Stella Maris

Review of Mercy Medical Center Dubuque

If I could just rate the nurses I would and I woul...

If I could just rate the nurses I would and I would rate the nurses on the third floor who assisted me with five stars, but I have to look at the big picture. It is scary the lack of information the doctors are allowed to provide and still maintain employment. The lack of accountability and responsibility. To have to beg for information. To lack the honesty to tell a person that they are in the process of dying. Instead, the patient and his wife of almost 53 years were led to believe that there would be hope. This hope wasn't gained with any information provided, but the lack of information and honesty. Not giving the family the proper information to state if comfort care is the best course of action, to not have any hospice assistance during the weekends. To have the oncologist contact you about your father after he has passed away when results came back one week prior. It is evident that the oncologist might not have taken the time to really look at any initial tests. My father's oncology appointment was moved from a Monday to Wednesday and I had to call and beg to please move his appointment back to Monday. Unfortunately, he didn't survive to make his first appointment. During an earlier hospital stay... Not being able to keep a set discharge date so that the family could be prepared to handle the care of a patient coming home. The lack of assistance from the social workers to communicate a care plan and discharge plan with the family. The inability to keep a set discharge date and having to rush to find appropriate accommodations. Not taking a families request to please look at a wound seriously. To be nonchalant about a concern when from one day to the next an incision went from normal color to fire engine red. I haven't been a health care provider for years, but it was obviously infected. I stated to two health care providers that it didn't matter what antibiotic you have him on, if you don't test him to see if it was staph you don't know what antibiotic he would need. The signs were there, the elevated heart rate, the inability to complete physical therapy (in the past he has always been released faster than anticipated), lack of appetite and let's not forget the most obvious sign, the actual appearance of the wound. They sent him home and three days later he was back in the hospital with a black foot and two days later he lost his leg to the knee. The initial operation didn't fail, it didn't have a change to succeed or fail, it was the lack of care. The best part of this is when I questioned one of the doctors about why they wouldn't test when it was evident his response "we can always Monday morning quarterback, your dad almost died, you are lucky his is alive". It took five months for the wound to heal, he worked so hard to have it heal so he could be fitted for a prosthesis and have more mobility and freedom back in his life. He was released from wound care and less than 30 days later he passed due to cancer. He didn't have to lose the foot had he had proper care, he could of had his life for those five months if one person would have just taken the time to run one simple test. Again, I want to thank the nurses who assisted me with the care of my father and my well being. I hope that this review will be noted by the President of Mercy Medical Center so he can assure that these situations do not happen to any other family. I am looking at the sympathy card thinking, well, he got this part right.