Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital — Local services in Greenville

This has been “our hospital” for years . By our I mean my family. All of my children were born there, I had surgery there, my husband has had mutltiple heart surgeries and procedures over the years. Both my Moms parents and my mom were in this hospital multiple times. My mom actually worked at Memorial as a respiratory therapist for over 20 years. Needless to say I am VERY familiar with Memorial. Most of my experiences there have either been ok or very good. BUT over the years I have had some bad experiences .

First of all I HATE the ER! I know bigger town ERs are going to be busier, dirtier etc because there is so much going on. But this experience was awful! I was told by my family Dr to go to the ER if I had a bad migraine when her office wasn’t open. So I did, a lot of good it did me. I mean I get that a migraine isn’t life threatening but I did FEEL like I was going to die. I couldn’t even stand to sit up in a chair the pain and nausea was so bad. At one point lying on the dirty floor the pain was so bad I didn’t care. I also couldn’t see very well , tunnel vision , light sensitivity etc, but at some point I could see the people at the desk just looking at me lying in the floor. No one came over to see if I was ok, to offer me water, or a pillow or anything. I was in the waiting room for hours and at some point in the exam room for hours! No IV, no meds, lights on. I was there SO long I want to say 14 hours, but can’t really remember, but I was there so long my migraine eased up and I went home . No Dr ever came to see me so I just walked out! Contrast that to the North West ER , they weren’t as busy but I was treated very very well there when I had a bad migraine. I was taken to a room where I could lie down and given ice water and IV fluids and pain IV. The nurse was so sweet and understanding, she spoke in a hushed voice and turned the lights off and let me recover. I wish i remembered her name. I have many good and bad stories but I don’t have enough time to type it all. So I will shorten it.

Once when my husband was in the hospital for a heart procedure, the woman that comes around to take your information went over to my husbands bed and sat IN THE BED with him ! Like shoulder to shoulder. He was under pain meds etc so he didn’t blink an eye, haha, but how unprofessional, unsanitary, disrespectful and rude was that ??!! My daughter went to almost every ER in Greenville … Memorial, St. Francis etc . They kept telling her she had a UTI, but she kept hurting and going back over a couple weeks time. She ended up in ICU having to have emergency surgery because she had pancreatitis!!

My elderly grandfather had MRSA infection and was in Memorial hospital for months. Some of his care was good but he was in Critical care and they wouldn’t let family back there but for little bits of time at certain times of day. That part was hard because we were afraid he would pass away while we were separated from him. And I couldn’t bear the thought of him being back there all alone anyway. I tried to comfort myself by knowing he was in good hands. Well my grandfather actually beat all of his critical illnesses and was able to come home and I couldn’t believe what he told me. He said the nurse he had would uncover his whole body wash him and leave him naked and exposed for long periods of time and he would be freezing . Also other horrible things that I can’t remember now. This makes me afraid to leave loved ones alone in the care of even nurses and doctors!

Like I said we have had many many good experiences at Memorial and North West. Also, St Francis ( Bon Securs) and Easley Baptist . There are lots of good and caring professional people working in these places but also bad ones. I guess the only way to change that is to make our voices heard. Complain to the offices that handle such things , sue if you have to, they won’t know about the bad things if we...

This review is coming very late but my experience needs to be shared. On 8/26/2006, my family was driving overnight to Hilton Head, but at 2:24 am a drunk driver was on the wrong side of the highway (I 26). I swerved to avoid a head on collision, but over corrected and we rolled approximately 9-12 times according to our witness and police calculations. The police/paramedics told my husband that they didn’t understand how we lived. Our car was destroyed. The cable in the grass median cut through the hood and engine, the roof ripped off the car above me (I was driving) and my 2 yr old daughter. I was talking but not aware of anything until I woke up in a CT scan at Greenville Memorial. I woke up scared b/c I knew I was in an accident & didn’t know how my family was. The nurses were wondering in calming me down. At that point my pain was immediately treated. My injuries included a shattered scapula (shoulder blade), 2 broken ribs, head injury/severe concussion, and pieces of my spine were broken in every area. Technically they are called spinal processes. I was hospitalized for 9 days because I already had a heart problem and to monitor my head injury. With the exception of 1 doctor, the nurses, doctors, nurse aids, every single person who entered my room was a saint. The morning after our accident was my son’s 2nd birthday and we were supposed to have made it to Hilton Head, but the nurses brought him toy trucks, toy airplanes, balloons, a cake, everything to celebrate his birthday because our family hadn’t made it into town yet and my husband wasn’t injured. The staff let my husband and kids stay in my room with me after such a trauma and I know that isn’t normal procedure, but they did it to help comfort my family rather than kick them out to find a hotel. At this point I can’t remember names, but there was one young doctor and a doctor that definitely “outranked” him. The older doctor who seemed to be in charge of the younger doctor gave me dilaudid for pain and I was able to be comfortable enough to get some rest. However, when the younger doctor came in he gave me morphine and it didn’t manage my pain at all. I remember crying and can still recall the pain I felt in my head. Finally my mom, who made it from OH, called the nurse and the young doctor came in and told me that “If you keep taking dilaudid you will be a druggie”. My mother was so angry and I just wanted the pain to go away that she demanded to see the doctor in charge. The older doctor came down and apologized for what the other one said and I never saw the young guy again. I understand that these drugs are addictive, but my head was hitting the concrete as the car rolled and my scalp had been torn off. I wasn’t going to be getting IV dilaudid forever. Two days before I was discharged, I was weaned off IV meds and on to oral medication. I was given very detailed discharge instructions because I would end up needing several surgeries and PT because I couldn’t lift my left arm due to the shattered shoulder blade. The paramedics, nurses, and doctors, saved my life. Thankfully I was the only one injured in the accident at such a traumatic level. I wish I had names to write to say thank you to, but I want especially the nurses and technicians to know that they are a very important part of a persons care. That CT technician handled my terror like a pro. The nurses went far above what they usually do to help my kids as they waited for their grandparents to get into town and to keep me at ease with such extensive injuries and being far from home. And thank God for that doctor who understood my pain requirements and didn’t turn to name calling me. So thanks you Greenville Memorial for being there on my worst days of my life and caring for me with professionalism far and above what was what I would call “normal” in any...

Is this Medical Negligence?? READ-My Father had two strokes. One on 8/1 and one on 8/2 or early 8/3 (unknown since they didn't realize it until 8/3) which the second was after he was admitted. He was discharged with NO follow up referral for neurology. Can you imagine a stroke patient with no follow up? He would have waited forever for outpatient neurology to call with his appointment, but he was never going to get a call because of the neurologist not doing her job. She didn't even sign her notes until 8/9 which was four days after his discharge. He has atrial fibrillation and heart failure. I GOT HIM THE APPOINTMENT BY BEGGING THE SCHEDULER TO LOOK AT HIS DISCHARGE NOTES FROM THE DAY BEFORE! I also think she heard my stress. I was and I still am terrified my Dad is going to have another stroke. Also, the ED nurse with Nurse Andrew performing the stroke alert should be fired and arrested for her behavior. In case she reads this, he is very hard of hearing, and he WAS having a stroke and could not follow your commands(stroke=confusion). ED RN have you ever heard of elder abuse? There is probably a photo of you by the term "elder abuse" in Websters. The care he received on the floor in his room by so called medical doctors (cardiologist and neurologist) was at best poor. One was nice (hospitalist who was trying, but definitely was assigned too many patients), but nice will kill you. The neurologist (who had a terrible bedside manner and seemed a little biased and perhaps racist/judgmental-what 81 year old would even know what hemorrhagic transformation meant?) blamed his stroke on noncompliance based on a note she read in Epic based on incorrectly entered information. If anyone at Prisma WOULD have looked at his medication list and his bottles he brought, they would have seen his list was extremely detailed (as if an engineer had written it), but no one looked, no one. Instead, they asked yes/no questions to his wife and his daughter who had no clue what his home medications were. Entresto or Eliquis- they had no clue what each was for or how he took them or how many he took because he managed everything related to his healthcare (but it was on his medication list they had in their hand)! He may seem like a country bumpkin, but he is much smarter than they perceived- (never judge a book by its cover) Take them home they said, but we brought them back just hoping we could prove their note was wrong, but still no one wanted to look at his meds or his detailed medication list. Just to let you know, whatever you say will not be recorded in Epic (electronic record) unless the provider actually listened to you. They only record what they want to hear or perceive to hear. Apparently per Epic my father reported that all of his stroke symptoms had resolved. He still has visual disturbances and right sided numbness. He is also a ticking time bomb without any anticoagulant and atrial fibrillation. He was sent home with a catheter and a big catheter bag he has to carry around in his hand. No supplies or a smaller bag so he can go out in public. Still no urology appointment either. No compassion or care for my father. At all. They just want their paycheck. Please don't go to Greenville Memorial if at all avoidable. My Father wanted to go to Greenville Memorial because he thought he would receive the BEST care as opposed to other hospitals in the upstate even though care was only 10 minutes from his house. He chose them in his time of critical need. He trusted them with his life. They failed him and as of today they are still failing him. Prisma why are you purchasing hospitals out of state when you aren't even able to take care of patients here? Greenville Memorial- My Father deserved better; I am praying that someone will care...