On Sept 6, my husband severely broke his tibia and fibula, with the bone nearly breaking through the skin. He was sent via ambulance to the Portage location, where we arrived and were placed in a room. For 45 minutes, my husband was left in excruciating pain without any pain medication. The nurse, Leanne, who was incredibly unfriendly, insisted that she could not administer anything without approval. I asked how we could get that approval, and she said it required a physician’s signature, which was apparently impossible to obtain because they couldn’t locate the attending physician or nurse practitioner. My husband was left to suffer, hyperventilating, sweating, and writhing in pain while I had to chase down staff just to get someone to sign off on something as simple as pain relief. I understand that things get busy, but this was beyond unacceptable.
Eventually, a doctor from a different department helped get him seen, and we were informed that he would need surgery, which could not be performed at Portage. They then told us he would be transferred to the Cleveland Main Campus. We live in Kent, and while I asked if we could be transferred to a different hospital (Akron), the doctors insisted that we stay at UH Cleveland for faster care, promising that he would be transferred at 12:30 AM. They didn’t show up until 2:30 AM, and he arrived in Cleveland around 3:30 AM.
Once at Cleveland, the lack of communication and disorganization only worsened. My husband was placed in the trauma unit, and I spent the next few hours asking questions and trying to get updates, but every time I asked for status or clarification on his condition (including if his shoulder needed surgery), I was told "your surgeon would have that information" — from multiple staff members. No one provided us with updates; I had to seek out every piece of information myself. After hours of waiting, he was finally taken to Pre-op.
After his surgery, the lack of communication continued. We were told we’d have to wait for a bed in recovery since they were all full. We waited over 4 hours, with no updates unless I asked for them. It was a completely impersonal and automated system. We were told nothing about his condition post-surgery until I finally tracked down a nurse who informed me that shoulder surgery was not necessary after all. Additionally, I was told by the nurse that decisions about his discharge were “up to trauma,” which contradicted what I had been told earlier, where the surgeon confirmed my husband would be going home after surgery if there were no complications.
After waiting yet another 1.5 hours because the room had not been cleaned (turns out the person cleaning had left midway through), he finally got into a room at 10:00 PM. The next morning, my husband discovered through his chart that his shoulder injury was a dislocation, not a fracture. No one had communicated this to us. To top it all off, physical therapy came in to evaluate him but aborted the session due to concerns about his blood pressure — though later, the doctor dismissed the blood pressure issue and insisted physical therapy was still needed.
There was also the disturbing atmosphere of the hospital — it was like walking through a horror movie. The hallways resembled something out of Mysteries of the Abandoned, with no lighting, flickering exit signs, and a general feeling of disrepair. It’s difficult to feel confident in your care when you're navigating through such an eerie environment.
For those considering care at University Hospitals, please think twice. If it weren’t for the few nurses who actually showed care and effort, I would have known nothing about my husband’s condition. This experience has left me incredibly disillusioned, and I’ll be seeking care elsewhere...
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