My wife suffered with a terrible migraine last mon...

My wife suffered with a terrible migraine last month that lasted all night. Eventually, at 11am she asked me to take her to the ER, as she did not know what else to do. She has suffered with migraines for a long time and seldom to the point of having to go to the ER. She threw up all morning and was out of options.

She asked not to go to Harris Southwest as she felt she would not get the care she need that Harris downtown would provide. She couldn t have been more wrong.

Upon arriving, I parked outside of the ER and went to try and check her in. I was told I could not go in due to COVID. I explained that she could not even walk to the door and was told to use the wheelchair to push her up to the entrance. They would take it from there. I did, as asked, and the receptionist wheeled my wife to the reception area, where she proceeded to throw up in a bowl while trying to respond to an orderly taking insurance information. Although we both have COVID antibodies, I was not allowed to walk the 15 feet to help my wife who was in no condition to disperse her insurance information.

I had to leave as they would not let me stay anywhere to be with her. Four hours later she was finally seen by a doctor. They had her sit in the wheelchair for four hours with no pain medicine whatsoever. No relief of any type while she sat in that wheelchair suffering and throwing up.

The doctor that saw her confirmed they did not have any rooms to admit her as their capacity was full. Knowing this, why on earth were we not told this from the onset? Knowing this and purposely withholding this information, we could have made other arrangements with another facility to get my wife the care she desperately needed. Of course THR would not have been able to extract any money from us. I am convinced of this.

The doctor asked what, given her history with migraines, was the usually treatment. My wife explained that she has usually been given a certain pain medicine, whereas he confirmed, ok, we ll do that. So there we are. Four hours suffering in a wheelchair with no help, other than a doctor going off my wife s diagnosis and prescription account.

We just received our bill for $984! $984 for what?!! For five minutes with a doctor?! We could have seen a GP for less than $100! We could have gone to CareNow for less than $100! I could have given her some Tylenol for less than $100! Worst thing about this is I KNEW this would happen. THR can t be gracious. THR can t be merciful. My wife was told on the onset not to use Medishare because the self-pay would be cheaper. On top of our Medishare card it says, $200 ER visit. Can you explain to me the math here?

They knew there were no beds available and they did nothing. Four hours in a wheelchair with no help in the very least. Five minutes with a doctor who did nothing but fill out a prescription. I read somewhere where she had a pregnancy test. Good thing is, it came back negative. What in the world are they doing?!! She wasn t pregnant, she had a debilitating migraine and she was probably dehydrated on top of that!

She did ask a lady at the front desk if there was even a dark room to lay down in and the lady responded, you ve got a blanket, go over there and put it over your head. Disgusting. I couldn t be more disgusted with the lack of care, empathy, and comfort any of them exhibited during this process. If you can t get care at a hospital where can you?

I understand the whole COVID thing. I am a proponent of conscientiousness and protection during this time. I understand their need to limit exposure etc I would just like to have someone say to me and my wife that this was unfair. It was unfair treatment during her time of such anguish and it is unfair to charge us SO much for SO little!

I can not believe the audacity but have come to expect it from the industry.

Absolutely disgusted.

* I sent this in to Harris and received a very condescending note back explaining that my wife, as an adult, is entitled to privacy and they will be reaching out to her to discuss.
Just got a $1.8k bill too!