MyMichigan Medical Center West Branch — Local services in West Branch

Worst medial experience I ever had. Was taken to hospital 9/20 after a motorcycle accident. Dislocated thumb, scraps on elbows and knees. Pain in knee, neck, shoulder, back and chest. Problems started right away. After getting vitals, nurse took me to exam room. She was not paying attention and let my injured leg hit a chair while she was moving me. In the exam room, she tried to remove my boots but did not unlace them all the way and tried to remove them by twisting them right and left. I was not able to stand up on my own and she tried to help by lifting the back of my shirt. She did ask "what can I do to help" but I assumed the medical expert would know more about this than the patient. Both the responding doctor and nurse kept hitting my scrapes and dislocated thumb during the exam. I made them aware of the pain they were causing, they said they were sorry, but it continued. The nurse attached the probes to my chest and seemed to be in a hurry to do so. After being discharged she didn't even offer to remove them just told me "You can take them off and leave them on the table." The Xray tech seemed to get annoyed when I could not move my injured hand and knee in the direction she wanted. She never offered any assistance. The doctor gave me a numbing agent and assumed waiting a few seconds would be would be enough for the medicine to dull the pain, it didn't! She then gave me a different pain killer and waited some 15 minutes to try again and that seemed to work. Neither the doctor or nurses cleaned my various scrapes to prevent infection. I had to do this myself when I got home several hours later. Someone came in to set followup appointments but told them I lived some 3 hours away. Later another staff member told me they send a followup request to a facility in Midland. I told them that is 2 hours away from where I live. They had all my contact info. Everyone saw I was unable to walk more than a few steps but after being released the nurse asked me if I wanted to walk to my car or use a wheelchair. Naturally, I used asked for a wheelchair. The staff member left me in the wheelchair at the emergency room exit, did not bring me to my car nor offer to help me get out of the chair. The entire experience was terrible and I will be filing an official complaint with the hospital. I hope others will read this to know what they may be facing. If possible, go any place else! I would have given the hospital zero...

Went into the ER on March 28th for severe abdominal pain in the mid-to-lower right side. Obviously, with abdominal pain there can be various causes, so the situation is generally taken seriously until specific ailments are ruled out. Long story short, the triage nurse was very inappropriate. She did NOT even take all of my vitals and also had the audacity to ask me word for word if I "wanted to kill myself today", which could have been handled WAY more professionally than that. Once I got back to the examination room, the nurse came in (like they do). Instead of taking my vitals (like protocol calls for) she had my significant other, who has NO medical experience, hook up my blood pressure cuff (since she was too lazy to do so). The IV catheter/port she put in was botched and nothing about the room or people was remotely sanitary or sterile. Blood stains and food crumbs ALL over the floor. Grime and who knows what on the pulse ox. Just very unsanitary for a hospital. After the nurse took my blood for bloodwork, the "doctor" came in a bit later. He had no plan to diagnose or resolve whatever was causing me issues. He stated that he wanted to give me a "high dose of morphine" for my pain. I REFUSED. He then proceeded to go on about how 60% of patients are sometimes diagnosed and the other 40% goes home unresolved. Talked like he was proud of that statistic. Within that conversation, he kept trying to push medications on me, specifically morphine. Sat there for another hour waiting for results on my blood work and doctor decides to go ahead with a CT. Common scan, no problem. Yet, I am allergic to iodine contrast with having reactions in my past, the doctor and all of the staff including nurses and the radiologist didn't want to listen to me about my allergy. The whole staff didn't want to believe me and tried pushing the contrast about three times, until I spoke up and said absolutely not. To sum things up, the staff refused to give me the results from my tests even though they had told me that the results had come back. I waited for over two hours for two very simple and standard tests. And I walked out of there feeling neglected, violated, and unresolved. 10/10 would NEVER recommend anyone to go to this hospital unless you want a medical "professional" to treat you like a dog, & possibly give you a gnarly infection or even...

My husband who is almost 80, suffers from CLL (leukemia)and it's related issues, and was in great pain when an ambulance was called, he was in so much pain a friend and I could not get him to the car to transport him. After getting to the hospital, the staff was quick to get his info from me but wouldn't get me back into ER with him to speak to staff about what had happened. At the age of 80 and in severe pain (no meds at this point ) he was struggling to explain.... I am his spouse, I should have been with him. All they had done was get his shirt off and establish an IV. He still had on his slacks, socks and shoes? They gave him toradol, and took him for a Cat Scan where they found a massive hernia. The doctor showed me the xray which showed he had fluid on his lung and the hernia in his groin the size of a soft ball. Not exaggerating. He was sent home and told to contact a surgeon about getting seen. Is this NOT the reason he was transported by ambulance to the ER at 7 pm, to get the medical attention necessary to relieve his suffering. And a surgeon to decide if when surgery is necessary to put his bowels back where they belong and repair this massive injury? !? Now I am seeking necessary sevices and being told it must not have been an urgent case or a surgeon would have been called into ER for counceltation? And why didnt I object to him being sent home if I thought they were wrong? Which by the way, I did. But whose taking notes? Doc and staff were polite, but patient care was just.... non existent. He is still in pain and still waiting for a phone call for directives from any surgeon or hospital staff. Not every hospital can be perfect, but this is 2 times for this family that the ER Staff dismissed a patient requiring surgery for a severe injury, to seek help on their own. No compassion, no options, no resolve. And the ER Doctor was labled on the script given as " NON STAFF" ? Any wonder I am upset...