MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital — Local services in Yakima

My daughter was born here in 2014. It was unquestionably the worst medical experience my wife and I ever had. Admitting was no issue, I'll give them credit for that, but nothing else. When we made it to the delivery room the nurse tried to take a blood sample for an epidural but the room was not properly stocked so she had to go to another room to get the supplies. Blood was drawn and taken to their lab for analysis. Two hours into labor the lab hadn't bothered to contact the nurse and the nurse hadn't tried to contact the lab. While waiting I noticed there was a large streak of blood in the corner of the room. Little did I know that would be the least of our issues. Eventually we found out about the epidural test, and they grab the cart, but the administrator couldn't be found. Once found he discovered that the cart aldo wasn't properly stocked. Once they finally got all of the supplies they checked dilation and surprise! It was too late to give one. They called in the staff doctor because there wasn't going to be enough time for ours to get there before delivery would begin. (They could have called ours at any time and given him a heads up, but that isn't their policy.) With all of the nurses scrambling to finish preparing my wife said "she is coming" and a nurse told her to calm down and that it was just another contraction. My wife rolled over on her side and the nurse said "oh my god" because my daughter was crowning. The doctor jumped into place, my wife was swearing enough for a sailor to admire, and the doctor chastised her for "f-bombs". Remember this is a woman in the cri who has been forced to forego any pain relief because the hospital staff were so inattentive. Once she was born things went smoothly for about 12 hours until I left my wife and daughter in the room so they could sleep and waited in the maternity floor waiting room. Mind you this was the weekend and there was nobody else there, and one of their direction assistants approached me and told me that I could not wait there because it might make the other patients uncomfortable and that men had to wait down stairs in the lobby waiting area. I told the poor kid that was gender based discrimination and that I wanted to see their manager regarding the policy. Well the manager didn't come but a 300lb security guard did. I explained the situation and that I wanted to speak with the patient complaint liason that they are required to have by Washington State law. He called his manager and they began to threaten me, the parent of a patient with ejection from the property and arrest when I told them that I intended to file a complaint with our insurance company which would result in non payment for services under their contract with the hospital. They said that I was making threats against the staff, I said I was conducting business in accordance with the terms of our contract. They backed down, asked that I remain in the room and that I "need to watch out because we'll keep an eye on you."

Edit: It has been 8 years since the final events in this review occurred and I’m still just upset by them as I was when I first wrote this review. It looks like the hospital is under new management, but maybe it just changed its name a bit because the name they earned was so bad.

Review: I had to be taken to the ER about 8 months later with some extreme symptoms, was pumped fill of narcotics, misdiagnosed, and discharged. I was hospitalized for four days a week later after collapsing. A year later I am still trying to cope with the lasting effects and expenses of the bad diagnosis. Given the choice I would rather die than let those...

If I could leave a negative star review I would. I went to my Doctor's office and after examining me he wanted me to go directly to the ER. He called to give emergency staff the heads up so they would be ready. The lady who checked me in said she had no notes in her computer so while waiting my mom called the Doctor to verify he indeed called. He had and suggested telling the staff to communicate with the triage nurse who took his call. When my name was called, I was struggling to breathe and about to faint. I was in a wheel chair to prevent falling and getting hurt. The woman who called me back wanted me to stand up on the scales to be weighed. When we said I couldn't she was visibly irritated. I told her through gasps of air my exact weight. My mom asked her to talk to the triage nurse who took the doctor's call. He worried that I may have a Pulmonary Embolism. I was very scared, sick and my diaphragm was having spasms.

I told the nurse with tears in my eyes that I couldn't breathe and begged for help. She kept rudely shooting me down, getting in my face telling me that I could in fact breathe. She mocked me and said I was breathing just fine. She was so rude and unkind to me-heartless. It wasn't only what she said either, it was how she said it. My mom wheeled me outside where I was bawling & throwing up in the parking lot.

This is not the first time my experience was horrible at Memorial. I never want to return there, regardless of the emergency.

The hospital should be a place people can trust. It seems this staff member has not been trained to pay attention to patients' individual needs and a lot of assuming took the place of individual care. There are always exceptions! She definitely was not more trained or more educated than my doctor! Who was she to take that sort of risk regardless? Besides, everyone should be treated with respect. There was not even an attempt to show kindness while I was shaking, my temp was low, sweating, and about to faint. If I'd stood on the scales and fallen; I would have had injuries, no doubt. If I'd died from a Pulmonary Embolism the hospital would certainly regret the nurses actions, I am only guessing.

I worry about other patients being treated without compassion. Why would someone with so little empathy work with the public? Especially caring for the vulnerable. She needs to understand that and if she can't, she shouldn't work with patients. Something needs to happen to prevent this from happening to anyone else. And before the hospital gets sued from staffs unwise decisions.

I deserve an apology after how I was treated. I don't know her name but she was who was taking vitals on March 25th, 2022 at 4:30-4:45 PM in the first cubicle closest...

My son recently had his very first surgery at Memorial. At the check-in (waiting) area, the woman at the front desk asked him "did you get that mask from home or from here?" My teenage son paused, confused. The answer was neither. We keep a supply in the car and he got it there. "Are you deaf?!" she rudely interrogated him. My son appeared frightened. I explained it came from a box of masks in our car. She said then my son couldn't use it and opened a new mask sealed in plastic, then gave it to him after handling it with her unsanitized hands. When we were led to the pre-op room, my son's name was handritten beside the door with the female symbol marked underneath it; he's male. This error did not instill confidence. If they can't get this right, what else will they get wrong? Once in the recovery room, my son was severely nauseated and lethargic. There was relentless chatter between an obnoxious (highly alert and energetic) patient in the bed next to us (separated by a curtain) and the nurses who appeared entertained and engaged by his nonstop talking and boisterous joking. Environmentally, the lights were very bright. A head would pop in intermittently and ask if my son was throwing up again or still asleep. "Can he get dressed?" one staff member asked. I assisted him unsupervised behind the curtain as he dry heaved with his eyes shut. It felt like the staff were trying to push us out before my son was able to keep his eyes open greater than 5 seconds. One nurse could be overheard complaining to another for agreeing to work a particular shift. The complaining nurse was upset because she had wanted to get the extra hours herself so she could receive overtime pay. It seemed unprofessional to be having this discussion here. The recovery experience was acoustically loud, visually bright, and overall an exceedingly unpleasant way to be waking up from first time sedation. It was not "calming" or "healing". The experience at Memorial began with rudeness, then error, and ended with a chaotic and unprofessional "recovery". These are all areas that can be controlled: improvements in attitude/politeness, accuracy, professionalism/discretion and physical environment are all warranted. However, since Memorial is the only hospital now in Yakima it may lack some of the incentives for this. I suppose there is also the option of Sunnyside, Prosser, or the Tri-Cities. Many I know also go to Seattle. I was hoping for better here though. The surgeon (not employed by Memorial) and anesthesiologist did appear to do great work. But if able to, I would probably seek care elsewhere in the future (not from Memorial). Memorial it seems has really...