1 /5 Katharine Baxter: I have visited this emergency department three times over the past decade, and unfortunately, each visit has been marked by rude staff and negligent care. After my most recent experience, I will never return and would advise others to go elsewhere.
Yesterday, I was referred to this hospital from Texas Health Breeze Urgent Care for flu and uncontrollable vomiting. The urgent care center called ahead to inform the ER of my condition, and although I anticipated a wait, I never expected to be left repeatedly vomiting in the waiting room for nearly 5 hours without any care. During this time, I noticed several other patients, including young children and elderly people, were also left in the waiting area, becoming more ill by the hour. In all that time, I only saw one staff member check on patients one time.
When I was finally triaged, the nurse was dismissive and rude, cutting me off while I tried to explain my symptoms. She refused to look at the detailed notes provided by the urgent care staff and quickly dismissed me back to the waiting room, not allowing me to fully communicate my medical history or symptoms.
By hour four of vomiting uncontrollably, I began experiencing numbness in my hands, dizziness, and confusion, and I feared I might pass out. I informed the check-in desk of my worsening condition as directed by the instructions posted in the waiting area, and the nurses response was, “And…?” After another 30 more minutes, we made the decision to leave and go to a different ER, where I was immediately seen and treated with fluids due to the severity of my condition.
While I might have let this experience go, the $2000+ bill for a visit where I received no treatment is unacceptable. Despite only receiving minimal triage care—perhaps 1.5 minutes spent checking my fever and heart rate—I was charged for a doctor I never even saw. I’m grateful my insurance covered the entire cost, but it’s incredibly unethical to charge patients for care they didn’t receive. A few hundred dollars for basic triage could be acceptable, but charging over two thousand for minimal service is not just outrageous—its immoral.
This hospital needs to either improve their staffing and facilities to handle the patient load or begin turning away patients if they cannot properly care for them. Patients deserve fair billing for the care they receive.
I won’t be returning, but I hope this feedback encourages the hospital to make necessary changes to improve patient care in the future.
