Saint Peter's University Hospital — Local services in New Brunswick

Do not send your loved ones here, PLEASE.

My father was admitted and received shockingly poor care. Here are some issues I addressed and advocated for my father, but when there was one step forward, there were two steps back:

They had him having bowel movements in a bed pan for over a week. He had NO weight bearing precautions, just O2 monitoring. PCTs were not assisting in transfers to BSC, no education on navigating or maneuvering O2 tubing, they just gave him a bed pan and left it as that. I live out of state and asked my father how he was doing and learned this information. This is NOT ok. For someone with O2 monitoring and pulmonary, he should be at the very least assisted to BSC and monitored. My father was not seen by PT or OT for almost two weeks for a eval, unacceptable. Filthy conditions- my father requested his floors be cleaned three times due to his socks sticking to the floor (once he was cleared to walk to the bathroom) and was afraid of falling, video attached, turn volume up. Rude night shift nurse Jenny or Jennai on floor 3…. scolded my father like a child for something a PCT accidentally did. A PCT came in and accidentally knocked over his wound vacc, then when his RN came in and saw it was knocked over, she scolded my father…. He handled it much better than I would have. On a separate night, she ignored his call light 3 times, would turn it off and nobody came to check on him. He was hitting the call light due to his tedhose not being removed at bedtime lying supine and father reported burning pain. Nurse was extremely unprofessional and rude when she did arrive. A different nurse on another night told him to disconnect his IV tubes himself when walking to the bathroom…. My father just asked her to check that it wasn’t tangled when he was walking to the bathroom and that was her response. MINIMAL patient education- makes no sense since it’s billable…my father/patient was not educated on ambulation with walker and wound vac/IV maneuvering while using the walker. Patient family educated patient on wound vac hooks for hanging on walker and how to ambulate safely with rolling IV pole Socks were 3 weeks old and never changed since admitting to ER and transferred floors Was not assisted with oral hygiene setup, did not brush teeth for 3 weeks, patient reported feeling a burden to staff due to them rushing out of the room. One doctor would frequently talk over and cut off patient when giving answers or asking questions- I observed this as well. Unit secretary did not upload medical record form correctly into system and family had to redo the form online- issues due to being out of state C-pap machine was constantly left on and running- nursing staff frequently did not know how to turn it off Diet restrictions were not updated- family had to advocate for patient With discharge, pt was sent 2.5 hours toward the WRONG facility Rooms are incredibly small and difficult to maneuver, my father was in a shared room and patients were having to squeeze by to use the bathroom

Pros- Some nurses were incredibly kind that my father had, like Elaine and sadly I don’t recall the second one There was one PCT who was incredibly kind to my father during his stay and would often joke with him on day shift Respiratory doctor and fellow were attentive, kind, and patient when meeting my dad and providing excellent education on CPAP management. Primary care doctor was receptive to my many concerns, especially with concerns about bed pan use, no PT/OT eval and no ambulation.

At the end of the day, my father is alive and I am thankful for those who kept him that way. However, it should not have been for 3 weeks and under these type of conditions.

My assumption is that since the building is being bought out- most staff don’t care and are burnt out. Please take your loved ones to a different hospital, I was lucky to know what to look for and to be a strong advocate...

This place disgusts me.

Saint Peter’s Hospital should not be delivering babies. What I went through here was inhumane, neglectful, and emotionally scarring. I was treated with more care at the DMV than I was as a mother recovering from major surgery with a newborn.

After a C-section, I was left in excruciating pain. My legs were so swollen I couldn’t lift them on my own. My nurse couldn’t care less. She refused to give me the pain medication I was prescribed. I begged. I was told to wait for Motrin and move around while my body screamed in pain. Three days later I found out I had been prescribed stronger medication the entire time. No one told me. No one offered it. They just let me suffer. When I finally asked for it, I was treated like I was trying to score heroin. If the doctor prescribed it i shouldn't have to fight ny nurse every single time i ask for it. The disrespect was sickening.

Then came the emotional manipulation. I wanted to breastfeed. I was shamed into giving my baby formula. Staff told me I was starving him and paraded more people into my room to push their agenda. Not one person stopped to educate me or support me. They saw a vulnerable mother and crushed her confidence. The lactation consultant physically hurt me, pumped me with the wrong equipment (wrong flange) and left me bruised and traumatized after pumping and physically milking me like a cow for 2 hours! That experience destroyed breastfeeding for me permanently.

As if that wasn’t enough, same nurse that was probably stealing my pain medication claimed my baby had a seizure. No one else saw it. No tests confirmed it. But based on her word alone, they snatched my baby and locked him in the NICU for two weeks. Every day brought a new excuse to keep him. He was perfectly healthy. They just wouldn’t give him back. I spent the first two weeks of his life crying alone in a room while strangers kept him "under observation" for something that never happened. It felt like punishment, not care.

They also turned off my epidural for five hours during active labor. I was 9 centimeters dilated, screaming in agony, and they had no idea. That is not a small oversight. That is pure negligence. That is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

And the final insult? Their billing department tried to extort me. I told them my insurance changed on January 1. All the correct information filled out in the paperwork before and after admission. They still billed the wrong provider, submitted false claims, and sent me a bill for $22,000. My actual insurance confirmed they already paid their portion and that I owed about $2,000. Saint Peter’s ignored it, kept sending fraudulent appeals, and harassed me for money they weren’t owed. It took two years and hours of calls for them to finally admit they had received the full payment and just never applied it. They were trying to steal from me. Period.

This hospital failed in every way a hospital can fail. They ignored pain. They disrespected my choices. They sabotaged my recovery and They took my healthy baby without cause. They violated every standard of care and then tried to profit from it.

Saint Peter’s is not a safe place for mothers or babies. They treat patients like problems, not people. I will never forgive them for what they...

I have used St. Peter's several times in the the last two months as the result of needing emergency care. ER experience was fine and unremarkable. I was admitted and required a procedure and surgery to address root cause of admission. I can say with all honesty that the inpatient experience was not great. You could definitely feel the nursing shortage. It took a very long time to get assistance For comparison, when I had abdominal surgery at RWJ they had you up and walking. At St. Peters they had you in bed with boots to prevent clots. If you had to use the restroom... you waited hours. IV bags leaking all over the floors, nursing took hours. The doctors did a great job at St. Peters from a procedure and surgery perspective. However there was definitely collaboration issues as I was asked what did the other tell you to do. Not in an I want to ensure you understand way, more like I didn't read you chart way. I asked several times for a nutrition consult as I was told I needed to follow a low fat diet. No one could tell what that meant or how to follow it. Never got my consult.

Outpatient follow-up care at MOB building- facility was lovely and service was punctual and efficient. I knew what to expect or not expect.

Follow-up out patient procedure again went very well. Nursing was very attentive. Things moved along timely. Expectations were clear.

Outpatient follow-up from procedure - Cares building- Left alot to be desired. Facility is old looking. Then started with an IT issue and being told by medical assistant I wasn't registered when I actually was registered. No, let's figure this out, go talk to this person. Left me in the waiting room to figure it out. Once I figured it out I was told my doctor was still rounding and had to wait 40 minutes for him - (past my appointment time). Then a resident interrupted us basically 2 minutes after he walked in and doctor told her to wait because she wanted to pull him away for some administrative things for 20 minutes. Spent probably no more than 10 minutes with the doctor. (I like the doctor - you can tell he is a fun competent guy, although not very personable). So I had to spent over an hour waiting for 10 minutes of face to face time. Then when I get to the elevator to leave- the sign says out of service but the elevator is running. So my last experience wasn't the best.

I would say it's a mixed bag with no guarantees as to the level of service. You have to advocate...