Norton Clark Hospital — Local services in Jeffersonville

Postnatal Care Nightmare

The following is a review and critique of the postnatal experience (4th floor) at Norton Clark Hospital. This is not a review or critique of the Labor and Delivery department (5th floor).

Five troubling events occurred during our extended stay at NCH that I'm sharing with the community to help prospective parents make the best decision with the care coordination of their newborn. This is the summary version of the events

Context: Unplanned C-Section due to birth complications Collected 15ml of colostrum (spent three weeks prior collecting) as nutrient source for newborn during postnatal stay

1st event (Day 1): Assigned registered nurse brought another patient's breastmilk to our room without checking the name on the syringe

2nd event (Day 2): Nursing unit declared the majority (12ml estimated) of our 15ml of colostrum was lost and could not be found

3rd event (Day 3): During a morning assessment with a doctor there were concerns around the baby's weight loss and bilirubin levels. My wife and I explained the loss of colostrum, that was intended to supplement while the mother's milk came in, was the likely reason for immediate weight loss. Doctor and Nursing staff declared our concerns to be unreasonable. The Doctor and Nursing Staff ordered multiple tests to be performed throughout the day, evening, and night

4th event (Day 3): Later into Day 3 the Nursing Staff contacted our PCP to unassign them from our child's care and that the Hospital would be taking over care of our newborn. This was a measure exercised without prompt from the parents and was a unilateral control over our child's care. The Nursing Staff informed us our newborn would have to stay for at least one additional day

5th event (Day 4): We were fortunately discharged, but unfortunately the nonsense didn't stop. Upon our exit from our room, two security guards who had waited at the nurse's station for an hour followed us to the elevator without any spoken word. No wheelchair or assistance was offered to my wife (mother) by the nurses or security guards

Other concerning aspects of the experience:

The boarding room has very minimal light and the 4th floor corridors contain no natural light. The design of the facility is not supportive with mitigating bilirubin risks

Conflicting opinion: The assigned room nurses were mostly very supportive of our care with the exception of two nurses. The nurses performing the tests and reporting the results expressed that the test results came back without concern. This was a consistent pattern where the assigned room nurse would declare the baby's levels are normal but the Director and PCP of the floor were expressing a differing opinion

Lack of support or concern over lost colostrum: There was no desire to understand or resolve the negligence exercised by the nursing staff in losing our newborn's vital nutrient source. The security guards refused to observe any video evidence of where the breastmilk might be located. There was a lack of creativity to find an alternative solution to the problem (newborn in need of nutrient source). An easy solution to combat their negligence could have been to offer purchase of a desired baby formula from a local store. Nothing was offered from the nurse's except "Sorry"

Warden of the floor: Based on the nurse's feedback of the repetitive test results that came back positive/normal, it became very apparent there was a master controller of the operations on the 4th floor. The Warden/Director was very deceitful multiple times in her carefully exercised communication. It was clear by Day 3 that our family was not in a care facility but a clinical compound masquerading as a care facility. The atmosphere created by the Director and Chief PCP was threatening and arriving to the point where we were considering the thought that the Hospital was going to take our newborn away from us

The aforementioned concerns were sent to the Hospital multiple times with greater detail. Their responses to my concerns are attached, this is what they...

I was placed here around three months ago. I am now in recovery at the time I had passed out and busted my head open that required staples. I couldn't speak because everytime I woke it was for around 30 seconds before passing back out, that being said I was at the mercy of the hospital. One of the first instances I recall was a man saying to me very judgementally "your an IV user, is that why you have needle marks on your skin." I was immediately tooken back due to his tone yet couldn't respond. I kept passing out before I could respond to anything and present my situation. I had been using IV previously so they Narcaned me twice, I learned on these 30 second come to's, due to my puncture wounds. I hadn't used an opiot that day, a simple blood test to check my levels would have told them that.I had took an extremely potent weed gummy yet had no tolerance to them. The man at my bedside continuously poked me in my ribs to wake me, on 2 occasions that I recall, hard; expressing to me that if I didn't wake I would be narcaned again. A medication that was uneeded. I assume I was narcaned again due to the fact I couldn't respond before passing back out. I remember small intervals were I would wake up puking up the narcan. With the man still at my bedside he would yell to the nurse "she's doin the INSERT NAME again" making fun with the expressions I would make directly before puking. I commenced to awake throwing up repeatedly over a period of time. The next morning that I awoken after going through all of this, The morning nurse, I'm unaware of how shift change notes went and how I was presented to her; yet she was very closed off as I asked questions about the night before. Her and another woman were gossiping about the hospital workers and once I spoke they immediately looked at me unhappily as if I had interrupted importance. The working nurse began to tell me to go back to my room leaving my questions unanswered. I asked my questions again in complete mental and emotional disarray of how the actions of the night before had taken place. The second woman standing there began getting very defensive and rude. With the nurse doing the same after that. We all three began exchanging words with harsh tones. This was immediately after getting my staples in my head, they sent me off the floor into the waiting room providing me with no discharge papers or a second thought. I have NEVER been to a hospital facility and ever been treated this way. I felt as if they lacked compassion, patience, empathy, and tolerance to what a PATIENT may or may not being experiencing, or may have just experienced. I felt as if they felt their position gave them power over patients and they abused it. I felt abused and treated extremely inhumanly. I'm extremely appalled, shocked, and scared for my fellow addicts to be treated this way, as this may be a reoccurring theme there!? And my heart goes out to anyone who is unable to speak for themselves on a hospital visit in dealing with...

I am a huge huge fan of my general practitioner at Spring Hill. I’ve even worked at Clark and they have employed family members. But I recently have been absolutely jerked around and lied to by them. First, they did a breast biopsy that they messed up, biopsying the wrong spot. They told me “we may have to biopsy again” but when I was called and given my results I was told — and I asked outright — that there was no mention of a second biopsy. Weeks later I get a call and they tell me, whoops, you do need a second biopsy. Meanwhile, the doctor who did my failed biopsy is no longer with them, and Clark has taken $2400 of my money for the procedure, which did NOT cost that much — I was billed for the procedure AGAIN recently to the actual tune of $600 or so, so not only did they charge me too much, they’re not even reflecting the $2400 I paid. Their reasoning? “Well your deductible was $3000 and you hadn’t met it!” Excuse me, since when does my deductible have anything to do with the PRICE of the service I’m receiving? You don’t charge for the entire deductible for something that doesn’t cost close to that amount, then refuse to give back the money when a) the charged amount was wrong and b) I shouldn’t have to pay for their screw up in the first place. I would only need ONE biopsy if they had done it right. They told me that because the doctor had informed me about the second biopsy when they did the first one and I agreed, I couldn’t have my money back for the failed procedure. I’m sorry, the doctor told me I MAY have to have a biopsy, and then another doctor told me I didn’t have to worry about a second biopsy. How is that supposed to add up to “we told you you were definitely getting a second biopsy and you agreed”? I wanted a second opinion when told they screwed up the first biopsy — I would NOT have agreed to it right away. Now I’m back at square one, going elsewhere to get a mammogram and biopsy because I am absolutely not giving Clark Memorial Hospital my business anymore. I want my money back, and I want people to know (and I used to work in billing with the physicians group, and was treated terribly by the totalitarian manager — I can attest it’s a mess) not to trust that Clark is billing you the right amount. Get clarity on what you’re paying, because they will clearly...