Piedmont Newnan — Local services in Newnan

Came in to the ER at 7:30pm on Mon bc I had right lower abdominal pain. Was pretty sure it was appendicitis. Got triaged and called to the back rather quickly. Was put in a hallway with 4 chairs. No hippa privacy. After the only good nurse there placed an IV and gave me fluids I finally went back for a CT scan. The two ladies that helped me were a delight because they knew I was alone and intimidated by the experience. Went back to my little hallway chair. The dr came by and asked ‘so what brings you here?’ Told him I was pretty sure I had appendicitis. He condescendingly said ‘.. why do you think that?’ I just looked at him and told him where it hurt. He checked my belly and after saying ‘hmm’ walked away. I was left with waiting for a while for my results. After an hr or so the doctor came back and told each of us one by one what was wrong. Again, no privacy. He came to me and said ‘well you’re right. It is appendicitis.’ He was getting ready to walk away and I stopped him and said ‘..so do I stay here? What’s next?’ He looked annoyed and said ‘well, you can’t go home. You’ll have surgery in the morning’ Then turned to walk away and answered his phone. The way he handled me when I was by myself felt overwhelming so I dismissed myself and cried in the bathroom. Came back composed while the nurse told me I was going to received hours worth of IV antibiotics (he was also very nice and told the charge nurse he would get me a room and some pain meds). As I sat there composed because I don’t show emotion in front of others. The lady in the next chair said ‘you must not be in very much pain. You don’t need pain meds.’ Again, no privacy. I finally got to a room and was hooked up to IVs in my AC with the lights blaring and NO ONE told me what was going to happen next. I panicked because when I pressed the call light NO ONE answered. I had to pee, felt alone, and scared. Considered peeing in the corner of the room. Finally someone came in and was annoyed I was crying and concerned about what was going on and she just said ‘I’m not your nurse’ I’ll send someone in. They never came. At 3AM my husband finally arrived after I told him my antibiotic IV was leaking all in my bed for 35 mins and no one was answering my call light. By 4am the nurse came in and fixed it and said it was important I received all of this and then walked out. After no answers on when I would be getting surgery and having the IVs pull on my arms all night. It was 8AM and no one came in my room since even after calling the call light. I almost ripped my IVs out that seemed to not even be dripping and my husband finally demanded that someone come and speak to me about what was to transpire the next day and stop ignoring me. A nurse came and looked at my labs and said she wasn’t my nurse but would see what my chart said. WHERE WAS MY NURSE THE WHOLE TIME?! She explained I would be getting surgery at 3PM that day. My family came and stayed in the room with me and finally ‘my nurse’ came in at 12 noon and asked if I knew my surgery was schedule at 3. I said ‘yeah, I know now after I was shoved in this room and demanded someone to explain what the heck was happening.’ He just scooted out. After that the PCT came in and brought me some wash to wash myself and walked out with the blinds still open. It felt like these people didn’t care about me whatsoever. I was told I was NPO but a nurse brought me ice chips. Once I was finally brought to the second floor I felt like I was royalty. They treated me with such compassion and care. It was a whole new world and Dr. Adamu was a fantastic and informed surgeon. The anesthesiologist was caring. Everyone from pre to post op was fantastic and apologized for me feeling like the ER didn’t care whether I lived or died. The amount of eye rolling and lack of checking on me was insane. All night I heard the nurses laughing& could see them sitting at the nurse station while I was 20 ft away crying because I had to pee and no one was coming. MyChart had meds I NEVER received&questions they...

Recently, on August 9th, in the afternoon, my mother was sent to the emergency room (ER) at Piedmont Hospital in Newnan, Georgia, by her Licensed Independent Practitioner (LIP). The reason for her admission was critical lab values from August 8th, which indicated severe dehydration and an electrolyte imbalance. Prior to this, she had been experiencing severe gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms at home for about 3-4 days, leading us to suspect a stomach virus.

On August 9th, her LIP called her to inform her that she needed to report to the ER immediately. The LIP then called the ER twice to alert them about my mother’s arrival and to request the initiation of IV fluids upon her arrival. She arrived at the ER a little after 2 p.m., signed in, and her vital signs were taken. However, she had to wait a very long time before being admitted.

Many other patients were admitted before her, which made it evident that there were disparities in healthcare in the ER that day. A family member questioned the admission nurse about why other patients were being brought back before my mother, and the nurse responded that my mother was not sick enough.

I have two questions for this facility:

How does the nurse know how sick anyone is before looking at their blood results? Is this how Piedmont Hospital trains their nurses? Does she not know the proper way to explain the levels of triage in an ER?

The nurse showed a lack of compassion and clearly had no idea of how sick my mother was. It’s important to note that there were two nurses working in the ER that day: the vital signs nurse was nice, but the intake/admission nurse was not courteous.

I would have to say that the admission nurse was rude and would most likely benefit from re-training in communication skills for healthcare professionals. The care provided to my mother or anyone else in the ER was simply unacceptable. As a person in healthcare for over 30 years, this is disheartening.

After waiting for over 6 hours, my mother was eventually brought back to the ER for evaluation. She underwent additional lab work and received IV fluids. She was seen by an MD, who later discharged her to home before all lab values were returned, which was a bit surprising to me. The next day, Piedmont ER informed me and my family that my mom needed to return immediately due to blood work that resulted in a serious infection requiring IV antibiotics. Upon her return, the rude admission nurse told my mom that she had refused to be admitted the night before, which was untrue. This nurse essentially lied! The MD, whose initials are AH, was working again on the Sunday, and my mom questioned her about this. The MD confirmed that she had discharged her. To the nursing manager of this Piedmont Hospital ER, please retrain this person who is pretending to be a nurse. Calling patients out as liars is unacceptable! I had asked a family friend to obtain that specific nurse’s name, but mysteriously, none of the staff working with her that day knew her name. It’s very odd, especially considering the close proximity they were working in. No one had a clue of what her name was. This is complete deception, and I’m ashamed of the staff working that day in your facility for attempting to cover for her! My mother was eventually admitted to the hospital because she was indeed ‘sick enough’ with salmonella and required IV antibiotics. Once she was brought to a private room, the floor staff showed more compassion than ‘Nurse Ratched’ in Piedmont’s ER in Newnan on August 9 and 10. Her condition could have gotten much worse, like sepsis, while she was rotting and waiting for quite some time to be seen in your ER. Again, a practitioner sent her to the hospital for immediate care, but the staff lagged with any compassion. I’m grateful for the positive outcome, but your hospital is fortunate to get any stars.

Thank you for your time in looking into this matter. I would appreciate a call as soon as possible before we take any further...

My life was risked from substandard care while hospitalized. I was admitted for for 5 days with aspiration pneumonitis.

I did not get many medications critical to my health & well-being. Only medications prescribed by Piedmont's doctors were correct. Other medications had incorrect dosages & administration instructions. Ones I NEED to take every day, were listed as optional. Other medications, I never got. The pharmacy made substitutions, even after I brought my own medicine. They kept two costly medications I take that they don't stock. Everything else went home. The substitutions gave me very elevated blood pressure.

After forty-eight hours, I had severe insomnia (No sleep for 66 out of 72 hours.), & had intermittent cognitive impairments. I had severe muscle spasms and myoclonic seizures. The nurses watched but didn't help. They decided that my rapid and labored breathing rate upon standing & walking was "anxiety". I was left alone most of the time, even though There was a big sign on door that said "Fall Risk".

The hospital did not address my inability to sleep. They stopped coming to my room. They were dismissive, & ignored my pleas for pain relief. They denied me an ice-pack for my migraine, or a heating pad for my back. Errors on one critical medication went over 48 hours. Errors on the other critical medication were never fixed. I did without. I suffered so much. It was torture.

My son brought all my medications in their prescription bottle. The charge updated the computer on Friday night. I was admitted on Tuesday. Even with the corrected information, I never got my second medication. So, my insomnia & intermittent cognitive impairment continued.

I was underfed. My hospital meals were between 900 and 1100 calories per day. Some items were inedible, such as melted ice cream. I lost nine pounds by the end of my 5 day stay.

I had untreated hyponatremia. My sodium & other electrolytes were far below average on lab tests. Nothing was done. My son brought salt packets to add to my food. He brought fast food & protein bars. I still lost weight. I had no I.V. for fluids.

I asked for a patient advocate. None came. I tried to talk to the doctors. They didn't come by. I was isolated in my room.

The floor in my room was FILTHY (See Pics). I used a rolling chair, porta potty a basin of soapy water & my feet to clean it. I could not stand up. It took hours, because I to rest every few minutes.

At discharge, I protested, because I was still having intermittent cognitive impairments. Since my son is autistic, with bipolar disorder and PTSD, this meant there would be no competent adult in the home during my periods of cognitive impairment. They sent me home with severe sleep deprivation & ongoing side effects from stopping my medications cold turkey.

I was improperly discharged. The hospital did not meet its standards of care in my case. I resorted to taking pictures to check in on myself. I ended up writing lists of what I still needed with the dry erase marker on the board that lists the patient's care team. I was sent home with that list not completed and my concerns unaddressed.

The most disheartening thing was the simple lack of faith, belief or trust in what I was telling them. At 56 years old with multiple significant medical conditions, I know my body very well.

I think I could have died if I stayed. This hospital is not competent in dealing with patients who are having memory problems and confusion. They wanted me to ask for some of my medications when I could not recall what had already been given to me that day, or what medications I needed to ask for.

I went back to the ER Saturday night to get the breathing treatment I did not get that morning. I was refused. Despite an abnormal blood gas test, which showed low oxygen saturation, I went home with nothing done. They did another lung X-ray, but my pneumonitis was not detected on multiple X-rays (6). It was detected by a CT scan. The hospital made me sicker. I have lost all...