1 /5 David Burta: MEMORIAL CITY MEMORIAL HERRMANN HOSPITAL IS GREAT. HOWEVER THEIR E/R IS ANYTHING BUT AND I JUST WISH THERE WERE NEGATIVE STARS RATINGS AVAILABLE... Heres my most recent experience from last October...
I had a fungal infection that became a staph infection and then became a SEVERE INFECTION. Wife insisted I go to urgent care and they INSISTED that I go to the E/R likely needing I/V ANTIBIOTICS ...So we went to Memorial Hospital E/R at Memorial City. Waited almost 3 hours to be seen and then a doctor finally came in (and spent LESS THAN 90 seconds) and DID NOT LOOK AT THE STAPH BLISTERS. Left and said hed send back a nurse with instructions...Another half hour a male nurse shows up and hands me a tube of antifungal ointment and said we could leave. I said to the nurse...What about an ANTIBIOTIC and he said he didnt know anything about it but would ask the doctor...Another 20-30 minutes go by and he returns with AN ATTITUDE and tells me "THE DOCTOR SAID THIS (antifungal) IS ALL YOU NEED and that you NEED TO LEAVE NOW !!!,,, which we did. By the next day, the Staph infection had spread further and intensified and I just walked into my doctors office without an appointment and, fortunately he knows me for 40 years and saw me. I tell him what happened and its the first time in those 40 years I heard him SWEAR saying that I was hours away from having SEPSIS and IF left untreated (as it had been) I could have died. He put me on a very strong antibiotic and told me to come in the next day if I hadnt seen any improvement. The infection started to abate that night and more the next morning, but later that day my legs got weak and eventually just stopped working (NOT Paralyzed, just like RUBBER). So back I go, get my blood tested and get the results the next day...."YOU NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL NOW!!! Why? Your Potasium is extremely high (But I feel okay and my legs are improving along with my infection) and he screams NOW its 7.5 and that is HEART ATTACK TERRITORY. So back to the E/R I go, terrified Im going to get the same Doctor (and punch him in the throat :-), but this time they heard the original story, immediately recognized who the Dr. who treated me was (based on extensive prior knowledge) and gave me GREAT SERVICE. I stayed until the next night until my potassium returned to high, but safe enough levels to go home. A couple of weeks later I got a survey questionairre about the first E/R visit and GAVE THEM A NEGATIVE 10 on a 10 scale along with full commentary blasting the treatment and danger that was presented to my life. Got a call, told the story YET AGAIN and they said they would put it under investigation...2-3 weeks later I get a formal note, DELIVERED USPS SIGNATURE REQUIRED (obviously to cover their asses) SAYING I RECEIVED APPROPRIATE TREATMENT!!! I immediate called the lady who signed that ridiculous CYA document and screamed HES GOING TO KILL SOMEONE...I just got lucky that I was able to get treated before it turned SEPSIS...BUT HERES THE AMAZING THING ABOUT THIS STORY...Memorial E/R sent (and this was just for this first visit) A bill to my insurance company for $18,000 for a less than 90 second examination that WAS NOT AN EXAMINATION AT ALL AND COULD HAVE KILLED ME!!! But please dont take my word for this or the original post, but GOOGLE MEMORIAL CITY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM REVIEWS and you will see story after story after story like this. WE DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS and certainly do NOT deserve to be treated this way AND BILLED TOTALLY OUTRAGEOUS AMOUNTS FOR LESS THAN NOTHING!!! I dont know where else one should go, but if you have time, find out in advance where to go if you have an emergency that can be reached quickly AND ISNT MEMORIAL HOSPITAL ER AT MEMORIAL CITY!!!