Yale-New Haven Hospital

Years ago, I showed up to Yale's ER with clear signs of heart failure. The APRN who saw me in the ER didn't order the proper diagnostic tests for someone with heart failure symptoms. My diagnosis was missed (as a result) and I was admitted "for observation." A few days later in the hospital, once my heart condition was discovered, one of the doctors told me that "a mistake has been made, my condition was overlooked." The doctor (who informed me that a mistake had been made) told me that if the person who saw me in the ER ordered the proper diagnostic tests, my heart condition would have been found/diagnosed immediately, and I would have been prescribed the heart medications I needed right away...rather than a few days later.

So, I gave my medical records to a lawyer, and he had other doctors look at it. They came to the same conclusion... that not ordering the proper diagnostic tests delayed my condition from being discovered, resulting in me not receiving the heart medications I needed until later.

I contacted Patient Relations. They acted nice and professional, but it wasn't productive... so I asked if I could speak with the APRN's boss, since it was made clear they weren't going to have the APRN who messed up speak with me. When I spoke with his boss, she acted really annoyed, unsympathetic (about the fact that one of her employees made my life a living hell) … basically coming across as if she was only speaking with me because the hospital made her. She spoke over me, saying "I'm no longer interested in having this conversation," and transferred me back over to Patient Relations before I could even finish what I was saying. I'm sure some of Yale's medical staff members are competent (unlike the APRN who treated me) and I'm sure some of them care about their patients (unlike the APRN's boss, who was unsympathetic and acted like she could care less.)

I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The diagnosis was a shock, yet I knew it was treatable. Yale is so behind in their scheduling that from the original diagnosis it has taken almost 7 months just to get treatment decided upon yet alone scheduled. The spacing between tests, and the lack of follow up between test (from doctors) gives them a failing grade. I have had to chase doctors just to get feedback on tests. I know other individuals going through similar procedures elsewhere where was patient
advocacy helping them through the process. Yale has provided none of that. If I had not continually pushed to move the process forward, I would have been set adrift with no treatment at all. I would certainly recommend other hospitals like Harford Healthcare as better alternatives to Yale. I tried to get a second opinion from Hartford healthcare, yet Yale sent the wrong images or did not send images at all. Two months to get this corrected basically killed the chance of getting a timely second opinion.
There is a huge problem at Yale with scheduling. I do not know if this is an Epic issue or just Yale's own internal fumbling of the process. Getting sent to centralized scheduling is like being sent into a black hole. There is a very large disconnect between scheduling and the patient / doctor relationship. If they are so backed up, they need to reevaluate their staffing in order to better service their clients. If I had a more aggressive form of cancer, I would be dead waiting for scheduling. There billboards on the highways suggest "personalized cancer treatment". At this point, it is very personal to me in Yale's failure to deliver. If Yale truly wants to be considered a class operation, they need to do a lot better in patient advocacy. I should have had a patient advocate from the start. They do not even deserve one star as far as I am concerned. Unfortunately, Yale has been too concerned with expanding while the focus on patient care has been an afterthought.

I kid u not police were call on me due to the fact I question the nurse on my wife pain med she had a brain tumor they had her on 2.5 mg of oxy every six hrs

The Hospital in the last 2 years has gone to the dogs. It is now a dangerous, incompetent hospital, understaffed and overwhelmed and they make poor choices -- and regularly in contravention of the standards of care to expedite the churn of beds. I have seen it in my own case twice and in the case of relatives. I will no longer utilized Yale's services as they are no longer a 5 star care provider. They are at best 2 stars.

My husband's symptoms started on 1/7/21 with what was thought to have been a pulled muscle in his groin. We treated him at home with ice/heat, Motrin and rest. Symptoms did not improve and in fact seemed worse, so on 1/13/21 he went to the emergency room...Shoreline ER. Due to the fact that he went in alone, I asked him to please have them do a baseline CBC an ultrasound in case it was an appendicitis...albeit a little low but I wanted to rule it out. I picked him up less than an 2 hours later. He was asked by the ER doctor, point blank, "Why are you even here?" Did a urine exam and told him it was a pulled groin muscle and was sent packing. He came home and we continued to do what the doctor had told us to do and it just was not getting any better. So, the following week, he decided that he better go see his PCP. When he got there, he saw Josh Freund, PA. He was suspicious about the fact that he was not improving, so he ordered a CBC. The next day, we found out my husband had an elevated WBC count and Josh ordered an MRI for Monday morning 1/25/21 in North Haven. Within hours, my husband was told to go to the emergency room immediately. He was diagnosed with osteomyelitis of the pelvic bone. He went to the ER and spent from 2-12:30 in the ER without anything to eat. I had to call and tell them to please feed him. He had not eaten all day. He finally was admitted into a "bay" and there he stayed for 5 days. After a day or 2, he asked about a possible shower or if nothing else, some soap and a toothbrush would be fine. My husband was put on antibiotics there and was released home with 6 more weeks of antibiotics that I change every night. I guess my frustration level is that IF the Shoreline ER had just done a CBC, then we might have been able to catch this sooner and start treatment sooner. Furthermore, it has been 33 days that my husband has been on IV antibiotics. The visiting nurse comes once a week and collects a blood sample. My husband has been experiencing a new symptom. The left side of his foot is red and swollen. He has a history of gout. I am worried that the antibiotics are throwing off his chemistry creating the pain. We found out Thursday that his Liver Function tests are elevated. They told him to go to the blood draw station yesterday. The blood test came back totally out of range and quite elevated. We waited for some one to call us back to tell us the next step to avoid any further liver damage. No one has called. I called this morning and was told that my husband is not officially a patient of the Infectious Disease department until his first visit even though Infectious Disease is the department that ordered his IV antibiotics and the weekly blood tests. I left a message to please have some one call me back and also wrote a message on his My Chart.
He was told that if the numbers continued to climb, then he would need to go off the antibiotic and go on another one. The nurse made it sound very important that this be done, but infectious disease told my husband it was very important to stay on an antibiotic for the whole 6 weeks. I don't want to take it upon myself to just discontinue the med nor do I want to continue to poison his system with the antibiotic. I fully understand what Covid is doing in the hospitals, I work in a medical office, but I also hear many many warnings about if you have an issue you should not ignore it and go to the hospital. He did and I feel lost in the dark right about now. I am disappointed in the way this has been handled. I realize this is NOT a life-threatening condition or Covid) but it has been a nightmare for my husband. I have been his advocate as much as I can, but to no avail. We are seriously considering going to Midstate Medical or Middlesex if we need any more urgent care. It can't be any worse, that's for sure.