St. Joseph's University Medical Center — Local services in Paterson

LONG BUT PLEASE READ IT MIGHT SAVE YOUR LIFE! My Mom was in the hospital several times last year and already 2 times this year. Her most recent visit was a disgrace. I made a BIG mistake not to call an ambulance. We arrived to the ER on Sunday, July 28th at 6:00pm to be greeted by a woman that looked me over from top to bottom and then proceeded to just ignore me as she stared at her computer screen. I didn't walk away and finally she acknowledged me. Explained my mom was discharged on the 18th (10 days ago) and that she is in severe pain, unable to walk, having difficult breathing, explained she is turning yellow and her stomach is all bloated and getting larger. They told me to provide her name etc and for us to sit down to wait to be called. We got called to the registration desk about 1/2 hour later where we gave additional information. Again sit and wait to be called about another 1/2 hour. Called again to bring her to a woman in a small room that hooked her up to an a monitor. I had to lift my mom myself as this woman just stood and watched me struggle. Once she was done we were told to go in the hallway to wait to be called. 2 1/2 hours later we got called to a registration desk to take more insurance information and for her to sign in. I asked how long and was told that our name will be called. We sat there for what seemed days but was hours. I kept going up to the desk to plead for them to see my mom as she was turning more yellow and was in extreme pain. they said just to sit down and wait to be called. I begged and begged, my mom cried in pain and nothing. Finally after 6 1/2 hours later they called her name. We went inside the doctor checked her out and ordered test. It wasn't long after the test were taken and read the doctor came and indicated that she has a blockage in her large intestine that caused a rupture and that she needed immediate surgery. I was told we didn't have time for a second opinion as the stuff that has been leaking in her stomach for over 6 hours is now threatening her life. He white blood count was so high and she has a major infection. So for all those hours sitting begging and pleading for someone to examine her meant nothing to those ppl at the front desk of the ER now my 81 year old mom is fighting to live. The staff at the ER had no compassion and could care less. As a matter of fact I felt that every time I approached them my mom was pushed further down the list as ppl that came in after us were called before us. The staff laughed when about half a dozen ppl got up and took of the bracelet and walked out he door. Is this the goal so they still bill insurance for your time sitting in the waiting room? The amount of names called and nobody stood up because they were gone without telling staff. Now my mom is in ICU fighting for her life. Her heart is weak, her body is weak and because of the wait she now has a colostomy bag. The way she and other people were treated that night is unfair and inhumane. Where is her rights as a human being to be treated with dignity and respect. Where is her right to get medical attention in a very clear evident emergency. Who is responsible that her life was on the line while those ppl just ignored us and could care less. Anyone that had eyes could have seen that something very serious was going on with her. Please do not take your loved one to this ER. The doctors and nurses inside are saints but to get to them you first need to recon with the devils at the desk that should not be there....

Worst damn hospital in the world … not only do I know a handful of people who have died at the care of the staff in this hospital due to simply not checking in on the properly or just plain right not caring is absolutely disgusting. This whole hospital actually needs to be shutdown. I genuinely get scared for the people I care about when they tell me they are at Saint Joseph’s in Paterson. Especially if it’s something tragic , because I do not expect them to even come back alive . Not only that but when I went there about two years ago as well (first mistake) I had a huge cut from a glass window on the top of my hand so deep and big where u can see my bone. Blood was non stop falling out of my cut that was about the size of my entire top of hand, and I when I entered the emergency room clearly in pain and bleeding with a huge open wound (IF U WORK IN HEALTHCARE U SHULD KNO ANYBODY WITH AN OPEN WOUND THAT DAMN BIG SHOULD GET A TETNUS SHOT OR AT LWAST CAREED FOR RIGHT AWAY) but bc of how unprofessional and careless these people are I had to wait about twenty minutes . I ignored that and entered the room finally where they had given me a pink plastic container bowl to put my hand in there while all my blood fell out. During this the nurse kept rolling in and out of the room with her laptop asking me about my insurance . My father works at a hospital for 25 years . IVE HAD INSURANCE MU WHOLE LIFE. But no the nurse REFUSED to care for me until she found my insurance . IT TOOK OVER TWO HOURS FOR THIS NURSE TO COME IN AND ATTEND TO Me AND HELP ME AT ALL UNTILL SHE FOUND MY INSURANCE. I was left in the room crying in pain with no papertowel no medicine no help from anyone just me and my open wound that was gushing blood and the PINK STUPID BLOW . This lady had the nerve to tell me she was spelling my name wrong the whole time ! And on top of that I was never given any shot at all . They let a young first week student stitch me up that left me horrible huge keloids because of the terrible stitching he did. And it doesn’t stop there. I was told to keep my cast on for two weeks and come back to take the stitching out:l. I waited exactly two weeks and returned to take them out and the nurse that was helping me told me that I waited way to long and it should have only been on for about 5-7 days. Because of the wrong information I was given my stitches had embedded into my skin which meant that the nurse had to literally dig into my skin with a needle(I had absolutely no numbing medication for that) and this whole process was extremely extremely painful. These people are all stupid and actually are just there for the money . No heart or souls inside that place. I wish I remembered everyone’s names but unfortunately I don’t . Just would never recommend or ever go back there again. And if someone you love is seriously injured please consider going somewhere else . I made that mistake bringing my loved one in last year and he died within three days because ethe decided to take their dandy time to transfer him to another hospital. They never check on my baby they never cared for him: I fought everyday with to tell me what is going on and I got nothing. evil...

This is by far the absolute worst hospital ever! if I could give zero stars, I would have. My elderly father was transported to this hospital after sustaining an injury to his hand. The trauma staff rushed him to surgery but only to stop the bleeding, according to speaking to the orthopedic physician the next day he blamed it on the hospital's staff incompetency for not calling him to operate on the same day, rather my dad had to stay another night in that hell hole to actually fix the damage. Since my father was transported to the hospital and for 2 full days we could not get anyone to provide us with a status on his condition or the extent of his injuries, every nurse we see, tells us the obvious, he cut his hand, and instructed, every time, any further information or for any questions we have, we must speak to a doctor but that doctor never showed up. Not until the next day at 8pm when his surgery was finally scheduled that we got to speak to the most arrogant and demeaning doctor ever, who couldn't even answer 90% of our questions or give us a clear status of the extent of injuries or what the plan is to fix the damage, apparently the doctor was going in the operating room blindly, have not review any of the patient charts or test, x-rays or CAT scan results, instead his understanding of the patient condition was solely based on what the hospital staff had provided him. We, the family and my father, the patient were treated very poorly by most of the hospital staff, specifically the staff on the 4th floor and orthopedic team, most of the doctors and nurses had zero bedside manners, my father's diabetic condition was ignored and poorly managed, he's actually very fortunate that nothing serious happened due to mismanagement of his condition during his stay. The hospital apparently has only one (1) endocrinologist who informed us that the nurses on that floor are not skilled to treat this condition or understand insulin application/intake. The hospital staff acted unprofessionally and in a discriminatory manner towards my father due to his age, ethnicity and disability. They lacked compassion, patience and knowledge. They were more concerned about stepping on doctor's toes than the patient's condition, to the extent that they lied about having more than one orthopedic specialist just so the main physician assigned to the patient is not offended. Showed little to no respect, the nurses were impatient and lacked compassion, the doctors had zero bed manners. Even the hospital's own staff had nothing good to say about the facility. At the end of the day and after a great struggle, we found out that the 3-day of what seemed to be a mandatory stay in the hospital was in fact not necessary at all, the hospital just wanted to cash in on a big fat check from the insurance company, and if it wasn't for fighting they would've made him stay even longer. Beware and if you have the choice avoid going to St. Joseph's if you value the life and safety of yourself and your loved ones. We were fortunate enough to have a medical professional advocate on our side, otherwise, I believe our loss would have been...