J. T.

Review of Primary Children's Medical Cen...

Our child who has recently returned from another s...

Our child who has recently returned from another state to have surgery said just today, "I'd rather die than go back to Primary Children's Hospital."

In my mind, I wholeheartedly agreed.

Our very sick child was horrifically misdiagnosed and mistreated at Primary Children's Hospital over a period of months including a dozen encounters in clinics, labs, ER, radiology, and several days as an admitted in-patient. We as parents were also horribly mistreated.

Do a lot of research before stepping foot into Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. The institution is NOT what we were led to believe it was. Namely, the best place to take your sick child if you need the best care in the region.

A scant few doctors and staff are competent and caring. But the overwhelming majority are egregiously incompetent, undeservedly arrogant (Brockmeyer in neurology and O'Gorman and Jensen in gastroenterology are particularly arrogant about their incompetence and shockingly snarky), uncaring, dismissive and a significant proportion are openly mean and cruel to children--including a majority of the nursing staff. (My child says hands down PCH nursing is the worst my child has ever experienced--no other hospital comes close.)

How do doctors, nurses, technicians and staff become monsters? It is our observation that the problem is deeply rooted in the administration of the institution.

As long as finding the correct diagnosis, applying the latest in medical science or partnering with parents to cure their sick children are not mportant to you, I think it'd be great to work at Primary Children's Hospital.

The mission of the organization seems to be to provide good employment packages that will never be threatened by performance review criteria such as keeping up to date, achieving high satisfaction ratings from patients and parents or professional competency.

At Primary Children's Hospital incompetence and cruelty are institutionally ignored. I mean it. I think the people start working there as ordinary practitioners and the institution imposes the draconian policies that torture kids. (Not all kids. It seems if your child has a textbook case of a common disease, a broken arm, well-understood kinds of cancer, etc. you will get adequate care. Never stellar like we've had in other parts of the country, but adequate.)

This criticism is not an angry exaggeration. It is made from weeks of hospital stays in multiple facilities from which to compare and scores of clinic visits, radiology, labs, etc.

For example, only at Primary Children's Hospital was our child allowed to dehydrate, starve, and weep in pain for hours and left without appropriate care being administered for entire nursing/resident shifts.

Only at Primary Children's Hospital was our child told "it's all in your head" AND REPEATEDLY!!!

Fortunately, our child is getting better with a good outlook, has had correct diagnoses, major surgeries and is being treated by great children's medical experts--none of whom have anything to do with Primary Children's Hospital (including those who are local). Our child's real conditions were immediately recognized and treated.

Think about that one: Our genius pediatrician who is multi-board certified and Mayo Clinic trained won't have anything to with Primary Children's Hospital although it is in the same neighborhood.

This pediatrician treats scores of children with very serious medical problems that require surgery and hospitalization. But Primary Children's Hospital is unfit as a resource for this genius Mayo Clinic trained doctor to treat their sick children patients.

What does that tell you?