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| - This is what happened during my stay at Banner Gateway: Had a horrible experience in March 2015. Went in on 3/10/15 because of a direct order from my PCP because of a low platelet level (20,000) (normal is over 150,000.) I am an RN with 30 years of experience. I signed myself into the ER and was admitted. No symptoms except for labs results. Was kept waiting in the ER waiting room (which did not help my anxiety level) and there were only 2 other people in the waiting room. When I got seen in the ER, my blood pressure was 165/107 and was given medication without my permission or knowledge in my IV to lower the blood pressure.
I was admitted to a medical floor and was told I would be seen by the hematologist within 24 hours who would evaluate my condition and order treatment. The hospitalist saw me for maybe 15 minutes over the next 48 hours. I wanted to discharge myself after 24 hours and seek care elsewhere, but the staff kept telling me that the hematologist (specialist) would be coming to see me. I did not want to leave AMA because the insurance might not pay the bill. I even tried to call this doctor at his office to beg him to come and see me at Banner but the receptionist would not connect me! At 48 hours inpatient, the hematologist had not seen me and the staff did not know when he was going to come. Everything that was provided to me at Banner could have be done on an outpatient basis (lab tests, my own medications, oral prednisone) but I was essentially "held hostage" in a hospital for 48 hours waiting to see a specialist who never came. I have since been to a wonderful hematologist and she said Banner should have been ordering multiple lab tests to rule out Lupus and blood clotting disorders and an ultrasound of my spleen to evaluate the cause of my low platelets. This hospital experience caused me to lose 2 nights of sleep, 2 days of work, 2 days from my family and most importantly, I did not ever see the hematologist which is the ONLY reason I was there. Oh, my insurance company was charged and paid $10,000 for this hospital stay and I have been paying $1500 of copays! The only two things that were above average were the nursing staff and the modern rooms. I would NOT recommend this hospital. Hope this helps! --Current RN
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