HMH Old Bridge Medical Center — Local services in Old Bridge

This is the worst ER I have ever been to. PLEASE DO NOT GO HERE IF YOU’RE HAVING A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS. You will leave more upset, panicked, and traumatized than you were coming in.

I voluntarily entered the ER here because I was having a really bad panic attack and needed a safe space to calm down. I was placed in the psych ward and they ended up holding me overnight AGAINST MY WILL all because there wasn’t a doctor there to evaluate me when I arrived. I was kept in a room literally the size of a jail cell, with only the most uncomfortable bed in the world, a TV that I couldn’t even keep the remote control for, and a small window that was so high up I couldn’t see outside without standing on my bed. I was held involuntarily for 18 hours. I was lied to several times, the first being the reason why they were holding me overnight. Then I was told that I would be evaluated first thing in the morning as soon as the doctor arrived at 5 or 6 AM. That was another lie. Apparently the doctor wasn’t even scheduled to come in that day, so the nurses were scrambling to find someone who could actually evaluate me. They ended up having to connect me to a doctor at their sister hospital via telehealth, and I was not released until around 11AM the next morning.

The daytime staff did not care about their patients at all. The poor man in the room next to mine (who was also being held against his will) simply wanted to walk around in the hallway outside our rooms because we were caged in like animals and he needed a little more space. The nurse on staff practically yelled at him to return to his room and made security drag him back in. The nighttime staff graciously let me use the hospital phone to talk to my partner because I was separated from him without any warning when they admitted me. I asked again to use the phone in the morning to talk to him and was only on the call for ten minutes before the nurse came in and confiscated the phone from me because “I was upsetting the other patients.” I was telling my partner on the phone that the staff lied to me, and I guess the nurse didn’t want the man in the room next to mine to hear how horrible they treated me.

I have been to four separate ERs in my life for psych evaluations, and have been released into the care of my partner only a few hours later each of those times. This is the first hospital to ignore my wellbeing and make the grave mistake of thinking it was better to hold me there against my will. As someone who has previously been diagnosed with PTSD, I left HMH Old Bridge absolutely traumatized and had nightmares about my stay for over a month after. I couldn’t sleep, I fell behind in my schoolwork and almost failed my college classes because of my hospitalization, and I had no appetite for two weeks after and ended up losing 10 pounds that I have not been able to gain back. I still look back on that night and shudder.

The staff during my stay violated the Hippocratic Oath. Do no harm? Yeah right. They ended up inflicting on me more harm than good. My experience in the ER for those 18 hours has discouraged me from ever seeking help from a hospital during a mental crisis again. How they can treat someone in a mental crisis the way they treated me is beyond my comprehension. Horrible hospital. Shame on them for what...

My husband went to the ER for a partial blocked bowel. I can say enough good things about the EMT Drivers - outstanding! I cant say enough about the nurses in ER - outstanding (short handed - but outstanding). I stop there. The rest is horrible. The way my husband was treated was horrible. Just horrible. I have never ever seen him so angry. ** They messed with his medication all the time - changed it (how he didnt go into shock I have no idea), gave it to him to late, wrote the wrong time on the boards, on and on. ** There was zero communication, he was talked AT not talked to (I was on the phone with him when I heard one Nurse yell at him "I am busy Mr. Hoffman, you are NOT my only patient!!" (Hey, nobody told you to be a nurse). ** On Monday he was told he most likely wouldn't need surgery ** On Wednesday he was told he needed exploratory surgery! **NO new xrays were taken so why was surgery needed? No answer could be given. Second opinion was requested. **Doctor stopped in for 5 min each night, advised if he didn't do surgery, he needs to sign himself out. **Second opinion determine that NO SURGERY NEEDED (new xray was done and finally somebody explained the xray and what was happening - up to this point NOBODY not the doctor, surgeon or nurse explained or even showed the xray to my husband. Only the outside second opinion doctor! Thank god for him) **When they released him the doctor said she still believed he needed surgery (the egos are too big - too too big) . *When my husband left he told the nurse (he did have 2 really good nurses he liked alot) and doctor that they were very dangerous and they were gonna kill somebody. He is right. This hospital is very dangerous. I have to wonder how many people had surgery they didn't need?! etc. **Just for one final mistreatment - they had My husband walk down to the waiting room to meet me to take him home. NO WHEELCHAIR! A nurse carried his bag for him as he walked to me. No real food for over a week. He had not been out of bed for over a week (and no compression socks!) BUT they let him walk to the waiting room.... big of them to carry his bag.

Please save the auto repose of "call our (whatever it is called office)" as we take this serious. No you don't. Look at all the other comments above. You cant even take the time to respond to each comment individually - no. You have a program look for low stars and automatically shoot of a response. Youre not fooling anyone. If you cared - you would respond.

A survey came in the mail the other day - My husband will be filling it out - attaching a letter detailing all that happened and mailing it in - To anyone reading this - please, if you go to this hospital, just know you have to be our own advocate. Know whats happening. Ask questions. Be careful.

I also want to say that many many years back my husband almost died - nobody knew what was happening. It ended up he had some blood infection that was attacking his heart. During this he was at this hospital and the care he received was amazing The doctors and nurses - everyone - was so great. I am not sure what happened - but undo it. You use to be amazing - now...

I went nto the emergency room trusting the professional healthcare workers at this facility. I had gone in for chest pains. I had a stint two years ago. The Doctor said that they want to keep me overnight to monitor me. So they moved me to A room. I had no appetite lunch was brought to me. Dinner was brought to me as the lady had come to take the tray.She asked if there was anything I wanted on the tray.I said yes leave the coffee. I was told during the 1st day that somebody would come in to talk to me.I was there from early morning.Never heard from 1 person about my situation.But I was told I was there for observation overnight. The next morning at 7 AM 2 nurses came in.during shift change. Questioning me upset.Where did I get this coffee. Now I cannot do the test that is scheduled. I said to both Of them.I was never informed.I was gonna do a test never informed.I was not supposed to eat or drink after 12 o'clock.Then they said oh.Well we'll have to talk to the doctor to see if it can still be done. The Doctor comes and talks to me. He says oh I guess you're gonna have to stay another night. I told him that I was never informed. Asked if I could do this on an outpatient's basis. He said yes, I asked him to release me. He said I would have to speak to the other heart Doctor at this point. They had not given me my correct medicine on the 1st day. And now. No one had told me of a procedure that was supposed to take place and me not eating from twelve o'clock the night before. I signed myself out.They were not happy once you go against the medical profession they get very angry. They had taken my pills when I'd come into.The hospital said that they could not be in the room and put them in a pharmacy.The next day I tried to go back and get them and I had more of a hard time just trying to pick up my pills that were mine from v.A. I had a nurse start to tell me.I shouldn't have signed an A.DA and taken myself out of the hospital.And I explained to him I was not gonna get into discussion with him over this just to pick up my pills and be gone. Please Do what you're supposed to do given people their proper medicine that is already prescribed for them , blaming them for your fault of not informing tnam of a procedure and trying to get you to stay another night. I wonder is this insurance fraud. Or were they trying to give me a heart attack. How many other people do they fail to inform of Procedures or test. All of the nurses were very good. With the exception of the 7am morning last meeting where they got upset with me because of...