to diagnose me with problems with my vocal cords from the anesthesia--something about a problem with a nerve. This directly contracts the diagnoses of BWMC's own ER doctors, who examined me and took a CT scan and an X-ray of my chest, my primary care doctor, who examined me, and my asthma doctor, who also examined me. This is the second BWMC anesthesiologist who has called me and gaslit me. Like the first, he talked down to me. (The gas-passer specializing in gaslight.) He threw a lot of jargon at me and terms and medication I'm not familiar with, too fast for me to even write it down. His goal was obviously to tell the stupid patient to shut up...

In reading many of the current reviews, I wanted to submit this to provide another view of UMBWMC's emergency room experience that highlights the outstanding service and care you can receive at this facility with the understanding that the ER is, as already noted in other reviews, currently short of staff.

I visited the UMBWMC's ER this morning arriving at 0706 and was warmly welcomed and quickly processed by the receptionist and the First Look RN, Becky. Both were polite and focused in their interactions. RN Becky called me to go to the back to be seen by the doctor by 0730 where I was immediately seen by Dr. Bennett. Dr. Bennett quickly assessed my situation and developed a plan of action keeping me informed and immediately addressed any questions. What was very surprising to me was that Dr. Bennett was working by herself in that no other nurses had yet arrived that day in her area. Dr. Bennett did not let that limit her care or quality of service. Dr. Bennett instead got the ultrasound machine and conducted a screening herself of a sebaceous cyst that was giving me much pain and discomfort. She then ordered an X-ray to ensure there was no other concerns in the area of the cyst. Again, by herself, she followed up to identify the status of the transport for x-rays. In the interim she began seeing two other patients not being limited by the fact that she was working by herself. While I waited for the x-ray transport, RN Becky came back to assist Dr. Bennett and prepped me for Dr. Bennett to drain the cyst. The x-ray transporter arrived and was pleasant and talkative while taking me back for x-rays. The x-ray technician immediately attended to me and was always very pleasant and informative. After completing the x-rays, I was immediately returned to Dr. Bennett's area where she quickly moved to proceed to drain the cyst which brought immediate pain relief. Soon thereafter, 4 additional nurses arrived in Dr. Bennett's area to provide assistance. One, RN John, completed processing me for release after Dr. Bennett completed the procedure. RN John was thorough and informative as to what I needed to do in follow-up. By 8:21 I was departing the ER area.

The excellent service I received from UMBWMC did not stop after departing. When I went to the pharmacy to pick-up the antibiotics, I discovered the servicing pharmacy had made a system error and it was showing my prescription was already filled and they could not provide me the medication. I contacted the UMBWMC ER customer service line who worked to contact Dr. Bennett to try to resolve the issue. Dr. Bennett did so with the immediacy and professionalism she had shown in the ER. She cancelled the previous prescription and rewrote a prescription for the correct pharmacy location and followed up with them to ensure they were filling it for that day. This act shows Dr. Bennett is willing to go above and beyond expectations to take care of her patients considering she was working in a very busy ER environment.

To the whole team that I dealt with today to include the LPNs, RNs, X-Ray Tech, transporter and Dr. Bennett, I thank you for your dedication and professionalism in taking care of your patients. I want to especially thank Dr. Bennett and RN Becky, who truly exhibited a can-do attitude and team approach to success under limited staffing conditions.

To anybody who is reading the other reviews and thinking twice about going to UMBWMC, I would suggest not hesitating. All hospitals are dealing with staffing issues that result in sub-standard results in being seen but there is minimal that can be done until proper staffing levels are restored in the future. In the meantime, professionals like the ones I engaged with today exemplify the best type of care you can receive at the UMBWMC ER....