Carroll Hospital Center — Local services in Westminster

I went into the Emergency Department at 6pm for severe abdominal pain and being unable to eat or drink anything for 3 days, I would try to eat and it was as if it got stuck and immediately came back up. I had not had a BM or urinated in 3 days either. I was immediately taken into triage and explained my situation, having had to have Emergency surgery on my colon there in 2013. The nurse was friendly and said he would let the Doctor know my history and see if they could go ahead and order a CT scan given my previous surgery. I had an IV line put in and told to wait in the lobby, no fluids or anything. My abdominal pain was so severe I had been lying in the floor at home in the fetal position and is one of the reasons I didn't go to the ER sooner, knowing I would have to wait in an upright chair. The lobby was full. I sat there until almost 9pm with no word on any scan or fluids. A Provider came into the lobby and questioned me in front of a lobby full of people about my symptoms. With abdominal pain, you would think I would have my abdomen examined but no, I sat upright in a chair and told him everything, he listened to my heart and lungs and said given my history, he would order a CT and get me some fluids soon. At 1145, I am still sitting in a chair in the fetal position and 5 people that had came in after me went back in a row. I went to the desk and began to ask and the person there was very rude and said "I can't give you a time" without even looking at me before I got the question out. I said I have been sitting here for almost 6 hours and nothing. She said I will send a note back to the nurse. Another 20 minutes go by and a nurse came to get me, obviously with an attitude that I asked to be seen after 6 hours and barely acknowledged me. She sat me in a chair in the hallway where there were 10-15 other people and started some fluids and said she gave me some Zofran. She then asked me if I had my scan. I told her no, I haven't had anything done for 6 hours. 15 more minutes, they come to get me for my scan and I had to walk back to the room for the CT. It is almost 115am and the provider comes and tells me that my labs were normal, my CT was normal and it was just viral. I said what am I supposed to do about eating and drinking? He said he would give me some water to see if I could keep it down. Another 45 minutes until I get the water. He finally came back and I said I just want to go home and it took another 30 minutes to do that. I got home, still in a lot of pain and nauseous again and began to look at the results of my CT scan. I have had many CT scans over the years at different places since my colon surgery and it always mentions the colon ileocecal resection or some other phrase regarding my colon. On this report, everything is normal and it isn't even mentioned. I got up this morning, still in pain and ate a few bites and the severe pain and vomiting started again. I was given 10 Zofran but it does nothing. This is the worst place to go if you really need help. I actually think that they forgot about me. I am not usually upset by much because I realize they were busy but I was in severe pain and had a terrible headache because I had not even been able to keep water down. I wasn't looking for pain medication but they could have at least given me some fluids while I sat for 6 hours. I cannot believe that they come into the lobby and discuss your health information in front of everyone. There was an empty room to the side that could have been used for that. There were also elderly people on hospital beds lying in the hallway. Some half covered up and all completely knocked out. This is no way to treat anyone. I knew what everyone was in there for and listened to the insurance people stating people's addresses and phone numbers openly in front of everyone. Is HIPPA not required in every medical setting? I now have to wait 3 more days to see my Doctor due to the holiday and have no answers or relief of my pain and nausea. I will never go back here and will tell everyone I know to...

I was hesitant to ever write this, but things won't ever change unless the issues are brought to light. If I could give a zero star, I would. On the evening of October 26th 2021 (around 9:35pm) into the morning of October 27th 2021 (around 2:30am) I came into the hospital (in the hallway in front of exam room 2) with pins and needles leg pain by ambulance due to having dificultly placing any pressure on my right leg. There was concern of there being a blood clot as I had a major surgery only a few days before (final diagnosis ended up being a sciatica nerve flare up) I was left alone in the hallway with zero medical care, in tears, and it took a nurse who was not even apart of my care team seeing me crying in pain, to help lift me up (by herself) to at least get me in a comfortable position. After that, a different nurse had stopped by and proceeded to give me pain medication and a pain patch. I had expressed that the pain patch could not go on my back and she ended up sticking it on my calf (on the leg that was hurting,) completely forgot to give me the oral pain medicine and walked away. I assumed she had to do something else, but when a minimum of an hour + passed, I flagged down a male nurse, who I asked if I could please have something for pain. He went to get the nurse, to which he came back and said she had told him she had given it to me already, which I expressed she had not. He left without another word, and she eventually came back. When she did, I expressed to her that she did not give me the medication. At that point, she got extremely defensive and called me a liar, while starting to raise her voice and talk down to me. This made me feel extremely uncomfortable, and I promptly requested her name and to be assigned a different nurse. She stormed off after that point, and refused to give me her name. After that, I could not flag anyone down, it was as if everyone was ignoring me. All the while staff at the desk area were laughing at another patient who was screaming, a female nurse going as far as to saying, "if they don't shut up, I will not give them anything." To which several sounds of laughter followed. It took me having to text my spouse, who was unable to go back with me, going to the front desk (twice) of asking to speak with the highest person on duty, upon my request. I was met by two individuals who introduced themselves as the shift manager and the scheduling manager. I expressed to them both in tears what had happened, while my husband was with security going over the video footage to see if they could find anything. At first, they said they could not see anything on the videos, stating that where I was directly in front of a camera, I had been out of view, and they were ready at that point to just let it go. It was not until after I mentioned violation of patients rights and malpractice, that miraculously they found a cup with the pain meds in a near-by trashcan, that contained the same medication the nurse had said she had given me (I never was shown the cup or meds and only had their word to go off of.) The scheduling manager said that it would be handled and I was told I was going to be discharged shortly. After about another hour or so, I was given the medication to take home (I told them at that point I just wanted to go home as I did not feel comfortable there at all.) I had to sign for the medication and they had several staff standing near-by when it was given to me (still giving me the feeling that I had done something wrong) with the remaining nursing staff I encountered still giving me the cold shoulder and now with looks of annoyance. Eventually, I was wheeled out to the front curb by the staffing manager and went home. I have doubts that it was ever handled and based on my experience, I would happily drive anywhere before going back...

To the Family Birthplace Team...

Charles was born in March of 2022, at at Carroll Hospital's Family Birthplace, under the care of your team. I wanted to share my experience, one team member at a time.

Holly kept me calm and talked me through my contractions when the pain became unbearable. 😫 She advised me on epidural vs pain meds. 💉 She held me in her chest 🫂 as I received the epidural and pain continued to throw me into full body shakes, telling me to "breathe it away, just breathe it away". I'm sad her shift was over because 10 minutes later, Charlie joined us!

Alisha brought her sweet bubbly nature to all events, even when things got serious. The hospital pediatrician rushed our boy to couplet care. Charlie had fluid in his lungs. His oxygen was too low. And that meant I couldn't feed him for the next 20 hours... and I was too uncomfortable and weak to stand up and hold him with all the machines he was connected to. She brought me comfort and smiles when all I wanted was to hold my son. And she even sent us pictures from couplet care of our little guy to show us he was ok - it's one of my favorite pictures of him.

Kathy was beyond personable. We had long conversations and laughs, on top of her being amazing at her job.

Karen let me sleep!!!! 🥱 And she and her mother gave us the sweetest and softest homemade hat. Karen helped with my needs up to the second I was discharged.

Maggie got us through our worst night. Finally on day 3, we passed 3 glucose tests... but failed the 4th that would have gotten Charlie off of his IV and monitors. First my husband Adam broke down, then I broke down. 😭 Maggie was there for us and patient and loving through her entire 12 hour shift... even though I was already "discharged" and no longer under the hospital's care.

Casey was teamed up with Maggie. Super sweet and light-hearted. She found me some relief 💊 for an oncoming Charlie horse despite my not being allowed anymore medication through the hospital.

Diane got us OUT. She was quiet and calm, did what she needed to do, and was the final help to get Charlie off his IV. She packed me up with a few last helpful things 🛍️ from the hospital to make sure we made it through the first few days at home more easily.

Angela was with me half a dozen times to educate and help me through breastfeeding hurdles, wins, and tears, despite having 20 other mamas to coach. 🤱 She advocated strongly that I come to their support groups, and I did.

And Hilles Whedbee. 👩‍⚕️ Woman Warrior Midwife! 🙌 We cannot possibly love you any more. 💙💛💙 Hilles delivered Charlie, and she not only loved him, but she gave true love to me just as equally. She looked into my eyes and connected with me unlike anything I've ever experienced. When she found out we were in couplet care, she genuinely CARED. And when I was breaking down in overwhelmment as Charlie was finally having his IV removed from his poor little arm, she walked 🚶‍♀️me to another room and we talked about what happened. She shared her ideal plan and advice for us, helping me calm down. And even though her shift was over, she stayed late and wiggles her way on the schedule to complete Charlie's last procedure herself so we could get home.

There are at least another 10 women that had a hand in our experience. And while Charlie's scare was the worst, our experience at Carroll Hospital 🏥 was very positive. Their team is the first I would return to if I ever find myself pregnant again (update: and I did).

Thank you for your...