Colleen Gutman

Review of SSM St Joseph Health Center

I was taken in by an ambulance for head trauma and...

I was taken in by an ambulance for head trauma and had a terrible experience. It took about 4 hours to have staples put in it. Something was going on that the police were involved in, possibly overdose, or someone from the jail, but the staff were all nosey with that situation, with the police guarding the doors, and we're not paying attention to the patients. I have family members who were witness to all of this. I needed to use the restroom and was given a bed pan, but no assistance from staff to use it and layed in urine that spilled onto the sheets for about an hour. I had to ask them to get me off the bed pan eventually. When I was released, the er doctor did not write a release for me to return to work, so they would not let me return without it. I went to my personal physician who would not write it because he did not treat me. I had to go back to the er 2 days later to get a release from them. They have sent me a bill for 447$, and my insurance also paid 190$ in addition to the 447$. This was because of their negligence in not giving me a release to return to work. That is all I went back for was for a written release. Not any treatment. Maybe instead of getting into the police business, they should have been taking care of the patients who were in there, they would have done their job. My family that was in the er with me were shocked. They were asking questions because I was not going to appear as a whiner, but these were things the staff should have been taking care of instead of spending their time being nosey with a situation the police were handling. It was some kind of situation that wasn't involving someone in the er. My family members were hearing some things of the situation. I should not have been billed just to go in for a work release they were negligent in not giving me when I was discharged that evening.