Banner Heart Hospital | Mesa, AZ | Baywood Ave. — Local services in Mesa

My 89 year old father was transported and admitted to Banner Heart Hospital on Wednesday morning January 27 after calling 911 for chest pain. Due to Covid19, I of course could not be with him or even enter the building. I understand this and I’m grateful and respectful for this required protocol. However, as his primary caregiver, and his Medical Power of Attorney I fully expected someone from Banner would communicate with me during this frightening situation to keep me informed. To date the ER nurse is the ONLY medical professional from the hospital that called me directly to tell me he was being admitted and that he was “stable”. She gave me a number to call to speak with his new nurse who confirmed he was on her floor and he was stable and resting. She advised I would be hearing from the doctor as soon as they had a moment to discuss his status with me. I was able to speak with my father but he could not communicate to me what was really happening with his care. By the next morning (Thursday the 28th) I still had not heard from ANY medical professional and my dad was the one that called to tell me he was going into “surgery” in 20 minutes. I asked him what kind of surgery and he didn’t know; he’s 89 and doesn’t always understand or retain complicated and unfamiliar matters. In a panic I called his nurse but I was told she was busy and would call me when she could. When she called me back she gave me the name of the “procedure” he was having and the name of the doctor she believed would be performing the “procedure” but she couldn’t give me specific information about his actual diagnosis and seemed surprised that I had not heard from the doctor. She told me she would again ask the doctor to call me prior to the “procedure” or certainly after so I understood what was happening. NO ONE called. I spent much of the day yesterday worried and BEGGING for information about my dad. Apparently, there is NO ONE at Banner Heart Hospital such as a family advocate that you can call or count on for information or status on a patient once they are in the building besides the very busy nurses trying to care for ALL of their patients. I was told by the nursing supervisor that since my 89 YEAR OLD father was alert and could answer their questions, they were not obligated to communicate with me about his status and his care even though I’m his daughter, his primary care giver and his POA. I was and I am stunned. How is this possible? You would think since no family members are allowed in the building that they would at least have a representative available to provide updates and status to worried family members.

Thankfully, the “procedure” appears to have gone well as MY DAD called me last evening and again this morning. He told me he “thinks” he had a heart attack and he “thinks” they may have placed 1 or 2 stents in his body and he “thinks” he may be released soon. It is now noon on Friday the 29th and I still have ZERO information about my father’s actual diagnosis, the details of the “procedure” they performed yesterday or what we can and should expect going forward. How is this possible? I’m still SO incredibly worried and I cannot understand the lack of communication during this frightening event. I’ve been the advocate for my aging parents for years. I have NEVER nor could I have EVER anticipated such a lack of compassion from a medical community. I’m stunned and...

This place is beyond a joke. I had a relative here and it was the worse experience. Personal nurses change either every day or ever couple of days and when the new nurse comes in for the first time they have absolutely no clue what's going on. You'd think they would look at the record before making entry. Makes them and the hospital look like a joke. No information is carried to the next person, They have no idea the patient has bed sores, special eating or even why the person is there. It's federal law that a social worker be assigned to each patient to make sure they are getting the best care but when it was brought up the response was "We don't do that here" Most of the nurses have absolutely no empathy or attachment to the patient and don't try to make the person feel comfortable. Multiple people involved with my relative told us completely different things. To the point of you need to sign a DNR because they're getting worse to they will be discharged the next day. When asked a simple question about the patients condition we were lead down a path of throwing blame to either the previous nurse or even the patient. absolutely no ownership was taken by anyone. Food requests were ignored and even though the patient needed to eat and was acknowledged by the nurses nothing was done to ensure the patient ate. To the point where we had to bring it up and not the nurses. Instead of evaluating the patient and looking into blood flow to the brain every single person who saw them said it was dementia and wouldn't consider anything different. The doctors are completely absent and we noticed the doctors would look and see if anyone else was in the room before entering and skip the patient if there was. We saw it happen multiple times with other patients. People are actually allowed to go bed to bed and try and sell the patient on becoming a member of research from the university. Just walk in and start trying to talk to the patient. It's beyond stupid and sad that this is ok. I have never heard of door to door salesman in a hosipital.

This is only 10 things that happened during our experience. There's actually more but I didn't feel like typing them out because nothing is going to change. It's a for profit hospital that only does things based on how much insurance is going to pay the hospital. It's truly sad and I feel terrible for anyone that has to experience this place. I have been in the medical industry for over 30 years and I have never seen anything like it. What makes it worse is the nurses know it and don't do a thing about it. Rumor is they are sign up for a two year contract and once completed they just leave with no attachment to the hospital or the people they served. Families and patient deserve so much more than what this place...

I'm sorry that 911 can only take you to the closest hospital, in my case Banner Heart. I was admitted to the ER and treated for 10 hours for a misdiagnosed heart attack. When a pulmonary specialist was finally brought in, he immediately ordered a CAT scan that showed a double pulmonary embolism that he said should have killed me in the first hour. He said that this was first year med school stuff. I had just undergone knee surgery a month before and still had the bandages and knee brace. God saved my life, and they made money off of it. Just recently, my 91 year old mother fell and broke her hip at her care facility. 911 was called, and they took her to Banner Baywood. They x-rayed her knee and elbow, but not her hip. Banner sent her back to her assisted living facility the same day, without treatment and without proper diagnosis. The care facility decided that her extreme hip pain was evidence that her hip was probably broken. I followed the ambulance back to Banner and insisted on a CAT scan of her hip. Sure enough, it was broken. They replaced her hip and sent her back to the care facility. A couple of days later, she fell and broke her humorous (arm). Again, the 911 ambulance took her to Banner Baywood. They discharged her to a skilled nursing facility, without treatment and without proper diagnosis. I requested a CD of her x-rays and CAT scans. Upon researching the CD's and finding that the fractured humorous appeared to be severely displaced, I shared the radiology with the nursing facility doctor, who recommended returning my mother to Banner. I refused and personally transported her to Mayo Clinic Hospital, where she was in surgery the next day with a steel plate from elbow to shoulder with 13 screws. Mayo also treated a severe cut to the forearm, caused by the fall, that, according to the surgeons, should have been sutured at Banner, but had only a large bandage that hid the injury. That, unfortunately, is just the tip of the iceberg. The rest is poor sanitation, poor service, dangerous patient carelessness, rusted and dirty equipment, etc. Banner will assuredly hear from us or an attorney, whichever is appropriate. I have spoken to nurses and several others, who have also been hospitalized at Banner Baywood with the similar appalling results. I gave Banner one star, because the food was decent, but they put it on a surgical tray across the room, where my mother couldn't...