During my one-week stay at Baylor Scott and White, Grapevine hospital last summer, I received shockingly abusive treatment, including being cursed at while lying in an ICU bed and full-on screamed at by a psycho nurse, plus several other bizarre and painful things, resulting in my leaving slightly early “AMA” (against medical advice). I had actually been cleared to go home earlier that morning by “Doctor R”. But just before my departure (later that same day), he suddenly presented - out of the blue - a list of reasons that he wanted me to stay. More than 4 hours had passed since he’d said he was fine with me going home; I’m not sure exactly when he changed his mind, but he - apparently - did not deem it important to inform me until I was actually leaving, several hours later.
After fleeing for home and continuing my recovery with a general practitioner, I had a lawyer send Baylor Scott and White a demand and dispute letter requesting my full medical records, informing them that I needed to lodge a complaint and to know the proper channels for that (The lawyer’s letter obviously was not my complaint in of itself.), and attempting to synopsize and explain the basis for my dispute of their bill.
A few days later, their rep called my lawyer to say that they were “reviewing” the letter and would get back to him. I found it interesting that they were being so careful to put absolutely nothing in writing, choosing instead, to make my lawyer into a witness. After that, for more than 2 months, it was radio silence. They were required to send me my records within 30 days, according to the definition given by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But, while I waited more than 2 more months, Baylor Scott and White sent nothing. Said nothing. And did nothing, other than sending the bill to their collections agency!
Although they’ve proclaimed to “care” about me, the only thing Baylor Scott and White has actually cared about has been CYA and getting their money. They demonstrated no actions of caring whatsoever. That is why - in addition to my experiences with their abusive staff, which I will describe - I have dubbed the facilities at Baylor Scott and White the Intensive Abuse Unit.
Withholding my medical records which were requested - and which communication (the letter) was acknowledged as received by Baylor Scott and White - constitutes a violation of the HIPAA law, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And that is just once instance of Baylor Scott and White’s violations. As of this writing, I still need those records, which they continue to withhold, breaking the law. It has now been almost 6 and a half months since my request. They care about something all right, but it isn’t me.
More than 2 months after their phone call to my attorney in which they said they were reviewing my letter, another Baylor Scott and White rep called my lawyer to say she was “doing an investigation”. Based off of what? I had not been facilitated (as requested in the letter) to even give my complaint in the first place! The few items my lawyer had hit upon in attempting to synopsize the situation did not encompass my complaint itself, and that was clear by the letter. Only game-playing people (which they are) would conveniently pretend that his letter of notice constituted MY COMPLAINT ITSELF or the significant details thereof (while actually withholding the information about how to lodge my complaint)! During this call, Baylor Scott and White’s rep mentioned that she would need a HIPAA consent form in order to share her conclusions with my attorney… She would later ignore that requirement.
Subsequently, another 5 weeks went by before the rep phoned my lawyer once more. At that point, it had been over 5 full months since the original abuse in the hospital. During this final phone call, Baylor Scott and White’s attorney told mine her conclusion. In doing so, she gave my attorney medical information about me which not only violated the HIPAA law, but also was slanderous. It seems that Baylor Scott and White would stop at nothing in their attempts to discredit me, including slander.
She told my lawyer the following conclusions: I was “in a confused state” and I must have perceived things wrong (What things would that be, again, since I’d never gotten to tell you, Baylor Scott and White?), because I was “off of anti-anxiety meds” the day that I was brought up from anesthesia. That was a WTF moment if there ever was one. It’s a bold-faced lie. It’s an unbelievable attempt to discredit me, and it’s also slander! I had never been “ON” any anti-anxiety meds to begin with! Not in my entire life! Never prescribed and never taken. My lawyer instinctively perceived it as a lie, and he made a great analogy: One could say that I was “off of anti-anxiety meds” in the same way that they could say I was “off of heart meds” (because I’d never taken heart meds)!
It seems like they were intentionally trying to run out the clock with their antics, due to the potential for a law suit. Finally, Baylor Scott and White sent something in writing. It was postmarked exactly one day after the 6-month point (once they felt safe from lawsuits?). Not surprisingly, it was full of patronizing bullshit and outright lies.
Is this why they also withheld, and made no mention of, my requested records in the course of 6 months? Those records could potentially be part of any legal discovery. And Baylor Scott and White knows that. But more importantly, I need my records! They do not give a rat’s butt about me. They’ve dragged things out on purpose and ignored all 3 of the requests in my letter, save for the bit where they pretended that the lawyer’s letter constituted my full and actual complaint itself, while withholding the requested information about complaint channels.
Only after her ridiculous “investigation”, did the slanderous attorney suggest that I go through some similar “official” procedure after that - more than 5 months after the fact! That does not qualify as providing me with the requested information about established complaint channels when what they actually did was purposely stall for months and months and withhold all requested information.
Six months after I’d left the hospital, Baylor Scott and White, finally in a written letter, stated: “A review of your concerns was completed on February…”. Baylor Scott and White, you don’t even have a record of “my concerns” save for a couple of very brief and incomplete highlights you received via my lawyer’s demand letter, the demands of which you ignored.
The following may be hard to fathom; but here is what actually happened to me in the Intensive Abuse Unit at Baylor Scott and White, Grapevine:
The bad guys (and a few good guys) that I met at Baylor Scott and White, Grapevine last year, were a variety of ages, races, and genders. I reported the abuse twice while still in the hospital, but their staff took no action. One of those times was to the nurse that they sent to my room to supposedly find out why I was leaving. (Now, Baylor Scott and White claims that they “were unaware”, even AFTER they had intentionally sent this nurse to my room!)
I was admitted to the Intensive Abuse Unit of Baylor Scott and White, last summer. Before knocking me out with anesthesia, a somewhat fuzzy set of faces standing in front of me, asked for my name, birthdate, phone number… Apparently, at that time I gave the phone number of one of my emergency contacts. Why? Maybe because I was sick, I couldn’t remember my number, and I didn’t even think I had my phone with me? I wanted to be sure they had a number where they could at least leave me a message. As I will explain here, the day that I finally escaped from Baylor Scott and White, a doctor - “Doctor R” - phoned me in my room and bitterly accused me of giving him this other number instead of mine. I’m not even sure what his accusation was supposed to imply. It’s the kind that makes you say: “And?…”. I also don’t understand supposed professionals who present with hostility instead of asking questions if they are confused. He spoke as if I remembered him from that day when I was admitted. I did not.
I do understand that the doctor was upset; something seemed to be going sideways for him, I’m sure. Otherwise, maybe he could have communicated with friendly curiosity instead of fear and hostility.
Earlier that morning, Doctor R had actually cleared me to go home (his exact words: “I’d be fine with that”), on one condition - a condition which I had met. But at some point, after having said he was “fine with” me going home and having asked where to call-in my prescriptions, he’d changed his mind it seems (without informing me at any point during the ensuing 4 - 5 hours). As I prepared to leave, he suddenly appeared desperate to keep me there “one more day” and offered brand new reasons out of the blue; however, at that point I was desperate to leave. The following is “why”:
The blur of inquiring faces on the day of my admittance, was the last thing I could remember before suddenly being brought back up from anesthesia several days later. In that moment, I had no idea what was happening, nor that several days had passed. I was very disoriented, as one might expect. I was still halfway-knocked-out. However I could hear pretty well - as I believe the nurses are generally aware because they routinely start bringing a patient out of anesthesia while simultaneously performing other specific procedures. (Also, they talked directly to me at certain points during the procedure.)
In my case, the young nurses surrounding me were having a very strange conversation while bringing me out of anesthesia and performing a procedure on me. While I lay there as helpless as one can literally be, a woman clearly said: “You’re gonna die at one o’clock”. A few seconds later, her female colleague responded: “We’re all gonna die at one o’ clock - ‘cause we’re all gonna be here”! This created a huge panic inside me, as the nurses bantered back and forth. Anyone with a brain could have easily seen that I was panicked. I could see (although hazy) that there were huge, round, padded mittens covering both of my hands. They were probably taped firmly around my wrists but, in the drug-haze, I didn’t realize it. More than once, I desperately tried to get them off, placing one in the pit of my arm and pulling, and then trying the same thing on the other side. All I knew was that my hands were bound, my mouth was covered, people were saying very specific things about death, and I didn’t know where I was. It was mental agony. I tried to sit up at least a couple of times. The only thing that the troll standing over me would say was: “Lie down”. This was after having said “What?” to me - all-the-while knowing that I had literally no possible way of communicating. She would say “What?”; then I’d try to communicate and realize, again, that I couldn’t because both my mouth and hands were covered; and then this woman would just say “Lie down”. It was the perfect moment for anyone with an ounce of emotional intelligence to say something reassuring, such as: “You’re okay”, or “You’re going to be okay”, or “We’re just removing a tube”. Or anything, really. She could have said a dozen different things with the intent to be comforting, if she’d had such an intent. I lay there in the most emotional pain I’ve ever known, trying to figure out why my life was being threatened and what my captors were planning for me. What kind of nefarious thing could I be involved in? What could I do about it? Would I ever see my family again? As I strained and churned over the situation in my mind, it eventually occurred to me that the “at one o’ clock” part of the nurses’ statements did not make sense, but I was still terrified, not knowing why my life (as far as I knew) was being threatened. Then finally, a woman close-by said: “Do you want to die”? At that point, this being the first question posited to me (rather than a statement), I think I nodded. At least, I was trying to nod, because it was the first time I was able to communicate something; it was the first time, during those moments of terror, that I had been offered a choice - a choice to which I had a way of responding. Of course I did not want to die, but I’d resigned myself to the fact that I could not escape whatever was happening; Eventually I tried to daydream of a peaceful house on a beach, and other things, as a way to block out the torture. It was still torturous. I do not know how to describe the level of torture I was in and I do not know how long it really lasted. It seemed to go on and on. I do know there was time for several things to be said and for me to have several thoughts.
Finally, a young nurse leaned me up, on the table/bed. She was chuckling while - with her hands still momentarily on my shoulders - she exclaimed: “Well that’s one way to do it”! Then a young, male nurse, as he left the room, passed by and proclaimed that he was going out to get a case of beer. The two seemed to be celebrating something, although I’m not sure exactly what. Something to do with the procedure. Finally these nurses, who had just performed my hilarious procedure, left the room. But others remained.
I could hear someone to my left, reciting something. When I looked in that direction, I noticed there was a doctor and at least one nurse standing there. They excitedly started telling me not to worry, and that they were going to take care of me. In fact, any time I even looked in their direction, they would, again, launch immediately into the same excited statements about not worrying, and that they were going to take care of me. I might even say they were overly reassuring, except for the fact that I think they knew it was needed. They’d witnessed something! This was the first kind thing I had experienced that day - the warm words of these kind staff members in the immediate aftermath of the callous tormentors who’d been so tickled with themselves. The doctor was repeating himself. He was speaking out a list of 3 or 4 statements in the tone of a mantra; he was saying it to a nurse who was facing him and who was nodding in agreement to his statements. This may sound bizarre (as it did to me), but he was saying:
“You support me in life…” (said in a lilting tone)…
“You support me in health…” (said in a lilting tone)…
”And the doctor came right away”! (said as a declaration).
Now that last statement seems the most significant. It really looked and sounded as if the doctor was rehearsing the story with this nurse - or perhaps making sure that she would remember to report things the right way, even though the two of them had not been my tormentors. I want these two, this doctor and nurse, to know that I would never hold the two of them responsible for what their arrogant colleagues had just done to me. (Just please tell the truth now.) I call the woman “The good nurse” because I think she witnessed what was happening and ran to get the doctor. I’ll call him “Doctor K”. He was my assigned doctor for that day, according to the whiteboard on the wall. Under the heading of “Goal” for that day, someone had written “Extubate and stay calm”. I want to speak with Dr. K now, or with the nurse colleague to whom he’d been reciting those statements. I really need to speak with her so that I can find out exactly what she witnessed, rather than just suffer the insulting obfuscations of other Baylor Scott and White staff. She is kind of a hero. (She could have been a doctor; but I’m assuming she was a nurse based on the statements of Doctor K about “the doctor”.)
After all of this, I lay there in bed, still in the ICU. Doctor K was instructing me to make sure to rest my voice for a good, long time. He joked: “Now don’t ever speak to me again”! I got the joke, although other Baylor Scott and White staff, later that same day, would ensure that I did, in fact, strain my voice. Sorry, Doctor K…
When considering what happened while I was being brought out of anesthesia, one will, of course, note that I was disoriented; and therefore… what was actually being said by the nurses? Perhaps it was just a private joke they were sharing while standing around my semi-conscious body. I’ve thought a good deal about that: It doesn’t really matter whether they purposefully toyed with me, or were “just” bantering around a private joke about death. They had no right. Anyone with an ounce of compassion or common sense (not to mention training?) would know that you should be very careful around someone in such a vulnerable and disoriented state, and that if you were going to have a private conversation while standing next to such a patient, you definitely would not have a conversation that included comments about death - and especially not ones like: “You’re going to die”, “We’re all going to die”, and “Do you want to die?”. On top of this fact, it should have been obvious to anyone that I was panicked, by the way that I was moving, trying to get the mittens off, and so forth.
Unbelievably and shockingly, the parade of abusive Baylor Scott and White staff would continue that day and the next! These workers didn’t know me from Adam. They’d never met me before I was put under. I couldn’t possibly have done anything to offend them; there’d been no time to. On my last day in the hospital, once I’d decided firmly to leave without further ado, that fact clearly offended some of them; but, up until that time (of my leaving), there is little explanation for the abusive nurses’ actions other than arrogance and cruelty. Would they have approved of their own relatives being treated in the - at best, careless - way they treated me?
After being brought up from anesthesia, for the rest of that day and the next, I stared at the whiteboard on the wall across from my bed, while mulling over the events. At the top of the whiteboards in each room, is a sort of slogan that says: “Our goal is for you to be always informed”. I stared at it, repeating it in my head due to the slight awkwardness of the wording. That slogan would come back to me, later, as being very ironic. Baylor Scott and White “informed” me of extremely little during my stay (not to mention, afterwards). After I was awakened and oriented, they didn’t even tell me that I had been asleep in an induced coma for the better part of the previous 5 days. They didn’t even have the decency to tell me how to find the call button to call a nurse. They certainly never told me that there had been a remote for that purpose, until just before I was moved to a different room. I did eventually find the button on the side of my bed. It was a very hard-sided button and difficult to press. As I lay there mulling over things in my mind, it was still the same day. I was fully awake, yet mere hours from having been unconscious. I was traumatized by what had just happened… It was now evening and I was an ICU patient, lying helpless in a bed, only hours away from having been in a coma… and that’s when the screaming nurse entered my room!
She should be fired and never allowed to be around patients again, for the safety of everyone. The IAU rooms at Baylor Scott and White, Grapevine have big glass doors and the effect is that of a sound-proof booth! I believe this nurse knew that. Otherwise she could not have dared to be so bold as she was. She came in screaming at the top of her lungs from the moment of entering. And I mean literally screeching! When telling my story, I have been referring to her as “the screaming nurse”. What could she have been screaming about? Well, shortly prior to this someone had attached 2 cables on the right-hand side of my body (I’m not sure what they were for). These 2 lines were so taut, with no slack whatsoever, that, if I moved in the slightest, they popped right off. And that set off an alarm. It had happened once and when it happened again pretty soon after the first time, that’s when the screaming nurse entered. She was screaming so loudly that I could not even tell what she was saying; but, instinctively trying to defend myself, I screamed back at her immediately: “You can’t come in here screaming at me”! (That’s how I strained my voice just hours after Doctor K had warned against it.) Next, this nurse continued to scream as she made her way to the right-hand side (from my supine perspective) of my bed. Then, in a much lower - and animatedly-nasty - voice, she snarled at me: “You f**ked it all up”! There is no mistaking that type of unbridled hostility and hatred; and she wasn’t done there. Thank heavens that, at least, in a brief moment of poetic justice, this same nurse accidentally pulled out the 2 cables herself! You’d think it would have been obvious that they just needed some slack in them. But after she’d accidentally popped them off, she got a very disappointed look on her face, mumbled “You’re better off… [something]”, dropped the cables over the side of the bed, and walked out. Guess those cables weren’t important after all?
Baylor Scott and White’s recent letter now states: “…it was necessary for nursing to elevate their voices when communicating. Again, our apologies if this came across as yelling to you”. — Yes, I’m stupid. How perceptive of you to magically figure that out!
The screaming nurse came back, reattached the cables and, I guess, made some slack in them because they didn’t come off again. When she came back, she had a huge bag of something that she was about to put on my IV line. I asked what it was. She replied with a snark, mocking my question; but I insisted on knowing what she was about to put into my veins. Finally, she replied that it was “knockout drugs for the night”. Knockout drugs were the last thing I needed after having only been awake for a few hours. So I said “No” to them. She definitely heard me, because then she asked if I wanted “just” the pain killers. I had never asked for any… so I said “No” to those too. After I’d very clearly said “No” to being knocked out again and to having those drugs placed on my IV, the screaming nurse put the drugs on my line anyway, against my will! So I told her to take them off. I told her that I am aware that I do have some rights. (“Knockout drugs for the night” were clearly not essential medicines. I hoped to be awake the next day and such drugs would leave me asleep for several extra hours.)
After having ignored my protests in the first place, the screaming nurse then refused to take the drugs OFF of my IV line! At this point, she had full control of my body, while I was awake, and I had virtually no say regarding my own body. Perhaps I could have pulled the line out; then what would she have done to me? But it didn’t even dawn on me to look for where it was inserted. And it may have been a nasal tube, actually. I simply demanded that she remove the drugs. She replied that now she would have to “go find a doctor to get permission” to take them off!!
When she came back to take the drugs off of my line, she came to the left-hand side of my bed and angrily informed me that, give or take a word: “Now it’s going to cost 2 extra hours because I had to stay past midnight”! I looked at the clock. It was just after 12:15 AM. Par for the course of my worthlessness (in the eyes of Nurse Ratchet), by refusing the “knockout drugs” which she’d subsequently forced on me, I had caused her to have to stay past midnight.
This nurse came back at least twice, after her first screaming antics. During one of her returns she threw a doctors’ mask at my face and hostility said: “Are you going to protect me”?, as if I’d had any control over whether the staff had given me a mask, or anything else that day. Clearly this nurse has personal problems that have nothing to do with me. However, I am not her dumping ground! I was an absolute stranger whom she had never met, groggy, in an ICU bed. Get real. We’re not just talking about some grumpiness or someone needing to “elevate their voices when communicating”; this was blatant abuse, being taken out repeatedly on a complete stranger (for which behavior she expects to get paid). I’m actually NOT stupid, and I can tell the difference between someone SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF THEIR LITERAL LUNGS and someone just talking louder than normal, through a mask. That’s not even to mention, her animated cursing and other actions. But I guess she lied when she was interviewed by Baylor Scott and White’s lawyer. The lawyer blamed me for supposedly perceiving things wrong, and asserted that I was “confused” by nurses simply taking loudly through mask gear, and that I was “off of anti-anxiety meds” at the time. (This is slander; I had never been “on” any anti-anxiety meds in the first place.)
This brings me to an important issue. I recently watched a docu-series called "Nurses Who Kill". It seems like the incidents happened years ago but, at the same time, hospital practices/precautions don’t seem that different now. Wouldn’t they want to prevent nurses from being able to harm vulnerable patients by being alone with them and having the opportunity? At Baylor Scott and White, Grapevine, with the IAU rooms being built like sound-proof booths and with the nurses knowing that, they can literally do anything they want to you! Even though my room’s door was glass, there was a curtain which had been mostly shut; no one could see or hear the screaming, snarling nurse abusing me. In comparison, in everyday life a lot of general practitioners won’t even talk to/treat you, in a regular room, without the door open and/or a second person present! What makes the hospital immune to such precautions? What makes them think that all nurses or doctors can be trusted to be alone with patients (and not-to-mention, in virtually sound-proof rooms)? She can lie to protect herself; but why not just tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may?
Those were the 2 most traumatic events of my stay at Baylor Scott and White, Grapevine — the rude and moronic “death” conversation when I was disoriented, followed by the screaming nurse’s repeated attacks when I was fully awake. However, an arrogant attitude of dominance, hostility and disregard was displayed over and over by other Baylor Scott and White staff, although in smaller ways by comparison, up until the literal moment of my departure.
The morning after my day with the death-banter procedure and the screaming nurse, a team of 2 nice nurses came on duty. I have their names and descriptions, just as I do for most of the others who saw me. I told this team how that nurse had entered my room screaming at the top of her lungs the night before, and that I wanted to speak to a patient advocate. The male nurse responded that all nurses are patient advocates and he said they’d make sure the screaming nurse never came to my room again. I doubt she was going to return, anyway; the staff seem to rotate constantly. But, even though the new nurses had a nice bedside manner, they made no report of my complaint as far as I can tell. Baylor Scott and White has 100%-ignored my request for my records. Perhaps the nice nurses entered notes somewhere regarding the screaming nurse. Probably not. No hospital representative was ever sent to my room. (Of course, the screaming nurse had only been the dramatic tip of the iceberg.) Not that much attention was given to the matter; instead, the new nurses got busy with helping me get something to eat. I’d been practically starved up to that point (except for whatever liquid they may have put in the IV), in an attempt to manipulate my systems while having me on strong medications. It was physically quite painful. I was starved to the point that my blood sugar would dip very low at night. One nurse was so concerned, that she awakened me and had me drink apple juice in the middle of the night.
On this day - let’s call it day-two of my being awake - things had been calmer, although habitual hostility was still the order of the day. One nurse popped her head into my room just to scold me for pressing the call button the wrong way. I pretty much knew this was going to happen, because not enough time had passed between my calls. But I also knew that, if I did not press the button this time, the nice nurse who had forgotten something she’d said she was going to do before leaving, would have already moved on to her next rounds. So, I pressed the button. Sure enough, just before my nurse got there, a different nurse (from the nurses’ station, maybe), popped her head inside the room just to scold me. I knew I had pressed the button the wrong way before, but not this time. The woman simply wanted to unleash her presumptuous anger on me, an ICU patient, and so she did. Then she popped her head back out just as quickly, to prevent any actual conversation. I hadn’t meant to annoy anyone with my mistake when trying to figure out the weird button, but also, I was in a pretty vulnerable condition at the time. You’d think these people would know these things, but No. It is open season in the IAU of Baylor Scott and White, Grapevine. Earlier in the day, another nurse had refused to let me have my bag containing my belongings. I didn’t have much with me, but I wanted my hair brush. This nurse replied that she’d give it to me after I “pass the sit-up test” (which I don’t think is an actual thing). Then, she neglected to perform the supposed test, ignoring my questions… and left! One of the nice nurses did hand me my bag of belongings. It had been on the other side of the room. My phone was also found there but outside of my bag, on the floor.
Another nurse entered the room asking a question in sing-song voice: “Where we goin’? Where we goin’?” in the lilting tone one might use with a child. But I was way too tired for riddles. She finally stated that I was required to keep my foot on the bed… The bed was pretty uncomfortable. After titling the head up at all, it slides you downwards. My feet were always touching the foot of the bed, so I had dangled one foot off the side a little bit. This nurse’s way of speaking to patients is just another illustration of the patronizing, obnoxious manner of some nurses. I don’t think this particular nurse meant to be obnoxious; but she obviously wasn’t trained to avoid it, either.
Later that night (of day-two-awake), I was moved to a step-down room. It was actually a better room. It had its own bathroom. The products that I’d been provided after the catheter removal, were ridiculous and not very effective (for example, this metallic thing that looked like a giant tampon to catch pee). I was relieved to have a bathroom available. My new room was right next to a nurses’ station and had a little window where they would poke their faces up close, every now and then. One of my two nurses the next morning was a nice young woman. The other one was gruff and rude. Some specialists also came in and had me walk around with a walker. My legs had gotten weak while I was unconscious and in bed, but I could walk, especially with the walker; it wasn’t going to take that long for me to be walking like normal again.
I told the rude nurse, the one who was present at the time, that I needed to use the bathroom. There was a portable type of toilet chair. She picked it up from out of the bathroom and placed it in the middle of my room, about as far out in the middle of the room as it could be, and pretty close to the entry door of my room. This was also across from the nurses’ window! It was humiliating. Anyone could have walked in at any time. Then, as I began to stand up and grab onto the walker, I just sat right back down. I was just being very careful because I hadn’t practiced walking enough yet. But I got right back up. Nevertheless, the nurse proclaimed, in this exact intonation: “Oh you kain’t walk! You get a bed pan”! And that was the last straw. In that moment, I thought to myself: “I’m gettin outa here; that’s what I get”! The bed pan threat, said in such a callous tone, when I could make it to the actual bathroom, and after everything else that had happened, was too much. I decided that I would get out of that hell-hole, whether Doctor R came back or not. He had already cleared me to go home that morning, with no subsequent word to the contrary. Baylor Scott and White, Grapevine does not “care”, and they do not inform you of much, either (regardless of their whiteboards’ slogan).
Baylor Scott and White now claims: “Nursing staff explained to you the medical reasons of why you could not get out of bed and the personal safety benefits in using a bedside commode… patient safety was our focus.” Absolute bull. No such “explanations” were made, nor did I ask for any. In fact, very few words were said, in general. Furthermore, the toilet chair wasn’t even placed all that close to the bed. It was purposefully placed on the far side of the bed near my room’s entry door. The toilet chair could just as easily have been placed on the OTHER (more private) side of my bed if the nurse had not had an agenda. She actually had to lift and carry it much farther in order to place it, when she could have just walked 2 steps and placed it on the more private side of my bed if, in fact, it had to be near the bed.
Furthermore, if I supposedly “could not get out of bed” (as Baylor Scott and White now claims) and I were so obtuse regarding the alleged “explanations” given to me, then why had the physical therapists brought me a walker, told me I could use it to practice walking some more, and left it there in the room for me to do exactly that?
Furthermore, if I supposedly “could not get out of bed”, then why had Doctor R said he was “fine with” me going home as long as I had home oxygen (his one and only stated condition for my dismissal)?
Furthermore, if it was a foregone conclusion that I “could not get out of bed”, then why did the rude nurse proclaim: “Oh you can’t walk!” only AFTER having me walk to the toilet chair? She certainly never offered any “explanation” for her actions with the chair, nor did I ask for any. And then, her bed-pan proclamation was the last straw!
I told my driver what was happening, and that I was ready to be picked up. I’d also made it clear to the staff that I was leaving imminently. Someone called my room and asked me why I was leaving. I told them: “On the orders of [Doctor R]”. Meanwhile, I tried to get ready and to brush my hair. Suddenly the rude nurse saw me through the nurses’ window, just sitting in my bed, brushing my hair and - I kid you not - wagged her finger at me! For what? I was supposed to be getting in some walking that day (The therapists had left the walker in my room for that very purpose), and yet here was this child wagging her finger at me for nothing more than sitting up in bed or brushing my hair. Nothing else was happening.
Just before I left, the rude nurse also tried to ask me questions about a mark on my body, as she stood perusing notes about me on her computer screen. That’s how I know Baylor Scott and White has information about me that they have no right to. There was no way for them to know about it, without having removed most of my clothes while I was unconscious and temporarily pulled back a bandaid! They certainly didn’t do that while I was awake.
Baylor Scott and White behaves as though they own me as well as most of the records they created about me, refusing to even provide me with a copy of them!
Well, it turns out that, unless there is some overriding danger to the public or something, they can’t legally make you stay in a hospital. In my case, “one more night” (which became their new plea) would have made no difference whatsoever. They knew they couldn’t keep me there, but that did not stop two nurses from physically restraining me at one point. The rude nurse grabbed me by the wrist and held me in place while someone else, from the nurses’ station or somewhere, barred the door with something. I’m told that’s called unlawful imprisonment. I had a walker available, which would get me as far as I would need it (especially after they’d ignored/stalled my request for the customary wheelchair), I had a driver on the way, and I was only 12 minutes away from home oxygen. This was 4+ hours after Doctor R had originally cleared me to leave. If he’d since changed his mind, apparently he planned to just let me sit there and rot without telling me his reversed recommendation.
Prior to this moment when I resolved to escape a little more quickly than it appeared to be proceeding (The bed-pan comment was that moment.), I had just been waiting around for my release papers, while Baylor Scott and White staff informed me of jack squat. That morning, I had told Doctor R “I want to go home” and he’d replied: “I’d be fine with that if you have home oxygen”. I replied: “I do”. Doctor R mumbled something snarky in response, but then simply asked where to call-in my prescriptions. I told him the pharmacy info, and then he left. Was I somehow supposed to intuit that he hadn’t meant what he’d just said to me? That he wasn’t calling-in my prescriptions after all? Four to five hours went by with no more communication from him, which I find absurd. And apparently, he never called-in the prescriptions!
Maybe it sounded unusual to him, for a patient to already have “home oxygen” (as he called it). But why would you respond to a patient, who is really a stranger, with automatic suspicion and contempt? Why wouldn’t you just ask questions? If it seemed odd to him that I could have home oxygen already, why not ask me to describe my equipment or ask me how I came to have it? Nope. Just presumptuous hostility. No questions. No respect. Certainly no rapport. How can you create rapport with someone whom you presume an idiot? I believe that Doctor R assumed I was lying (But why would I?), based on his subsequent actions that day and the statements entered into my records regarding the (false) reason for my leaving. Not to mention, his snarky response in our short conversation.
Baylor Scott and White now asserts: “…you expressed a desire to leave the hospital and not wait for oxygen to be arranged as indicated you had your own at home. The Hospitalist had already discussed with you the need for continued hospitalization”. This is a pretty bold lie expressed in their letter! If anyone, at any point, had told me oxygen was “being arranged”, I would have been interested in knowing what kind of equipment they were talking about and making sure I got it. If ever something useful is being offered to me, I am always interested! However, in the typical style of Baylor Scott and White, they told me exactly jack squat about any oxygen being “arranged”, and they certainly never asked me to “wait” for any such oxygen! Additionally, “The Hospitalist” certainly had NOT “already discussed with [me] the need for continued hospitalization” - but rather the exact opposite! My very brief conversation with Dr. R that morning went exactly like this:
Me: I want to go home.
Dr: I’d be fine with that if you have home oxygen!
Me: I do.
Dr: I don’t know if I know that… (muttered, while flipping through some pages)
Me: I’m not lying!
Dr: Where should I call-in your prescriptions?
Me: [Name and location of a pharmacy]
Then he left.
As a grown-ass woman, it’s demeaning to think I would ever need to seriously utter the words “I’m not lying” to another adult. But that’s how it went. Then Dr. R left my room and wasn’t heard from for several hours to come. Now Baylor Scott and White wants to put forth the lie that he had “already” told me he wanted me to STAY and had told me I should “wait for” some kind oxygen equipment which I then refused! But again, if the doctor had told me that there was any kind of oxygen or oxygen equipment being arranged or that I should wait for it, I most likely would have! He said no such thing to me, at any point! Not even at the end just before I left.
Way to twist and spin the facts, Baylor Scott and White. As can be ascertained from the text of the above conversation, no mention is made of anything being “arranged” or the need for me to wait for it! It was, in fact, a shockingly brief conversation. One can see how the doctor could have made an assumption based on my response, however that does not warrant the misrepresentation that I was EVER (by anyone) asked to wait for oxygen equipment. The doctor’s snarky, mumbled response certainly makes it appear that he didn’t believe me about having “home oxygen” (as he called it), but nowhere in our brief conversation did he ask me to wait for anything or tell me about anything being arranged. Many hours later when he heard that I was imminently leaving — Only then did “The Hospitalist” come up with a brand new list of concerns out of thin air - and plead for me to stay! Guess I was supposed to have read his mind? He hadn’t meant it when he told me he was “fine with” me going home “if you have home oxygen”? The fact that he/they apparently didn’t believe me that I had home oxygen, does NOT equate to them telling me something was being arranged or that there was something I should wait for.
Subsequently, even though I had brought it up twice, in front of 4 different staff members, absolutely no mention was made of my actual stated reason for leaving the hospital. While keeping my stated reason (the unbearable and ongoing abuse) out of the records, they instead recorded the lie that I left because I “expressed a desire to leave the hospital and not wait for oxygen to be arranged”. However, THE DOCTOR NEVER ASKED ME TO WAIT FOR OXYGEN TO BE ARRANGED! Doctor R, and Baylor Scott and White hospital, have no idea what I “desired”, because they never asked me! So now, my medical records contain that lie.
Towards the end of the chaos surrounding my exit, a nurse was sent to my room to ask questions about my leaving. I told him very clearly that I was leaving because of the abusive staff; but no mention was ever made of this, my actual reason for leaving, in my records. So I wonder, why did they send that nurse to my room to supposedly find out why I was leaving? I told him my reasons but, by their own admission in a recent letter, they subsequently “were unaware” that I complained. They’re the ones who had sent this nurse, but the truth is that they did not actually care why I was leaving.
My telling this last nurse, constituted my second attempt to notify Baylor Scott and White of my experiences. Did this nurse file a report of my complaints? Nope. He’d come into the room and, at first, told me: “I care”, so I told him about a couple of the things that had occurred. Did he respond by expressing any regret? No. All he was trying to do was keep me there “one more day” (through shame and condescension; how dumb). His best attempt was: “I can make sure nothing else happens that you don’t want to happen”. But after all of their previous treatment up to that point, why would I put any confidence in his statement? I replied: “I don’t think so”. Next came just a lot of harassment. He was talking to me like I’m stupid, predicting all kinds of unlikely outcomes from my leaving right then. Asking me if I had kids, for example, just so he could be condescending to me about my supposedly-wrong decision to leave. This nurse didn’t actually care. The only one caring for me in that moment was the sweet nurse who was still on duty in my room. Also, if Doctor R cared, then why did he prevent my aftercare doctor from being told what antibiotics I was in the middle of taking, in time for me to continue/finish them? Everyone knows those have to be taken continuously. Baylor Scott and White wasn’t super-fast getting that tiny handful of records to my new doctor while, at the same time, Doctor R refused to call-in my prescriptions as promised. Baylor Scott and White, Grapevine does not “care”.
Anyway, on that terrible last day, my driver had been standing in front of the nurses’ station for a few minutes and we had communicated through the window. Suddenly he started to walk away, down the hall. So the same nurse, who’d been trying to manage me, took that opportunity to make up a story about the meaning of it all, in another attempt to control me. He was standing outside the door of my room, and I was still in the room, when he literally yelled at me (about my driver): “See! - He wants nothing to do with this”! It was both ridiculous and insulting. Although I knew my driver wouldn’t leave me, I was under attack yet again and I started to panic. Then the sweet nurse said: “Just call him!”, reminding me that I now had my phone. My driver had had to walk away from the nurses’ station simply because they’d suddenly told him he couldn’t be there. He was waiting for me down the hall.
After returning home from the hospital, and after a few more days of recovery, I called Baylor Scott and White, Grapevine to give them my mailing address and the direct phone number to reach me. They had previously never asked for my address. (Although I gave it to their phone rep, to this day they have never called my number - not once! They’ve called - and texted without my permission - medical information to the other number, the number which their rep told me he had removed from their system; but they have never called at the number that I gave him to replace it!) At that time, I asked the rep who took my information, to repeat it back to me; he’d gotten the zip code wrong. Good thing I asked. Now I wonder if he also entered the phone number wrong since Baylor Scott and White has never called it. They also apparently never removed the previous number from their system as was promised early-on; instead they gave it to their collection agency!
Another thing that seems strange, is… If Baylor Scott and White was so reticent to leave a message using the first number I had given them, where do they get off texting medical information/invoice links with my name to that exact same number, without my consent? Shouldn’t they get my permission before texting any phone number such information? Now it’s in the archives of a phone company. That is not okay. I never consented to their texting, nor was I asked to consent. I don’t care if they contend that it was only a link to an invoice. It had my name in the text, and their name, and a web link to a medical invoice. Not okay!
Apparently the Baylor Scott and White lawyer has now told mine something like I “was generally agitated when [I] left early against medical advice”. I’m not sure what she was getting at, with that one. Why would I be agitated by being talked-down-to, peppered with patronizing questions, and yelled at while I was trying to gather my things to leave?
I had requested the customary wheelchair for leaving the premises. They took their sweet time getting that (and unlawfully imprisoned me in the meantime)! When it finally came, I had to be wheeled-out by the same hostile nurse who’d yelled at and harassed me in the most antagonistic ways, peppering me with questions while trying to shame me into staying one more night. This had nothing to do with someone just talking loudly because of wearing a mask, as has been asserted by Baylor Scott and White.
Now, since a so-called investigation has been done and the “conclusion” (as told to my lawyer) is something like “With her being ‘off of anti-anxiety meds’, she must have just been confused; the nurses have to talk loudly because of wearing masks”, let’s go with that for the sake of argument for a minute. Right. This final nurse stood in the hallway and calmly told me these words: “See. He wants nothing to do with this” (regarding my driver who’d come to pick me up). Even if we play full-blown semantics about the meaning of the word “yell”, you can’t make his words sound innocent and friendly. The fact is, that is what the nurse yelled at me, and he was mad. Then, after wheeling me out to the curb, he asked me: “Did [Doctor R] say he’s calling in your prescriptions”? “Yes”, I replied. Then he snarked: “Well now he’s not!”, turned around, and pranced off. No well wishes. No actual caring. Those were his parting words. Did that feel like a win for you, buddy? Did you stick it to me? Baylor Scott and White, Grapevine did not - and does not - actually care. If they were actually concerned about such things as “I hope she doesn’t collapse in the driveway” (They wish!), then why not try to call and check? I was only 12 minutes away.
I fled that miserable place, to the safety and true comfort of home and then spent a few days continuing my recovery with a general practitioner.
There was so much more that had happened than what my lawyer was able to briefly highlight in a two-page demand and dispute letter. Yet, the Baylor Scott and White reps conveniently treated that letter as if it embodied my actual complaint (while ignoring my demands). They also took the tiny bit of information that WAS in the letter and convoluted that! You can’t do a legitimate investigation based off of such little information when you haven’t even inquired about the actual complaint details or provided a way for me to give them! Baylor Scott and White does not care. The fact that they would concoct the “off my anxiety meds” story in an attempt to discredit me, leads one to wonder how far Baylor Scott and White would go. I wouldn’t put it past them to alter the medical records. Does the software they use, guard against that? If they have any integrity, why would they brazenly break the law by keeping my medical records away from me?
There should be real, tangible oversight to prevent abuses to patients, not to mention ICU patients! But I doubt the staff even get any real training on how to treat patients with compassion, in general. It’s a crime. There should not be rooms in which a medical staffer is allowed to be alone with a patient when the door is closed. I never expected to leave the hospital with such painful memories that I never had before; how many days, weeks, months or more did they take from my life? Baylor Scott and White does not care. After sending that certified letter (exactly 6 months after the fact) stating that the balance for my stay is now “zero”, just 3 days later (according to the dates on their letters), what did they do? Sent another bill. Yup. Hard to believe, isn’t it?
Have you heard of the “Patient’s Bill of Rights”? What a joke! You supposedly have the right to respectful treatment, including privacy, to be informed of the established avenues for filing any complaints, to be involved in determining what treatments you receive, etc. But it seems to actually hold little weight. We live in a country that protects businesses, not people. Baylor Scott and White, Grapevine is an unfathomably horrible place, running scared without the emotional intelligence to do it any other way.