Carthage Area Hospital — Local services in Town of Wilna

I had my son here in June 2024. Let me begin with this: most of the nurses, especially Kayley (forgive me if I spelled that wrong) were wonderful. I had an otherwise uncomplicated pregnancy, although I was 41 weeks by the time I naturally went into labor. I had some hypertension a week prior that was resolved. I was not preeclamptic and I was not concerned of that either. I ended up with a cesarean. How? I went to this hospital under the "care" of Dr. Chen. I was seen by her at the hospital a week before my delivery for blood pressure monitoring. She did not know why I was there! She automatically assumed I was there to be induced, and then ASKED me "so... why are you here?" if not for an induction. I hoped for an all-natural labor my entire pregnancy. I was hopeful the horror stories wouldn't be as bad as they say. I was admitted at 5cm and labored until 9.5cm without an epidural. Dr. Chen was extremely washy and appeared to intentionally inflict stress on the patient (it's very hard to labor naturally if you are stressed, this frequently results in a stalled labor and I knew this). She would tell me I had a time limit ("you have 3 hours or I'm giving you pitocin", "you have 30 minutes to push or you're getting a c section") and then NEVER followed it, either giving me an extra two hours before following through with her threats or completely taking my time away. Her first cervical check on me, she said she was JUST going to check my progress. I did not want ANYTHING done to me without discussion first. Of course, she instead kept her fingers very painfully inside during the check (I was squirming) and then asked if she could break my water. I said no, telling her to pull her fingers out, and she said, again, another threat: "it's either this or pitocin". I had NO chance to discuss it, it was a violation of consent. I was either going to remain in pain or give her what she wanted. I said "fine" just to get her out of me and I cried right after. I cried multiple times because of this woman. There was no way my labor was going to progress under these conditions. I did make it to 10cm, but it took too long. By then I had extreme swelling and my baby's head was also swollen, leading to the cesarean. When I wanted to push and was ready, I was told not to. I should not have listened. I carry the guilt and trauma from this experience and it will never leave me. Not to mention, my epidural for the cesareans was botched so I felt the ENTIRE operation. It was slightly numb, but it was not nearly what it needed to be. I told them over and over again as soon as I felt the knife on me that I could still feel it. My epidural was not working, as it had not been a few hours before that as well, and I was ignored. The staff had inserted a kinked IV in my hand so that wasn't working either (they were all aware of this and did not bother to change it out). My catheter was inserted incorrectly and (remember, I could feel all of the pain during this) they pulled a full bladder out of me (this one they didn't know about, but could have checked sooner). All I wanted was to see my son after he was born and hold him as soon as possible. I was crying so hard, I was screaming, I was about to go into shock, when the nurse (I could barely see her at this point) asked if I wanted to see him and I regretfully said no. I didn't want to meet him like that. It was the worst experience of my life to date. If you want a better birth experience than me, please hire a doula (don't be cheap like I unfortunately was) or find somewhere else to go if you value your mental health. I will never forget Dr. Yu Chin Chen for the worst...

I had a so-so experience. I first started as a radiology patient that then was sent to the ER for a potential obstruction. The radiology reception/check in woman was wonderful! Very empathetic and friendly. The ultrasound tech guy was also very kind and friendly. Radiology was great over all! The ER reception/check in woman was also fantastic. She was very kind and explained things well. Another positive was definitely Dr. Wu! He came in and was very empathetic to my pain while trying to understand what was going on. He never made me feel like a burden and was great about doing his part. The guy who did my CT scan was also cool.

Unfortunately, I can’t name any of the nurses or anything. No one introduced themselves to me. I think my main nurse was the guy with the beard, because he tried to take my blood at one point (I had already done a blood test that same day) and informed me I needed a pregnancy urine sample prior to getting a CT. I think he forgot about me, because I waited 40 minutes after giving my urine sample before anyone even came back to check on me. The woman who did check my vitals said, “You’re unhooked!” And I informed her I got unhooked 40 mins prior when I went to pee and no one had come back since then. She was cool enough and had a good sense of humor, which deescalated the situation a bit. I also heard her asking the male nurse if he had forgotten about me. When he came in a few minutes later, he claimed the lab was backed up? Which is concerning since it was a simple pregnancy dip while in the ER. I know none of the nurses names. At one point a third nurse came in and handed me medicine. I asked what it was for, because she hadn’t told me. Her name tag was flipped so I couldn’t see her name.

It’s true that you can hear everything going on while there. I don’t mind people having fun at work; in fact I encourage it! I’d rather have people enjoying themselves than miserable, but it was a bit surreal hearing nurses talk illy of people and talk about drinking and partying with certain patients they recognized. I felt like a burden, especially when I’d left the room for tests or to urinate and no one looked up from their computers or acknowledged me in any way. Not only this, but there seemed to be no streamlined communication. No one seemed to know if I had been to my CT yet, so I had the doctor come in confused about why I hadn’t even been there yet. Then I had some random nurse tell me I’d be getting an IV and be sent to my CT scan soon, when I had already been there and the doctor had already come back in to read my results and do further checks. I never got that IV, which probably would have helped with my dehydration and headache haha.

Overall, it was a mid experience. The worst ER I’ve been to, but I’ve only been to a few so that’s not saying much. Maybe invest in a streamlined communication method and some...

When I arrived, I checked in at the counter and was seen by a receptionist immediately, and I was grateful for that. Admissions took a little bit of time, but still seen in a timely manner. That being said, when asked why I came into the ER, I stated that I had been heavily coughing for about a month and I went from feeling like my rib had been bruised to that same rib having popped where I assumed I had fractured the rib. She proceeded to ask if I felt anything weird or if the baby was still moving, and I said that the baby still felt normal. I still would've appreciated to have been seen by labor and delivery as I am 33 weeks pregnant to ensure that baby was doing fine. I then spent the next 3 and a half hours in the waiting room. My husband finally asked admissions why I hadn't been seen by labor and delivery, and admissions said that it was because I said that the baby felt normal. I may have felt the baby was normal, but I was also in a great deal of pain and breathing shallow due to the pain in my rib, so I had no way of knowing for sure if my baby was doing ok. I was finally taken to the back to be seen. The PA that was on shift came to the partitioned/curtained bed area I was in (did not properly greet or introduce himself, I only knew who he was because his ID badge said PA) and he merely stated, "this is going to sound harsh, but we (the ER) don't necessarily care if you broke a rib, unless it punctured a lung or you were experiencing pneumothorax." I can understand that may be the case as I understand there is only so much that can be done for a broken rib (I've previously had 11 broken ribs due to a car accident), but what kind of bed side manner is that! He did not even ask me how I was doing or what my concerns were. He made no inquiry to even ask if I felt anything weird concerning the baby. To make matters worse, when he finally asked why I thought I had broken a rib, his follow-up question looking over at my husband who was sitting in the corner with our 1 year old daughter, he asked "oh is he beating you or anything? Haha." He asked in a "joking" manner. Thank God that is not the case in our house, but if it were, how would I even begin to answer that question if my abuser were sitting next to me?! That PA had no ounce of situational awareness or professionalism about him. He made the prescription, but never explained what each prescription was specifically for, and I only knew what I was being prescribed because the RN clarified what they were, but again no one explained why. I felt so helpless and felt regret for having...