Our experience at Oro Valley Hospital Emergency Room was frustrating, disappointing, and ultimately damaging to our family. My daughter was admitted due to a false statement she made about attempting suicide—a statement she later admitted was untrue. Despite her confession and toxicology labs confirming she had not taken anything, the hospital ignored the truth and forced an unnecessary inpatient admission.
Instead of truly assessing her needs, the staff refused to listen to us as her parents, dismissed valid concerns, and withheld critical medical records when transferring her to another facility. The second psychiatric evaluation, which supported outpatient treatment, was never even sent to the receiving hospital, leading to a wrongful inpatient placement.
Beyond the poor decision-making, the entire ER staff seemed to feed off each other’s negative treatment of me once they saw that one nurse was frustrated. One nurse would dismiss me, roll their eyes, and walk away, only for the next one to come in and do the same thing. It felt like they were ganging up on me, labeling me as a “difficult parent” simply for advocating for my child. Instead of helping, they shut me out, refused to communicate, and treated me like an inconvenience.
One of the most disturbing parts of this experience was when my daughter stepped out of the bathroom, and a nurse immediately grabbed her and rushed her into another evaluation—without my knowledge or consent. This was done behind my back, despite the fact that I had been present for her prior evaluation, where the evaluator agreed that outpatient care was the best option. It was after this secretive third evaluation that they dug deep into their stance decided to push for inpatient admission. As well as giving me the wrong phone number for the 3rd party evaluators.. I still have not gotten copies of these evals.
By the second day, it became clear that staff were deliberately avoiding us. They wouldn’t even come into the room, and my daughter’s food trays were left at the nurses’ station instead of being brought in to her. It was as if our room was being purposefully ignored—like we had the plague. No updates, no communication, just complete avoidance.
Additionally, when I became emotional and upset that they were disregarding medical facts and pushing an unnecessary hospitalization, they labeled me as “belligerent” and even involved security—and called the cops on me, not because I was violent or out of control, but because I was crying and pleading for them to do the right thing.
This hospital’s handling of behavioral health cases is deeply flawed. They rely on outdated information, refuse to acknowledge when a patient’s story changes, and make life-altering decisions without proper review. The entire experience felt like a systemic failure, where policies and paperwork mattered more than the actual well-being of my child.
They threatened CPS, even went as far to add notes in her records that CPS should be called to remove custody from mother!! It was a truly scary and twilight world experience! Makes me sick!!
My daughter is back home safe and sound! But the trauma from this is evident!!
If you or a loved one need mental health care, advocate fiercely for yourself—because this hospital will not. They push patients through a system rather than actually treating them as individuals.
I would not recommend Oro Valley Hospital ER for mental health emergencies or medical emergencies as family members have had similar treatment for visible injuries they just dismissed. They do not listen, they do not communicate, and they...
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