HCA Florida Putnam Hospital — Local services in Palatka

This was the worst hospital I've ever been to in my entire life and I have lived in nine US states and three different countries. back in February I went there with severe pain in my right side screaming and Agony in the waiting room. there were people coming to ask me if I was okay... they were all other patients. not a single time did a nurse or anyone come out to triage me. I was there about 15 to 20 minutes. I told my husband to take me home that I would rather die at home than in this horrible Hospital waiting room due to lack of care. I got home and my pain got remarkably worse I called the ambulance .regrettably that was the only hospital they would bring me to .all this hospital did was pump me full of narcotic drugs ,run up an extraordinary huge Bill and tell me that they could not handle my case there and we're going to send me to one of their sister hospitals the next morning I asked them if I wanted to go to a different hospital if I could. they said yes but the clock would start over again and they would not give me pain medicine if my husband were to drive me. so off we go to their HCA in Gainesville an hour away, where I lay in bed for another 2 days while I slowly became septic they stalled the clock to rack up the bill while putting my life in danger..when I came in I did not have a fever.... by this time my pain was excruciating I was on an IV drip of antibiotics and heavy narcotics because I had developed an infection due to their negligence to treat my condition in a timely manner. the surgeon came in and told me that there was no operating room available so it might be a day or so before he could get to me. The hospital administrators later said it was the surgeon's decision who got in first. Though I think this Guild surgeon for saving my life the timeliness of Performing this surgery is definitely under scrutiny question. Meanwhile, as I continued to deteriorate I told my husband and my daughter that I thought I was going to die if they did not treat me immediately I asked them to call a hospital administrator and I recanted the story of everything that had happened and I told them I was fearful for my life if they did not do the surgery immediately thankfully within a few hours which was the next morning approximately March 3rd they took out my necrotic gallbladder by this time it was gangrrenous and it had perforated and burst inside me, they said I had a single Stone smaller than a tennis ball but bigger than a golf ball . A few more hours would have meant the difference between life and death, it is nothing short of a miracle that I am alive today. Had my family not been there to advocate for me and if I did not have a medical background knowing that a hospital administrator can make a difference, I might have died there. now I tell my husband to drive me all the way to St Augustine no matter what the condition would be. I would much rather die on the way to a decent Hospital and fulfill my dying wish than to go back to that horrible place. I could hear people screaming in the hallway for nurses , none ever came.... they only paid attention to you if you had family in the room. not to say that there are not a few caring staff members, I do remember one in particular that was very kind and attentive but they have no power... it's all about corporates Corporate America and their greed . many people will die because of it. If at all possible, please do not go here go to a decent hospital where they will actually take care of you where the Hippocratic Oath that says first Do no harm overrides...

I was attended to here due to the fact that I couldn't hold anything down not even water, had a migraine that was unlike any other I've had before and I couldn't really stay awake. I waited for about two hours in the waiting room (which was to be expected your going to an ER) when they brought me back to triage and started taking vitals the gentleman swabbing my nose (testing for covid) was very kind the woman next to him was training him on how to swab the nose both nurses from my understanding. Then I was told to go wait back in the waiting room for my name to be called which again, to be expected. I went in for a CT scan got that checked out. And got placed back out in the waiting room, had to deal with a couple of ignorant people who wanted to make comments about my mother's phone volume even though the TV was A LOT louder yet couldn't have the common sense to ask her to turn it down nicely. But what hey people will be people and they'll run their mouths until you correct it. After dealing with all that drama I was called back again to where they placed me in fast track they talked about my case on the other side of the curtain which I found out my CT came back negative and I had Sepsis, they informed the poor woman attending to patients in fast track to give me meds and discharge. Mind you in this entire experience I had not seen a doctor once, one I overheard picked up a couple shifts and the other was taking steroids and lashing out at patients and blaming it on steroids (so I'm kind of glad I didn't come in contact with any doctor they probably would've been too tired or too overstimulated. Within minutes of sitting in fast track I was listening to gossip and now I know that most money received from the ER comes from fast track the woman came in with a couple of pills (again I can't even hold water down so how I was expected to hold down pills is beyond me) I took them and immediately threw them up, the nurse attending me immediately ran out and got a shot for my migraine and administered it gave me my discharge papers and I left. Later on I found the antibiotic that was given to me had been a discontinued med and that it was discontinued due to the fact that it kills good and bad bacteria as well as making it difficult for me to acclimate to another antibiotic later on.....would've been nice to know before I took it. And maybe if I would've came in contact with any form of doctor they could've explained it a bit further to me. I think the nursing staff is amazing and is probably more educated than the doctors at this point because they're the ones actually treating the patients while the doctors write scripts, if necessary I know to come here only if necessary, and if you get a life threatening condition half of the measures will be taken. I never received fluids but I did receive meds, never seen a doctor but I did see multiple nursing staff....I'm not saying this will be your experience but at least from my experience and review you can base if you feel its worth attending the ER in...

Well I am RN. Have been for 10 years. My father went in for severe back pain after lifting several cinderblocks in his yard. My mother was histerical because he was on the ground and couldn't move. She called 911 and the medics had to pick him up and carry him into the ambulance.

I drove from south Florida nearly 4 hours away to get to him. He had pain medication in the ambulance because he was in dire agony. In the ER almost hours later he recieved Toradol and Valium. My dad begged me to get the PA to give him something else for pain because we all know Toradol does nothing.

I walked over and told the PA he was in agony and he finally ordered Dilaudid and a CT which I had to talk him into ordering because he said that it was not a trauma so their protocol would not allow him to get a CT. Then we had to ask the PA again if he could get a different pain medicine because he was still a pain scale of 10 when he would move just slightly.

They switched nurses and some long dread locked haired old nurse came in rudely and said I'm your new nurse and gave my dad his medicine.

So while he finally was able to move enough to slide over with a board into the CT he left. My mother and I walked out of the room and went outside to get some air. 10 minutes later we walk back in to see my dad.

We were then told VERY rudely by the dark curly haired woman at the front desk that only one person at a time could go see him. Even though we both were in there the whole time. Not to mention there were several people in each room visiting with other patients with children being able to walk around with gloves covering there heads acting a fool.

Well my mother went and I stayed behind. Seconds later my mother frantically came back out of the locked door and called my name and I went back there briskly to see what was wrong.

Then the old security guard followed me I and basically scolded me saying "I thought I told you that you couldn't come back here" I said no you said one at a time. Then I walked up to the curly haired woman at the front desk and asked if my mother came out could I go I to see my father. She said I will ask the nurse.

Of course no word from the rude lady about asking the nurse if I could go back so, I asked the security guard if my mother came out could i go in. He said we'll see in 15. So basically they discharged my dad literally right after his CT still in pain and could barely move. Every little bump in the ride made him moan in pain on the way home.

Ct showed bulging disks and degenerative disks L1-S2. Where I work, he would have been admitted with a diagnosis of intractable back pain until he was stable to go home.

Those PA, nurses and, security guards here are all horrible and rude. I wouldnt take my dog here. Tomorrow I'm writing a...