Saint Joseph Health System

"Usually I never have to wait so long. About 3 hours in the waiting room. Not to mention the handful of people who was there before me. Came in with chest pains after having a procedure done yesterday. Walked out, I refuse to feel as I’ve been treated like it’s nothing."

"I am at wits end with St. Joseph, and it's important that other people know their complete lack of empathy and attention to detail. Our son was born there last October, and after he was born, my wife's placenta did not detach. She was screaming saying this was more painful than the labor. The doctor was clearly panicking, until my mother-in-law (a nurse at a different hospital) told them they need to put her into surgery. She lost more blood than a C-section, and it was all over the floor. That's inexcusable enough, but then the doctor and nurses (and my MIL) all left with my wife, left me alone with my 45-minute old son FOR AN HOUR! Only my MIL came back to check in on me, but she had to keep going back to make sure the attendings were doing their job. I played multiple albums on my phone comforting my son, had to Google how to feed a baby a bottle, care for him, ect. Nobody was at the desk or within earshot. Again, for an entire hour. The nurses who checked in with us after everything got settled were great, so I won't critique them. But that is just a plain abdication of their responsibility as medical professionals. 15 months later, and my wife is still suffering from the PTSD of what this hospital put here through. Despite my apprehension, we kept going back for the regular check ups. Mostly because we are new parents and want to keep up with the regular required visits. Every visit, they did the absolute bare minimum. Just checking a list. Had no real answers for any of my wife's questions. Other than the times my son needed shots, the visits were a waste of time. But I continued to bite my tongue. For the most recent visit, my wife ended up getting the date mixed up and thought it was the next day. I was out of town on a business trip, so I wasn't around to help out like I normally would. She realized her mistake when she checked her voice mail. For the reminders, she had explicitly requested text messages, and they had texted her in the past. But they left a message from a unlisted number (have they dealt with a customer since 2018?!?) That is an attention to detail that is a reasonable expectation for a medical professional, and they just missed it. My wife tried to reschedule, but she had to be on the phone for 3 hours, getting lectured and berated every time by a new person. When she called me to let me know what happened, she was in tears and devastated. She never got the appointment rescheduled, by the way. Friday was the last straw. We got a letter from St. Joseph admonishing my wife for missing the appointment and sending a copy of her signed agreement that she would notify them 24-hours in advance, and that they would discontinue service to her if she missed two more appointment. These people nearly let my wife bleed to death and abandoned a newborn child. They should be begging her for forgiveness, not sending notice letters. They have a Patient Relations I tried to call. Don't bother calling them. They didn't pick up, and it goes straight to a voice mail. Maybe it's because I called on a Friday, but I wouldn't know because the website where they list Patient Relations (on their "Quality & Safety" page) doesn't have listed hours. Well, they will be relieved to know there won't be any more missed appointments. We are never going back. The worst part: I know my family is relatively well off and we can afford to explore other pediatric options. I fear what would happen to other people who are in tougher situations and could really use an extension of empathy and support to help their children. I would hope reading a story like mine might motivate them to improvements. But based on my interactions with SJHS - and this is the worst critique I could ever give of a hospital - it's obvious to me they just don't care. They can't even be bothered to add hours for their Patient Relations."

"Bunch of lazy clowns working in the MRO OFFICE. Received requests for 5 weeks in a row for records. They can't come from the surgeon's office. It has to be MRO for some stupid reason. Even though they have never seen or touched me once. Never responded to any of the requests and my disability is affected because of this. No other way to say it but laziness amd disregard for others. I hope management sees this because every office I called sold they are just extremely slow. Either hire more people or fire the one's who can't get the job done."

"Lorraine and her cohort in pre approval and referral are a joke. They called me no less than four times, not understanding how insurance works. They made it perfectly clear that cobra insurance isn't welcome and harassed me with multiple calls until i just canceled the appointment. They even got super flustered when I said I'd pay cash. Lorraine's cohort then tried to shake me down for $500, but couldn't say why. When they STILL couldn't figure it out, I said, "cancel the appointment, have a nice Thanksgiving". They left a note in my chart claiming that I got nasty with them. Sounds like libel from women who don't understand how insurance works and then tried to scam me for $500. Took Leslie one phone call to straighten it out. She's awesome. Definitely better than Lorraine and her cohort calling me repeatedly to say that they "don't know what to do". Lorraine's cohort was even told not to call me, did anyways"

"I had to have surgery for an abdominal hernia and my abdominal wall needed to be rebuilt. From the staff that greeted me upon checking in admitting, to taken up to my room, as I awaited my surgery to begin; everyone had the utmost respect for me and my comfort, while being very professional and discreet the entire time! I honestly don't have 1 bad comment as the staff was awesome! I highly recommend this hospital for all your medical needs. A special shout out to Dr. Matthew Folstein and his whole surgery team were the best I've experienced yet, in my life! Thank you to you ALL!!! A huge thank you to the pain management Dr. that was on my case, I can't thank you enough for making the entire process as comfortable as you treated me, you sir are a diamond in the rough, and am very grateful for your extensive help and guidance throughout the entire process."