Mission Hospital has been officially informed by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that it is in “immediate jeopardy” related to deficiencies in care, according to an internal email obtained by Asheville Watchdog.
The finding is the most severe sanction possible for a hospital and starts a 23-day clock for Mission to produce a plan for fixing the problems or risk losing its Medicare and Medicaid funding.
The notification comes 44 days after inspectors from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, on behalf of CMS, recommended the hospital be put in immediate jeopardy, citing nine deficiencies related to incidents occurring over 19 months. The Watchdog was first to report the recommendation on Jan. 11.
If Mission fails to correct the deficiencies to the satisfaction of regulators by the deadline, it could threaten the financial viability of the hospital, which receives a majority of its funding from Medicare and Medicaid.
State Sen. Julie Mayfield (D-Buncombe), speaking last week at an Asheville Watchdog public forum on the fifth anniversary of for-profit HCA Healthcare’s purchase of nonprofit Mission Health, described Mission Hospital’s potential loss of CMS funding as “catastrophic.”
“As bad as things are in the hospital, closing this hospital would be 10 times worse,” Mayfield said.
When the hospital submits a plan of corrective action around the immediate jeopardy findings, Mayfield said, she and other leaders will review it “with a fine-toothed comb.”
CMS informed Mission and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services of its findings Thursday, according to an email from HCA North Carolina Division President Greg Lowe obtained by The Watchdog.
“As you may have heard or soon will, Mission Hospital’s recent comprehensive survey by the Department of Health and Human Services has resulted in an Immediate Jeopardy finding by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),” Lowe said, noting Mission received the CMS report Feb. 1.
“As the initial findings of the survey were shared last month, steps were taken immediately to address them,” Lowe wrote in the email. “Significant HCA Healthcare resources were deployed to assist with our response. We brought in additional staff who are working in our emergency department and, on our busiest days, we have repurposed space on the Memorial Campus to accommodate additional patients.”
Lowe said in the email, “now that we have the report from CMS, we will submit our corrective action plan by their deadline.”
“Further, we will continue to reeducate our teams and refine our processes in these areas to strive to always do better for our patients,” Lowe wrote in the email. “We continue to work toward resolutions on any identified issues and are confident that we will be in compliance when surveyors return to Mission Hospital.”
CMS regulations define immediate jeopardy as noncompliance that “has placed the health and safety of recipients in its care at risk for serious injury, serious harm, serious impairment or death…[It] is the most serious deficiency type, and carries the most serious sanctions … An immediate jeopardy situation is one that is clearly identifiable due to the severity of its harm or likelihood for serious harm and the immediate need for it to be corrected to avoid further or future serious harm.”
The Watchdog’s Jan 11 report showed that NCDHHS’s inspections had led to two immediate jeopardy identifications, one on Dec. 1 and another on Dec. 9.
Those two identifications of immediate jeopardy were based on nine incidents that happened over 19 months between April 2022 and November 2023.
Lowe wrote in the email that “(i)mprovement is already being acknowledged by our patients and EMS partners in multiple counties as they experience decreasing wait times.”
“I am immensely proud of our team and the quality care that is provided across Mission Health. Yet, as I’ve stated previously, we take these findings very seriously, and there are no excuses for our patients receiving anything other than exceptional care,” Lowe wrote.
On a page Mission Health Facts, HCA’s corporate website cites Mission Hospital’s current “A” grade for safety from the independent rating company Leapfrog, and a “50 Best Hospitals” ranking by Healthgrades, which “evaluates hospital performance using objective quality measures including clinical outcomes and patient safety, as well as patient experience.”
On its website, HCA attributes persistent complaints about HCA’s management and a litany of other issues at Mission Hospital to “vocal critics” who have “minimized or ignored our positive impact and achievements.”
Mission Health spokesperson Nancy Lindell issued a statement Friday afternoon.
“There are no excuses for our patients receiving anything other than exceptional care, and Mission Health has already taken action based on the preliminary findings shared last month,” Lindell said. “We are pleased to hear from our EMS partners and patients that those actions are yielding positive results, including decreased wait times for care. We respect the process of these surveys and will submit our corrective action plan to CMS by their deadline. Again, these findings are not the standard of care we expect, nor that our patients deserve, and we are working diligently to improve.”
Immediate jeopardy is rare, according to a 2021 study from the National Library of Medicine, which reviewed 30,808 hospital deficiencies between 2007-2017. Only 2.4 percent or 730 of those resulted in immediate jeopardy, according to the study.
In addition to the CMS finding, HCA and Mission face a lawsuit filed in December by North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein. Stein, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, contends that they have violated the asset purchase agreement regarding cancer care and emergency services.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Andrew R. Jones is a Watchdog investigative reporter. Email arjones@avlwatchdog.org. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/donate.
The sale of our communities non-profit hospital to HCA corporation was a greedy move by the hospital board members and members of The Dogwood Trust. They ought to be ashamed of themselves for putting the lives of patients, the livelihood and ethical standards of care doctors and nurses are untrusted with in caring for their patients in peril. Corporations are machines which only care about making a profit in any way possible. Corporations do not care about patients, doctors, nor nurses. Profit at any cost is a corporations goal.
The reality is that Private Equity has and is purchasing medical practices, hospice, nursing homes, funeral homes, mobile home parks-anything they can make a profit from by raising prices, limiting care, reducing staff and the like. It’s like the investor class is trying to squeeze every drop of blood from the stone.
Right–which is why we have to get serious and exclude entities in health care from being targets of private equity. State sanctioned monopolies simply must come with heavy regulation prioritizing patient care and outcomes over profits so an entire region’s ability to survive, much less to thrive, isn’t left to bottom line only thinking. I used to teach “business ethics”- clearly an oxymoron these days for these huge money and blood sucking corporations.
They sure did get every drop of blood from the stone, now they want the marrow.
Members of a non-profit board are not compensated. The proceeds of the sale went into the Dogwood Trust, to be used for the community’s benefit; they did not pass to the Mission or Dogwood boards. The board members did not have a personal stake in the sale, except as possible future patients.
Yeah . It’s a shame that we cannot feel confident in their medical care. Used to be decent before HCA. And now we go to Pardee Hospital. . Its a terrible waiting time vat Emergency room. I hope someone else takes iver..
HCA employees are stretched thin. Short staffing and over worked employees are doing their best but are exhausted. Most are staffed by Traveling employees which tend to not invest in the facility and are gone after a 16 week gig. HCA wages are below most other hospitals considering they are the biggest and wealthiest system in this country.
As a travel nurse, I can assure you that we invest in PATIENT CARE at every facility we travel to. HCA’s travel arm, Health Trust, has a reputation among us for the lowest wages, the most ridiculous on boarding requirements, and for canceling a work contract at the slightest whim. HCA is a for profit entity and is not focused on patient care at all, but in their profit only, at whatever cost. Since being acquired by HCA, Mission Hospital has gained a nationwide reputation among travel nurses as a dumpster fire, no-go facility that puts the license of every professional it employs in jeopardy.
I received the worst care, to much to mention here. I was put in a dirty room at the er, waited there for 17 hours, nurse tried to hook up someone else iv that had been left on the table, lucky the ambulance driver cought it. No one new who there patients were. Was tried to be given another patients meds.Much much more.
Excellent analysis! Not the 1st time this is being reported!
I experienced the ER wait times myself in July 2022 when I brought my elderly mother in with pneumonia. We had to wait overnight in the ER waiting room for 17 hours before getting seen by a PA. Then, my poor mother had to wait hours more before being admitted to a room in the hospital. It was a nightmare. People were sleeping all over the floor of the ER waiting room. One girl had an accident on her moped that left her with some nasty-looking abrasions – and had to wait 7 hours for someone to clean her up. It was unreal. I had never experienced anything like that in my life – and hope to never again.
This is going to do nothing but ensure that those of us who might consider working there never will. The federal government can threaten them to make more meaningless requirements, but they can’t mandate us to work there, so more people, and the waits will get longer.
If they lose their Medicare/Medicaid funding, what happens when a Medicare-covered patient is transported or admitted to the hospital? Won’t Mission then try to bill the Medicare patient for the entire cost, since they won’t be able to recoup it from DHHS? I realize this isn’t the current situation, but it could happen. I would really appreciate it if you could address this in a future article.
I wondered that, too.
Agreed L marascio, as a medicare patient, what happens if i have a cardiac event and have to be brought their. It would ruin me financially.
Maybe I missed it, but how does a hospital receive this type of detrimental evaluation with warnings, along with various accolades of how good this hospital is in various rankings. There was a mention of these awards in this story, but what is the disconnect between such vast differences on the scale?
Please, Watchdog — help us understand how that happens.
Leapfrog, Healthgrades etc.. are hospital rating systems, and they have many weaknesses. It’s easy to do a search on the individual rating systems or on hospital rating systems in general. Spoiler, hospital rating systems get low marks themselves.
Perhaps this new finding of being in immediate jeopardy should be sent to Leapfrog and Healthgrades so they can amend their ratings to be accurate.
I heard of a clinician who contacted a hospital ratings group. The rating group wasn’t set up to take the clinician’s info/concerns. Sometimes there are partnerships between ratings groups and healthcare facilities, I believe. Yelp, Google, CMS info and AshevilleWatchdog seem more helpful than Healthgrades and Leapfrog to me.
Or perhaps this is a sham by leftist lunatics hellbent on taking HCA down. I used to work for HCA at Mission Hospital, and it was clear from when HCA bought Mission out, they were out to get them. I was there before the merger and after in a position with a lot of visibility to what goes on. This very likely could be a political move by someone who now wants to be governor.
No, you are the lunatic. The left believes that healthcare for all is a right, not a privilege for the rich. The reason the hospital is in the shape that it is now is because of the right, republicans. Republican shout that money and profit is the only goal. So you were seeing what Republican healthcare looks like. But I will give you credit for one thing, shouting out far right propaganda. When Republican for profit companies screw up always blame it on the left.
Nope. The liberal left supported this endeavor. Getting the facilities on the tax roll and gaining their tax payments was the motivation to sell. It’s the Dem never ending need for tax dollars that greedily approved this transaction.
Go thru hell in the ER like I and many others have and you might change your mind. The HHS finding have a lot more credibility than the Rating Companies or the Independent Monitor.
Stop stirring the kool-aide pitcher please.
Nashville has some of the worst hospitals in the nation as well as some of the best. Worst being HCA with their 20 story HQ being in Nashville.
Tennessee’s culture is Jacksonian “dog eat dog, don’t like it leave it” ground zero. And that reflects in not only hca, but corecivic, financial peace university, and many other mega corporations that absolutely value dollars over people.
What? Lunny! Go and be a patient one time and you will see the truth!!
Dirty Greedy Bastards should be erased from Humanity ! Nothing has changed from the beginning of Time. Saw first hand the substandard care Mission gives with our 91 year old Matriarch who fell dislocated , broke right arm and nose. 51/2 hours in Emergency Room waiting , not admitted until 730 am next morning. The short staffed demoralized nurses neglected to give her the special care that she deserved . Wife read Doctor in charge of tat wing the riot . The Dog and Pony Show commenced ( as long as one of us was present) . It was pathetic , the degree of down right neglect in care she s
received. Honestly, think control should be taken away from for profit HCA , because the time limit that DHHS has given the organization to straighten their Act out,
( which is what it is, an act) , will just b e for show and nothing will change. President of the For Profit, Greg Lowe should be held accountable. Any Class Action Lawsuits coming?
FYI, hospitals pay these companies to be rated. You can imagine they are somewhat gentle in their assessment of paying customers.
Leapfrog’s benchmarks must be low if they have ranked HCA in high regard. Do they visit the ER’? Do they have medical technical staff visit each department? Do they ask the nurses and doctors for their input—if they have the administrative and support they need to do their job?
Everything has a price … including rankings, accreditations… HCA is a MULTI billion dollar corporation ….that can purchase high ratings . With money comes power, including mad political power that easily influences and buys favor.
So sad and tragic what HCA has done to Mission–profit over patients. Why on earth didn’t the Board do due diligence, or simply google HCA
to see what they have done elsewhere. Given HCA’s history elsewhere,
it’s going to be a constant battle trying to get them to do the right thing here.
It was all about the money. Billions of dollars has a loud and long reach and wins out over best practice, typically.
“Immediate jeopardy is rare, according to a 2021 study from the National Library of Medicine, which reviewed 30,808 hospital deficiencies between 2007-2017. Only 2.4 percent or 730 of those resulted in immediate jeopardy, according to the study.”
Wow, sad how far Mission has fallen. Thanks for the reporting y’all have done on this.
The problems at Mission are way deeper and have been around for way longer than the past 5 years.
How do you have a hospital pharmacy with dedicated specialty pharmacists who make life threatening medication errors?
I had 2 Mission Hospital “cardiology” pharmacists who interviewed me in my hospital room, going over all my meds, only to turn around & dole out meds never to be given together causing me to experience SCD—Sudden Cardiac Death— associated with a fatal arrhythmia—- with Pfizer’s protocols being violated left & right as nurses and telemetry people looking at my EKG’s in real time— as they saw me flip into fatal arrhythmia TdP—Torsades de pointe.
How do you have such a non-transparent irresponsible hospital occurrence? And with me, the patient, challenging the attending cardiologist about the EKG which was being altered by the mis-prescribing of meds?
How do you fix a hospital culture that impaired? I have no idea.
I used to work in much larger hospital ICU’s. It’s completely baffling to me.
Thank you for your unflinching reporting on the HCA Mission fiasco.
Mission board members and senior administrators should be ashamed for selling our region down the river!
John Snell
I’m curious if an HCA hospital has ever faced immediate jeopardy before and if not, why are they failing so spectacularly at Mission in particular. Any idea about this, AVL Watchdog?
HCA’s Bayonet Point Hospital in Hudson, Fla. was placed in immediate jeopardy between late August and mid-September after a patient died because he was moved to the wrong room and employees couldn’t find him. In response, the hospital developed and provided an education plan for its staff to clarify lethal cardiac rhythm escalation and the process for moving a patient in the monitoring system, along with additional actions. CMS removed the immediate jeopardy notice Sept. 15 2023, and follow-up, on-site surveys have confirmed the hospital is complying with its plan.
Well, of course. Will the behavior continue when not observed by outside agencies or will things go back to the way they have been?
The former CEO of Mission who secretly met with HCA without approval and the Board who gave away Mission with practically no transparency and no real bidding process have done the citizens of Western Carolina a great disservice, even if their actions weren’t criminal. What they did was unbelievable!
HCA keeps throwing this same beast up old boot in the oven and telling us that it’s cherry pie.
What is Chucky Edwards doing about this? Nothing. Too busy kissing Trump’s arse. Contact his office and give him an ear full.
18 years ago Mission had a banner when you entered announcing they were a “Top 50 Hospital.” Is HCA is posting outdated info on their website?
The only reason Mayfield is chirping about this is because she’s up for election herself.
Otherwise, Asheville would be neatly forgotten…
You obviously do not know Julie Mayfield.
Maybe now Chuck Edwards will realize this is a problem he should have helped on. Where I grew up, someone like him was called a “stunad”.
https://thecontentauthority.com/blog/stunod-vs-stunad
or in yiddish, a putz.
They reported they are hiring more personnel so let’s see if true. I was kept 17 hours and I asked for something to drink. Gave me can of Starry soda. Nothing to eat all that time. I was told I had to spend the night. After that I was put in a room. I asked the nurse if they were busy and just had an empty room. She told me there were several open rooms. Also the doctor there told me I had to spend the night a d repeat this test. Suppose to fast 8 hours. So 25 hours total and just a drink of soda that I had to beg for. The morning doctor came in said it wasn’t necessary to spend the night. He said my tests were good. I was given graham crackers and soda. Weak from no food and had to wait til I went home.
Oh this is rich… and HCA Mission knows exactly what to say and feint to the Feds/CMS in order to get this perilous “immediate jeopardy” designation rescinded. So unfortunately, nothing will come of this; it’s bureaucratic ping pong at its best …worst. Avoid HCA Mission and its affiliated practices and services if you are at all able …they’ll feel the bite in their bottom line soon enough and will be relieved to jettison/ sell the Mission franchise.
Care following surgery needs to be improved . Too many patients for few nurses. A bad situation when a patient needs help the most. Was told by a nurse they had 1 nurse for 15 patients.
I went into memorial missions emergency room for a back injury and left with a prescription for pain in my testicles never said about any pain in testicles staff was rude are they going to be looking into individual cases like mine or do they just care about the final big dollar amount ended up going to a another hospital nearby had herniated disc suffered immense pain for months because of this not to mention was charged a very large emergency room visit for this absurd diagnosis what are they going to do about all the patients that this has happened to is there some kind of compensation going to be handed out.
Thus hospital and many more should go back to serving their communities and not be FOR PROFIT. Either that or switch USA to socialized medicine like Canada, how would you like that? Never ever trust Corporate America to do the right thing!
What percentage of Mission’s patients are uninsured? How do hospitals get paid for those patients? Wondering if the current model is financially viable? Many hospitals throughout the country have closed because of this situation.
My mom was just discharged from this hospital on January 31 and I have told my family that if I am dying in front of this hospital, take me elsewhere. Her care was abysmal. Her extreme spinal pain was mismanaged, her high blood pressure (she usually has low blood pressure) was left untreated despite having risk factors of a VP Shunt and recent SDH with craniotomy, her very bad headaches and nausea were left untreated, her constipation was left untreated and she ended up not pooping for almost 3 weeks. Please, NEVER take me or my family members to this hospital. The unnecessary suffering and untreated issues was like being in a twilight zone. When she was transferred to acute rehab they immediately put her on a sane pain management plan (just so happened to be exactly what I asked for at Mission and was told my request was inappropriate) This is a horrible horrible hospital.
This hospital was terrible in patient care. My mom and step dad and 2 friends were here after a very bad car accident. The nurses were rude and seemed more interested in gossiping and eating at the nurses station. When you would ask for something they would seem put out and annoyed. And good luck finding a doctor to talk to. I filed a complaint while we were there and I am glad to see that the issues I saw are being addressed
“I am immensely proud of our team and the quality care that is provided across Mission Health,” says the HCA honcho. WTF?
What’s desperately needed here is a public/private (Not HCA) partnership with the emphasis on public.
Non-profit status should be part of a covenant that puts patients over profits in perpetuity.
Bottom line is I went to the ER last year and had a horrible experience. Was triaged in the waiting room and ultimately was discharged MANY hours later. Interesting, I never saw an ER doctor. Had to go for another issue last month. I went to another local hospital. What a difference!
How can I join?
3 trips to the ER to diagnose a broken back and fractured sacrum. Then being billed from mission McDowell for a shoulder reset where they never even touched my shoulder.
I recently lost my father to pure negligence from the staff. Misdiagnosed with sudden “brain cancer” that popped up on an MRI after a clean MRI when admitted. Told her fell then told he didn’t. He clearly had a brain bleed. Untreated. They refused to give him any fluids or support when he was originally brought there for nausea vomiting and severe headache. Wouldn’t treat the headache only gave him Haldol which caused delerium. My Dad arrived at the ER fully alert no dementia. I asked them not to give him any of that and after several times of giving it to him they stopped. 2 days later he was himself again. Some nurse gave it to him again then restrained him. He fell in the middle of the night which prompted another MRI and a trip to ICU. Still no pain meds just antipsychotic meds. I was told he fell which made sense considering the emergency MRI. They had started a feeding tube because I begged. They laid him flat and he aspirated the tube feed also prior to the ” Fall” now he had aspiration pneumonia. The MRI showed an obvious bleed but the neurologists tried convincing me that it was a brain tumor that grew overnight around his brain stem. They consulted hospice and did nothing to treat him. He was dead in a couple days. Refused an autopsy.
Wendy,
My condolences to the recent passing of your father. I have reflected many times since my father’s passing in October to taking action sooner to get him to a VA hospice. He was at Mission during the spring of 2022 with fever and a sore throat. Nobody took a throat culture. Instead, he was given lozenges to suck on. Eventually, he was admitted to the ICU and put on antibiotics. Last October, my father entered Mission with a traumatic head injury. He was kept waiting in the ER for nearly 2 days before being transferred to a private room. Nobody checked his records or identification to see if he was a Veteran. I signed paperwork for hospice on Saturday the 14th. He was not moved out of Mission until Sunday night around 8:30 p.m. On Monday evening, my father was administered a sedative and morphine and passed away Tuesday morning on the 17th.
I respectively disagree. Steward Health Care, run by a democratic supporter and MD, just ran a former non-profit healthcare system (9 hospitals in Greater Boston) into the ground with his insatiable greed.
This was such such a great hospital nearly 20 years ago. But has time passed on the care and treatment has gotten so bad, and so terrible. I had major surgery nearly 2 years there. The care was fair at best. I tried to give everyone the benefit of the doubt just because my wife works in health care.
I literally had to get my wife to help to the restroom when after waiting 45 minutes pressing the call button to go.
Now I see 2 different doctor’s through Mission Hospital. I was discharged with a compromised immune system, and because of the surgery I had, I can’t vomit, I can’t cough, along with numerous other things. I was told that I was to be extremely cautious going forward in life, but if I were to get it the flu or covid I was to call the doctor’s office immediately..
Yesterday I finally got covid, and I called my doctor to see what I was suppose to do. It was at 5:30 pm roughly when I called the office. Over 24 hours has passed and typical Mission for you, they still haven’t called me back!!!!!!!
I’ve told my wife if I get worse take me to Greenville SC or some place other Mission or they’re freaking doctor’s!!!!
I am lets say a very disappointed victim of this hospital on one occasion I was I severe pain the first question the doctor asked me was am I homeless I said no I own my home she then waited a few seconds then asked do I mean a tent when I say I own my home ? What does where I live have to do with it and homeless or governor shouldn’t I get the same care she didn’t do anything to help me at all and more or less threw me out after being extremely rude
Mission nearly killed my mom in October 2022 who was there 17 days for severe sepsis…which they didn’t diagnose (or treat) for over a week and kept her waiting 5 days for an MRI. They gave her pneumonia by giving her too much IV fluid. She got sicker and sicker the longer she was there and couldn’t even walk upon discharge. When I arrived she wasn’t clean or being paid attention to. Every bell call to the nurses was ignored unless I walked to the nurses station to ask for help. We will NEVER go there again no matter WHAT they say they are doing to correct. The worst experience we have ever had, and my family had been going to this hospital for decades.
Will HCA be monitored for a significant period of time if they favorably present a positive corrective action plan???
To Greg Lowe:
Per your own words with regard to your pride in your team and “quality care” dispensed at Mission Hospital, I respectfully put forward that there is very little quality care at what was once a stellar hospital. The staff does care but are hampered by the insufficient work force. There is really nothing to feel proud about, including the lack of cleanliness throughout the hospital.
Ron Paulis was the main beneficiary of this sale and is now an employee of HCA. It makes me wonder if he was the Trojan Horse. I am directly inquiring and asking you whether he previously worked for HCA.
I want you to know that Asheville is probably a different kind of community than HCA is familiar with. This is a real community with people who are committed to excellence in all aspects of living in Asheville. Health care was a large draw for people moving to Asheville. In a few short years, HCA has been able to eradicate this important aspect of our city.
I, once again, respectfully ask that if you do not seriously wish to put Mission Hospital back where it belongs, please leave so that another hospital that focuses on heath care as well as a smaller profit can take your place.
One last question….. if you were not associated with HCA, would you put your life in the hands of Mission Hospital?…. Your wife and children?…..Your parents? For just one moment, think about walking into the ER as an average Joe!
Thank you for your time
Lynne Brofman
Previously, I think the HCA local leadership referred to the hospital complaints as anecdotal meaning (not necessarily true or reliable, because based on personal accounts rather than facts or research). CMS has a different term for the care at HCA. Dire meaning (involving great fear or suffering; dreadful; terrible) and jeopardizing lives. There appears to be a profound difference of opinion.
And the press releases continue to state the “team” needs to be retrained. The “team” (doctors and nurses) don’t need to be retrained! They need more support and staff to do their jobs.
I certainly hope that HCA will not discontinue their improved behavior. But, I’m afraid with their past historic fraudulent penalties, this correction will be temporary and result in more like “putting lipstick on a pig approach.”
My sister was at Mission last year. We went through very much trauma because they were understaffed, and the rooms were filthy. Wads of hair were tightly wrapped around the wheels of the reclining chair on the 9th floor. Everything was dust laden, bathrooms were smelly, and there was no one to bath the patients. I bathed her, took her to the bathroom, changed her bedding, walked her in the hallways, got her up to the chair and back to bed. I was trying my best to save her life. One of the nurses aides told me that no other patient was getting the care my sister was getting because I was there taking care of her myself. I cleaned the equipment, the rooms, the beds, the bathrooms, the floors. I couldn’t remove the hairs from the wheels without removing the wheels, and I didn’t have the tools for that. How disgusting!! And, I haven’t even addressed the ER, yet.
We were in the hallway in ER for 24 hours before a doctor finally replaced her feeding tube. She weighed 89 pounds and had had nothing to eat or drink in 30 hours before they finally got her into a room and got food started again. Some hospital!! While in the ER hallway another patient’s bed was backed up to hers, and we were forced to listen to him yelling and cursing for hours. And, right beside us was a sign on a room door that said there was contagious disease in there. I was scared.
Before we left someone came to ask how our stay had been. I told her that if they didn’t start cleaning the hospital again and bathing the patients again, some people were going to get very sick and die.
I am a retired ED physician and I have worked for several HCA facilities including in Nashville. I found them conscientious and compassionate. So very sad to read all the negative current opinons of Mission Memorial. My now deceased father-in-law had neurosurgery there and was given excellent care. Burnout among ED physicians is common and lots of us have left practice because of unreasonable demands requiring the physician to cut corners and slough thoroughness. How many ED patients are not treated by physicians, rather by mid-levels (NPs or PACs)? HCA would do well to hire an experienced ED physician to monitor the ED, listen to compaints (both from the physician and about the physician), acutely monitor appropriateness of response and level of care and afford the patient a ready and available contact resource to vent their concerns. A compassionate ear and a willingness to listen has defused many a thorny issue. I wish them success. Asheville desperately needs that hospital.