Sarina Maneotis

Review of North Colorado Medical Center,...

I'll start with the positive: maternity/postnatal ...

I'll start with the positive: maternity/postnatal care, in my experience, has been excellent. The OBs they have on rotation from the OB Summitview clinic are great and the nursing staff is wonderful. This is the only reason I given NCMC 2 stars instead of 1.

If you are there for anything except for maternity though, prepare to be disappointed. My family has had several negative experiences in the last several years and we will certainly be seeking out a UC Health hospital for all of our future needs.

As a few examples, my husband needed an appendectomy a few years ago and after being sent over from Urgent Care, he was accosted by the insurance folks for prepayment before they'd let him up to his room (the man had a ruptured appendix, for heaven's sake!). Instead of restarting the IV that the urgent care had already placed, they waited several hours until my husband was wheeled down to surgery before starting it again. Also, he was given no pain meds in that time, even though he was in a great deal of pain the entire time (as a comparison, I was given pain meds for my appendix when it ruptured a year prior). Then, the staff was so disorganized, that they forgot to call me to recovery after his surgery and by the time we got ahold of someone who could help us, she said he'd been discharged! (He was not, he was still sitting in recovery wondering where the heck I was!)

Last year, we had to rush my 13 month old to the hospital for difficulty breathing. The pediatrician on staff, after not testing for anything, said it was just croup, he'd be fine, and sent us home. The next day, we called to make an appointment with his usual pediatrician and even the front desk staff, after hearing my son's labored breathing, said to get that baby back to the ER! Turns out he had not only croup, but flu and strep. Thank God the ER doc the second time was more competent. We got my son the care he needed that time, but absolutely shouldn't have been sent home before.

Finally, my husband had two trips to the ER in November, after being carelessly discharged the first time. The doc we saw the first time actually accused my husband of using illicit drugs and sent him home after a few hours (for the record my husband is not a user, and his urology results support that)! We ended up back in, and the ER doc that time said they'd probably send us to Swedish in Denver because he wasn't sure they had the neurology expertise my husband needed. They ended up keeping us, though I greatly wish we had gone to Swedish instead. We never did see an actual neurologist (apparently they only ever skype in one from Arizona anyway. Seriously.) We again got released with no answers and the follow up care from the PCP we saw has been abysmal. Here we are several months later and still no answers.

In summary, they will shake you down for money before they even treat you and then push you out the door before they've resolved your issues. Definitely avoid if you can and we will certainly be looking to UC Health for our future needs.