A few years ago, I lost my balance and ended up on the floor with what turned out to be a broken shoulder, multiple bruises, and a semi-concussion. Because my white blood cell count was elevated, the admitting doctor kept me in the hospital for four days on a saline IV, since an attempt to put me on an antibiotic gave me hives. I’d consistently had bad reactions to other antibiotics in the past, so he relied only on the saline to clear my system.
I was in bad pain, since pain medicine makes me throw up or gives me other debilitating symptoms. So I managed through those four days with Tylenol, cool packs, and my arm in a sling. The orthopedist sent by the admitting doctor after my scans were done felt the break would bond on its own if it was kept stable. I was terrified.
I told the dietary staff what foods triggered my interstitial cystitis, which limited me to the same menu for every lunch and dinner: baked chicken and a vegetable. The staffer who brought my first meal set the dishes, uncovered, on a table out of my reach. Just to move was excruciating. I rang for the nurse, but no one came until after my food had been taken away—which resulted in a chiding from dietary for not eating. The nurse told me that the staff didn’t have time to get my food ready and help me eat.
I also had multiple urges to urinate, and help never came. One aide told me just to wet the bed, that a urine cover was under the sheets. But no one checked on me in-between.
The doctor sent an orthopedist, then I saw him once more for about five minutes. It was like being in Danté’s circle of hell.
Fortunately, a friend of my husband’s had asked if my husband would hire his daughter for two months as a helper in his AC business. She had been a nurse but was changing fields. She knew me, and my husband said he would pay her the same fee she got helping him if she stayed with me through supper. Thank goodness. I had my meals cut up and served by her, a bed pan stuck under me when I was ready for one, a toothbrush readied for my use, and a real sponge bath (what the aides did was barely a face wash). The bed-wetting became just a nighttime thing. I only saw the nurse at medication time—she woke me up to give me my sleep meds, even though I have chronic fatigue syndrome so need my sleep.
Hospitals should do better by their patients. The two times my mother was in the hospital in her eighties, my husband and I hired a private aide to be with her. It was either that or not eat and pee in the bed for her, too.
Pris Campbell
Lake Worth, Florida
32 thoughts on “Trouble Getting Help”
From: Mosaad, Cairo, Egypt
A Situation I Experienced in a Public Hospital in Egypt**
I underwent a CT scan using specialized equipment after a partial nephrectomy on my right kidney a year and a half ago. On the day the results were to be reviewed by a visiting consultant from Germany—brought in specifically to decide whether I should undergo another operation—I found myself, starting from 9 a.m., waiting with over 30 other patients hoping to be seen.
I sat in a chair for more than two hours as patients crowded around the consultant’s desk, like a food distribution queue in crisis-stricken Gaza. Suddenly, I could no longer remain seated due to intense fatigue caused by chronic fatigue syndrome, which I’ve lived with for over 30 years.
I approached the consultant’s room and managed to speak to a doctor who was about to enter. He looked at me without any reaction and went in. Moments later, I collapsed on the floor in front of the room, shocking everyone. A junior doctor came out, looked at me, and asked, “Are you trying to pressure us with this act to get in to see the consultant?” I said, “I suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome.” He replied, “Go sit on a chair.” I said, “I can’t sit either, I’m extremely exhausted.” He left me and went inside.
I began shouting loudly so the consultant could hear me: “I have chronic fatigue syndrome and I can’t sit in a chair. I’m not asking to skip anyone—I’ve been waiting since early morning. I just need a place to lie down.”
A senior doctor came out and ordered the nurses to take me somewhere I could lie down on a bed. But the nurses didn’t follow through. So I laid on the floor again and asked the nurses to call security to arrest me. Finally, they had no choice but to lift me onto a wheelchair and take me to a bed where I could lie down at last.
After sleeping for about an hour and a half, I got up to see what was happening. A young doctor spotted me and said they had been looking for me. I then entered the consultant’s room, where I was treated with remarkable kindness, understanding, and respect. He informed me that I would most likely need a full nephrectomy on my right kidney.
However, I didn’t attend the appointment scheduled for January 2025. I instead requested a follow-up MRI scan. After review, the doctors found no reason to justify the complete kidney removal proposed earlier by the consultant.
Today, I’m in better condition.
This is my story from Cairo, Egupt
Mosaad, thank you for telling us about your experience in Cairo. Unbelievable that they would leave you on the floor saying you were faking or could sit in a chair. Thank goodness the doctor was nice but he almost had you in an operation you didn’t need. It was so smart of you to insist on an MRI. We really have to take care of ourselves so much of the time.
Sorry you had to go through that Pris. In the U.K. we are incredibly lucky to have a National Health Service. The doctors, nurses and staff do a tremendous job but (and it’s a BIG ‘but’) the service has been grossly overstretched for many years and Covid took a terrible toll. The other major problem relates to Brexit – one of the most foolish of decisions – it’s made coming to the UK to work less attractive and the NHS relies on large numbers of workers from other parts of the world – Brexit has made many feel unwelcome. This racism is slightly less overt than that of Trump et al, but sadly it’s there. Waiting lists are incredibly long.
In short we have many good people working in incredibly demanding conditions, often undervalued by the govt.
Alan, thanks for describing health care in the UK. Everywhere, we need an increase in medical personnel, it seems.
This is Wales (and probably the entirety of the United Kingdom).
When my mum was in hospital after her stroke followed by sepsis, nine years ago already – can you believe it!! – the staff on the wards were fairly stretched then. As were the accident and emergency department. But it seemed manageable, just. I feel then the NHS were on the cusp of a plummet into the stage we’re at now.
Ambulances queue up outside of hospitals. Hours and hours waiting for an ambulance. Even more hours waiting in hospitals to be seen. My heart goes out to both staff and patients. Only yesterday a friend waited almost 17 hours to be treated.
On a side note, my recent experience getting treatment from the orthopaedic department as a non emergency outpatient was refreshingly efficient at one Welsh hospital. It feels like a small but significant corner has been turned there.
The queue of ambulances sounds much worse than here. Most people go in big emergencies by Fire and Rescue. When my husband got home after I’d been on the floor four hours and realized he couldn’t move me he called them. Ten minutes later they were at our door, sliding something under me to lift me flat. Nobody wants to go to the Emergency Room of a hospital, though, on their own. You could spend your life waiting. Like your friend.
How difficult, the loss of your mother.
Omg, dear Pris, this is horrible but true. The healthcare system is the same all over the world, though gauging from your experience, it’s not that bad in India. Here, too, we have to hire private attendants to look after us in hospitals. And at home. And if one doesn’t have the financial resources, it’s terrifying. Good that an attendant could be arranged. Trust you’re better.
Rupa, thanks for sharing your situation in India. So you have to hire private help too? I wonder why the administrators of hospitals don’t set up patient care better. And yes, my shoulder healed with the help of more private care after discharge and PT when the Orthopedist said the bones were ready.
I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that, Pris. Here(Nebraska) it is assumed someone will stay with you and help take care of you. Family members often take turns. My problem is I have no family.
A year and a half ago I was hospitalized for seven days after a ruptured bowel and septic shock. I ran into everything from medication errors to being left in the hallway until staff was available to clean the room I was being transferred to. My least favorite was being left on a toilet and told not to move until someone could help me .Because I have many joint and muscle problems It became painful to sit and I was getting weak and afraid I was going to fall off the toilet.
Martha, so they rely on you bringing your own help and that leaves you on your own!
What a horrible experience, Pris. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.
Unfortunately, it is like that here too (Canada) as I witnessed this when my mum was in the hospital. Because I was with her all day, every day, I saw this repeatedly and I ended up helping the three other women in my mum’s room. It was heartbreaking, to say the least. When my mum was finally admitted to hospice, I worried about those women and all the other patients on the floor. Our hospitals are stretched too thin and there aren’t enough care aids and volunteers to help with patient care. I shudder to think what it will be like in another 10-20 years. So sad.
I’m glad you made it through that experience and thank you for sharing.
Reid, the problem seems to be everywhere. Thank goodness you helped feed others while you were there. How upsetting it must have been both with your mother dying and the soon hungry left behind.
From experience I can say that the nurses who care the most, burn out the soonest. It is near impossible to provide patients with the care they need when admin gives nurses 7 patients and nurse’s aids 15. How could a nurse’s aid feed more than 3-4 patients in an hour? Not to mention assisting with washing and using the restroom. We need safe patient ratios for nurses and nurse’s aids. So sorry you experienced subpar care in the hospital. We need to do better.
Katie, thank you for this strong comment on the need for changes in the hospital administration decisions re patient ratios. Yes, the current system is sub par and even dangerous. Yes, no wonder caring nurses burn out. It must be so emotionally painful to see patients set aside and be able to do nothing. Hospitals have become warehouses rather than the places we need them to be. It’s too bad that the good ones can’t handle this negligence and leave.
Absolutely horrendous, Pris. So sorry you had to go through that.
Marion, yes, it was pretty awful.
Pris, I am so sorry you had to go through such a terrible experience, but I am not surprised! I have never had a good experience in the hospital anywhere and there is just no excuse for that!
I agree. No excuse.
Oh, Pris, what a nightmare! I am “looking forward” to a night in the hospital following a September hip replacement. Perhaps my husband will stay with me.
If he can, it would lower your stress.
I was in a rehab place for six weeks after a major surgery and it was a pit. I also have dietary sensitivities and medication sensitivities and if I had not checked every single pill brought to me every single time I would’ve had a med error every single day. So Pris, I feel for you and I’m glad that’s in the past.
Ditto. I never swallowed anything until i examined it thoroughly. Glad we both had the clarity to do that.
Pris, I’m so sorry your shoulder broke and your hospitalization was a horror! Your experience is heartbreaking and infuriating! Thank you for sharing and speaking out. There is no excuse for their abusive and negligence!
Suzanne, indeed No excuse. Even with staff shortages, what better thing to do than help the patients.
Pris, I am sorry that you had to endure this. In addition to the inadequate care you received, and how difficult it must have been, I am most outraged by the attitudes of the hospital employees. Because of being overworked, they seem to have succumbed to indifference and callousness. No one should be expected to urinate in the bed because a pad is on it!! Thanks for sharing and to Pulse for publishing your story.
Colette, I agree completely.
I wish I could say this was a shocking and unusual story but it is all too familiar, especially for people with ME/CFS. Even the most basic of human needs going unmet, so what chance of any special accommodations?
Thank you. I know you understand.
What a nightmare! So sorry for the negligent treatment.
Thank you for such an empathetic reaction.
I’m so sorry that Pris experienced this.
Thank you Rajean!