Debbie Hatch

Review of Central Maine Medical Center

The lack of communication in this hospital is abso...

The lack of communication in this hospital is absolutely maddening.

I brought my mom to the ED at 1400 on Saturday. She was triaged quickly and put into a treatment room. The nurse (Joe) working at that time checked on her several times, did two blood cultures, actually took care of her. The doctor saw her once, ordered a CT and then I didn t see him again. Joe was replaced by another nurse so he could grab a meal. She told mom to drink one bottle of contrast in thirty minutes and left the room. That s it. Mom did.

2.5 hours later CT was ready for her. By now Joe was back and said she had been supposed to drink 1.5 bottles of contrast, not just one. Too late.

After the scan mom returned to the treatment room and we waited more. At 2120 the doctor came in to tell us what the CT had potentially showed. He stayed a few minutes, then left and said, I ll be right back. He never came back.

Another 2.5 hours later (I m not making this up. I have time stamps on messages) at 2300, there was a flurry of activity during shift change. Three new doctors saw mom and told us she was going to be admitted. Ben became her nurse. Joe asked him to keep an eye on her iV to ensure it wasn t swelling in her hand. Admissions stopped by.

That s the last time we saw ANYONE. I ve been checking the swelling. Mom told me, I have a headache now from not sleeping). At 0115 Sunday morning - tired (I ve been up since 0330 Saturday) and frustrated, I went to the desk to ask for an update. She said she had to talk to mom s nurse but, probably there were no beds in the hospital.

I mentioned that Mom had had nothing to eat or drink since breakfast on Saturday. She brought a ginger ale.

Mom s had a single chucks diaper taped on since about 1700 last night. It s now 0200 and The nurse still HASN T still come in. Still I don t know if she s sleeping in this bed or going upstairs. Either answer would be fine but expecting SOME level of communication after multiple 2.5 hour blocks of seeing NO ONE does not seem unreasonable! Neither of us has been demanding at all. We knew this would be a long day but this is absolutely ridiculous.