St. Christopher's Hospital for Children — Local services in Philadelphia

I wrote this to the CEO and never got a response

Good Morning Mr. Burke,

My name is Julia Olivencia and I wanted to email you about an extremely disheartening experience recently at St Christopher’s hospital.

My daughter was brought in on 9/9/2017 and the pregnant lady at the front in the emergency room was very nice, she actually remembered that we were just there a month ago with the same symptoms. She immediately triaged us and took us back. While we were in the back they started testing my daughter then gave her morphine. I= My daughter is 17 years old and the cause of her pain was not known at this time and I was not asked if my daughter could be given morphine.

They took us upstairs to the 5th floor at 1am and the disaster began. My daughter’s IV had air in it and the machines kept going off because of it and when it was brought to someone’s attention they took their time getting it out. The second IV had a leak and had to get that one changed too. There seemed to be no sense of urgency and the lackadaisical nature of the staff was frustrating.

After hours of testing, I still had no answers and the lack of communication from the nurses and doctor left me continuously frustrated and concerned for the health and well-being of my daughter. My daughter was previously hospitalized at the hospital a month before for her appendix but surgery could not be done due to her platelets being too low. They did not rule it out but it seem they wanted to just put it down as a virus.

The supervisor from the surgical team came to tell me that they decided that she does not need surgery and when I asked about the procedure to change hospitals instead of reassuring me that they are doing everything they can she laughed. This was infuriating and very demeaning.

I finally got a diagnosis which they said she had Salmonella and she then treated as if they were done did not need any more testing to rule anything else out. I asked if she could still have the Gastro intestinal look at her and I was told that they did not think that was necessary.

My daughter was discharged yesterday and I had to go to work so I left my mother there so she can sign any additional paperwork. Before I left they were supposed to give her a note saying when she can go back to school and work, a follow up appointment when she was supposed to come back for her first stool sample and none of this was done.

I got home and reviewed the paperwork and all of the discharge paperwork states that she had abdominal pain which was not the actual diagnosis and she needed 3 stool samples. If I show this to her doctor they would not know what they were testing for.

I need the documents that they said they would draft up and I also need the appointment to follow up. I also wanted to bring to your attention the experience with a gentleman on your security team , on 9/10 I went down stairs to meet my little sister and I first got my bracelet so they know my child was admitted. I did not know I still needed a badge and when I went to leave the male security told me I had to go all the way upstairs to get my badge which was frustrating because I just had a long night and I thought by getting the bracelet I would be ok but the point to saying that is the way he said it was very nasty.

The young lady at the desk pulled me to the side and since I had my ID on hand she just gave me another badge. People that have their children at the hospital are already frustrated due to not knowing what’s going on with your child, not being able to work and being tired so I would suggest training for security to be a little more sensitive to parents. If you could please respond to this email it would be greatly appreciated. If you need to contact me my...

Pediatric endocrinologist are far and few, and then of course they retire or move. That’s what happened to first and then our second. We decided to stay with the APN. However we needed a specific test that only an endocrinologist could request. We were referred here because it was the next closest endocrinologist.

The test took 6 hours and required a lab draw every 30min. Right off the bat, the endo barely even looked at our records, but apparently noticed our insurance and told us straight up she has never gotten it to cover the treatment we needed. Then she asked if we even wanted to continue with the test.

Ummm yesss!!! My son obviously needs help and at least the test will give him a diagnosis to even attempt to get him treatment. (We started the journey 5 years prior!!! )

So disappointed that your specialist didn’t even seem to care and straight up told us basically she won’t even try. She then gave us the option of seeing her or our APN. Of course I declined her offer. Why would I when that was the first line out of her mouth upon meeting her even BEFORE examining or testing my child?!

We went back to our APN, who looked at our test results and said straight up she’ll go toe to toe with the insurance for us because we definitely needed the treatment. We did get denied on the first script but whatever she did, got the extremely pricey medication delivered to our doors within 3w of the test that gave us a diagnosis….. no thanks to your doctors though.

The nurses for the test were extremely nice though and the security and receptionist as well. I was just blown that a doctor would just state that to a mother who has been looking for answers for her child for years. Like wow. I already felt bad making my son go through the test but for her to crush our hopes in front of my child before the test was out of line. Like she didn’t even care what the results were, because she didn’t have success in the pass, she questioned why I would even attempt to get a dx. Ummm hello??? Because my child needs help? Funny how our APN got the medication approved and to our front door just a few weeks after the initial tests whereas your doctor didn’t even want to try and instead tried to persuade me from even doing the test, even though we waited FIVE years for...

I brought my 7 year old to the ER on Saturday by approximately 0430 (and only brought her here because holy redeemers pediatric ER was closed); there were maybe 3 or 4 kids there so everything went quickly; I explained what was happening and told them the main reason I brought her in was because her respirations were in the 50's and she seemed to be struggling; she had already been diagnosed with influenza A 2 days prior with symptoms starting a week prior; everyone seemed more focused on her vomiting which is very understandable because dehydration was definitely another worry for me; she saw 3 doctors who were all excellent and so sweet and too many nurses that I lost count; $200.00 later, she received a dose of Tylenol (and only because I said that her body felt hot even though the thermometer showed no fever..... Although they did an axillary temp later and she had a low grade fever), a dose of zofran to help with the vomiting and a vanilla Dixie cup; we waited a little bit, did a sugar check and then they saw that she didn't vomit again and sent us home with a script for ibuprofen and a zofran; a little bit after we got home, she threw up again but she was so tired that she fell asleep immediately; I called them the next day to let them know that she was still having the same issues and would there be another co-pay or would we be covered; unfortunately each visit counts as a co-pay and I figured I would go and see her primary; 3 days later we find out she has pneumonia in both lungs.......Explains the breathing issue; I suppose it's my fault for not pushing for a chest x-ray but if the qualified professionals couldn't figure it out, how was I supposed to? If you end up taking your child there, please push for what you think is needed; I've heard of $200 steaks but this was the first time I heard of a $200 vanilla Dixie cup; I should fight to get my money back but they're not worth the argument.

Edit to add: what's the point in calling that number?? I've emailed twice now...