Penn Highlands Huntingdon — Local services in Huntingdon

My family holds this hospital responsible for the death of my mother. On August 7, 2010, we had mom taken to ER by ambulance with sudden and severe abdominal pain, clammy pale skin and sudden attack of diarrhea. After examining her, Dr Waddle notes that acute mesenteric ischemia must be suspected but neither he nor Dr Gaugler followed up to treat her for this condition which is indeed what was wrong with her. They let her lay there for 4 days in terrible pain. Mom told them her pain level was "11" on a scale if 1 to 10---she was off the chart in pain! I tried to get her relief but another doctor said he thought my mother was "confused about her pain". If he had been laying there with no treatment while his entire small intestine went necrotic I wonder if he would be confused about his pain? We finally insisted she be transferred by Life Flight to the Geisinger but had to remove her from life support aftervtgeir valiant affords in Danville to save her life. The pain caused to our family with the loss of my mother is unbearable at times as she was the heart of our family. Every August we all go though horrible depression and grief and my psychologist said it would be helpful if I wrote to the doctors and hospital to let them know how their failure to treat my mom has affected our lives for the last 7 years. Even her adult grandchildren still cry at the loss they still feel. I will never give up in letting the public know how the doctors failed my dear mother and our family. There were other failures by the doctors and a really rude insensitive nurse that took place during the 4 days my mom was in JC Blair and it wa a total nightmare for our family. My mom and dad met in Huntingdon in 1947 were married in 1949 and had 61 years together before she died. She was a young 80 yr old and her mom and sister lived to be 93 and 96. My mom most likely would be alive and enjoying her 87th Birthday if not for the incompetence of Dr Waddle and Dr Gaugler. If you can avoid them and this hospital I highly recommend you go straight to Danville. The doctors there recognized the gravity of her condition the minute they unloaded her from Life Flight. Her entire small intestine was necrotic except for 3 inches. JC Blair states on their website that their gastroenterology Drs Waddle and Gaugler are highly competent. I see they were classmates at medical school and maybe they skipped the Classes on emergency nature of acute mesenteric ischemia. It had to be treated within 12 hrs of onset of attack and every hour afterward is increasingly fatal. I had my mom to ER within 30 to 60 minutes of her initial attack but they did nothing--not even controling her pain adequately while they let her lay there and die...

Absolutely DISGUSTING "service" here. My fiance' went in one time and the doctor he had that night was great. Explained everything to him and if it got worse, told him to come back. Well he went back. He couldn't breathe and felt like his throat was swelling. Mind you, he's been struggling with a violent cough for weeks. They put him in a room where he waited for 40 minutes for ANYONE to come in. At one point within those 40 minutes he knew he was going to start coughing so he stood up. He woke up shaking on the floor. He had passed out. Not a single person knew because no one even acknowledged he was there. He went out to tell the nurses he just passed out. Their response? "You are okay. The doctor will be in in a minute." I was at home with our son so he was alone and had never passed out in his life so I'm sure it was scary. After continuing to wait for another 25 minutes before the doctor even came in....the doctor told him "you couldn't have been passed out long because they checked on you and you were fine". When my fiance'told the doctor no one has even looked in his direction for almost an hour his response was "idk. They said they checked on you". They also told him they were doing an EKG and then discharged without even doing said EKG. They also gave him absolutely no helpful information. Gave him info for smokers cough and he's a non smoker which he told them. Info for a sore throat which he didn't have. Sent him home saying "it might just be from an upper respiratory infection". No diagnosis, no useful information, and the nurses will jump for their phones before they jump for a human. My fiance' sat in this hospital for a total of 3.5-4 hours to be left alone while passed out, to be toold you have a cold, and to be seen for things he didn't mention. Also, his care plan stated by the doctor was not even completed before discharge. IF you can drive the 40 minutes to get, not exactly great care, but ANYTHING is better than this place,...

I had an emergency room visit July 15, 2025, went in with excruciating back pain level nine and 10. Had to goto emergency room as im out of town here… had to go in via. Ambulance…the ambulance crew was AMAZING! btw! Arrived to hospital with an IV …..at hospital received zero empathy, nurses were joking and I was happy to see that upon arrival…..that’s where it all stopped going well…..no hydration no doctor zero empathy from nurses was released with no idea of why I was in the state that I was in. Did not see my X-rays or discussed my results(a PA said nothing was wrong). I had a bad fall 9 mos prior I explained maybe 10 times to 10 different people. Again in Level 9-10 pain. Could barely walk out of hotel hospital again zero empathy from at least 10 nurses standing around me. I have excellent health insurance BCBS by the way so uninsurable is not an issue with me apparently this hospital is known for providing healthcare to uninsured people. Maybe they get better service?I will never go back there again for medical attention and am trying to find healthcare in the area as I’m still stuck in a bed at home. . Only one nurse there went above and beyond for me. I think her name was either Jen or Jenna or Jesse. She told me Her story about her getting knee replacements, and she took extra time to actually help me and I plan on going in and thanking her (I think I’ll just have something nice delivered). She was the only shining star I experienced in a sea problems. I don’t post bad reviews but this is a different situation as I hope it educates people and patients appropriately… I have a very good comparison as I was in a similar situation five years ago at this same hospital when it was operating as JC Blair and the service was phenomenal and I’ve actually used it in many conversations as an example of local town healthcare excellence. This is no longer the case as of my...