NKC Health — Local services in North Kansas City

In the 50+years of using NKCH, this is THE WORST experience I’ve had. I went in through the ER, where I was told I had a kidney stone stuck blocking my left kidney. I was scheduled for surgery the next day and told to expect an extra 2-3 day stay. I met the surgeon in pre-op.He told me about the laser procedure and stint, but he was called away before I could ask questions. *I explained my issues with anesthesia to the anesthesiologist. I woke from the surgery shaking, room spinning dizzy, extremely nauseous and seeing double. The nurse told me to close my eyes, which I did. I was returned to my room shaking so hard I could NOT stand on my own. The shaking remained for the next 30 hours. No one asked if this was normal for me nor tried to address the issue *The surgeon told my daughter on the phone that all the stones were gone, and I was being sent home. *When I was taken to my room, I asked for nausea and pain meds, but nurse said no orders had been left for either, but she would ask the doctor. She returned and said it was too soon for pain medication. *I again asked for nausea medicine but got no response. I was still shaking so hard I could not stand on my own, and needed to be helped to a bedside toilet. Dena, the aide, was concerned and did advocate for me. *A woman social worker had my daughter sign a paper saying she understood that I could only stay in the hospital for 2 midnights, and that discharge documents from both the surgeon and hospitalist had been sent before the surgery had been completed. And that I was to be discharged that day. That was the first time that information was given to us. My daughter talked to the surgeon who said discharge was up to the hospitalist. *we asked to speak to the hospitalist several times and we were told s/he had been paged. S/he never came to my room or contacted us. *I tried ordering food, but was told my food was on hold. I told the nurse and she said she would release it. I tried until 6pm and food was never released. As I am diabetic I’m sure you can see this is not good for me? *I was again told to prepare to be discharged that day, although I was still unable to stand on my own or walk to the bathroom. the 8th floor nurse came in and saw that I was shaking so hard I could not stand. We repeated that we felt it was simply not safe for me to go home. She said I could not stay and left the room. she returned with a large man who rudely said we had to leave several times or he would get security to take us out. I was not listened to or taken seriously. I have a documented history of anesthesia problems, and told the doctor that. my daughter asked what options we had since it was clear it was not safe for me to go home. He asked why I couldn’t go home with her. We replied because her home has more steps than mine. *Then he said there was an acute rehab place but it required a minimum 3 day stay and a diagnosis from PT. *PT came, did an evaluation and said it was not safe for me to go home. After several fits and starts, I was finally discharged via transport to ReHOP. We have NEVER been treated with such lack of communication, rudeness, or lack of concern for my condition at NKCH. The only concern shown to me during my stay was by Dena who helped me during the many times she help me to the bedside commode.

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This place is awful! Poor communication, loud rooms, bad attitudes, deceptive billing.

I went August 25th and they found a spot on my brain. ER wanted to admit me but I declined (the ER doctor I had that night was great — after dealing with NKC more, I’m sure he belongs somewhere better).

Came back the next day and got admitted.

I had an MRI — the woman performing it was so rude. She needs training on what empathy looks like. I just found out I had spots on my head, and she treated me like scum because I was scared.

I was told if my MRI came back ok, they would do a spinal tap. I got 0 communication and was blindsided when they came to get me. They had issues getting fluid out, and it was extremely uncomfortable. Shortly after, I experienced what I would consider the worst headache of my life. I was rocking, crying. It took forever to get medicine, and the migraine cocktail they gave did nothing. I laid on my back, drank water, tried caffeine — nothing helped.

I eventually got some relief and went home. Immediately after, the pain returned, and I had to be taken back to the ER and was readmitted.

The staff were clearly not trained to handle spinal tap issues. Lying down gave relief, but sitting up was unbearable. The front desk was horrible — they finally let me lie in the hallway and then forgot about me.

Once back in my room, a doctor said he’d check if they could give a blood patch. The next morning, I hadn’t heard anything until I had to complain, and around lunch another doctor came.

They admitted me just to rack up a bill and charge thousands of dollars for Naproxen. I told them I wanted to go home because no one was taking me seriously. I was told since it was a holiday, the anesthesiologist wouldn’t come in, so I’d have to wait another day to see if he would even do it. Another night of naproxen, thousands more charged, with no relief.

I shouldn’t have been shocked when I received thousands in bills afterward — including $8,000 for a one-night stay when they hadn’t even decided on a blood patch.

I’ll spare other details for a formal complaint, which will absolutely be filed. They admitted me, overcharged me and my insurance, and didn’t even provide care.

Getting a neurology referral was a nightmare. I had to call NKC; they said it wasn’t their job, it was my PCP’s. My PCP said it should come from the hospital since they diagnosed me. I called the neurology office; they said it had to come from the hospital. I was sent back to MRI scheduling, where Connie was rude, clueless, and hateful.

My PCP said NKC never even sent all my records and were completely disorganized.

Then my neurologist didn’t have my scans or lab work. NKC completely dropped the ball. This gross incompetence caused undue stress, wasted time, and inflated billing to the point of actual robbery.

I will spend the next month filing complaints with every possible location about their improper billing, unnecessary admission, giving only Naproxen, and...

(This review will be a long one) so today I went in to see Megan in the women's health division I've only visited her twice and yet she is always so kind , and she listens and helps me with everything, she is amazing at what she does. Later on I went to the labs to get some blood work done and a lab tech named jasmine she was so real and so true with herself and still so professional too. When I told her that I get woozy from blood being taken due to a condition that I have, she gave me water, lifted up my chair and gave me snacks, and there was also a fan, she was so kind and made sure I was alright before I left today too. These women show that they are REAL women and they work hard. Appreciate them both for all that they do. Also been meaning to make a review to the staff in the emergency room department that helped my daughter after she was bit by a dog a year ago, they were all so kind and took such good care of her. Also one of the nurses went out of her way to get my daughter a bunny stuffy from the gift shop, and my daughter loves that bunny still to this day. The staff that also help removed the stitches from her all worked together and did a great job even though my daughter didn't make it easy. And with the other staff who also helped with the concerns with my daughters injury they listened and got her in right away. North Kansas city hospital is on it! They are all such amazing people and they truly work hard I can't thank them enough. (Reason why for the 4 stars instead of 5) years ago I gave birth to my daughter at this hospital and it wasn't the greatest birth experience. A nurse had given me a dirty needle iv or had maybe misplaced it in my hand, but my hand had gotten infected and swelled up like a balloon. It hurt so bad and I had waited in the emergency room for 8 hours after I had just gave birth. I believe if the hospital does something wrong to a patient they should go out of their way to fix it as soon as possible. Now I also understand that there were other people with worse medical needs it just sucked to have to be away from my daughter that long after I just, had her. That one experience made me not trust nkch very much back then. Now, like I said they are on it. I've been shown that I can trust them with not just me my daughter as well, they all shown that the genuinely care and they are amazing at what they do. They don't get enough appreciation when...