My complaint:
On Friday, October 1, 2021, at 11:30am my husband was taken by ambulance to Prisma Greenville downtown emergency room for right lower quadrant pain which was thought to be appendicitis. We told the EMT’s that he was also positive for Covid. Upon arrival, he was immediately transferred to a wheelchair and put in the waiting room. One hour later, he was triaged, discussed his pain and back to the waiting room. He received no medical attention for his symptoms, not even having his temperature taken. After the second hour of waiting, he was told to give a urinalysis and once again back to the waiting room. While in the waiting room in severe pain, the receptionists were very unprofessional discussing their weekend plans of going to the Clemson game and also Sunday’s plans, completely ignoring his needs.
After five hours of waiting, he was finally called back and put in an examination room. They immediately diagnosed appendicitis, his appendix had ruptured and he had surgery at 1am on Saturday.
Once he got back into the ER, everyone was very professional and he received good care. When he arrived on the floor in room 3213, his two nurses, Stacy and Ashley, were superior and gave excellent care. Also, he was very pleased with Dr. Dach’s work, although he never met him while there.
The hours he was sitting in the waiting room were totally uncalled for and completely unnecessary, especially with him having Covid and appendicitis. He was not quarantined from any of the other patients.
Suggested solution:
I don’t know that our complaint can be resolved, but an ER waiting time of 5 hours for a ruptured appendix and Covid is completely ludicrous.
The waiting room staff should be more professional and caring to the patients. That should go without saying, as this is a hospital setting, which should be nothing less than professional.
Personally, we don’t feel this situation will be addressed within the hospital system.
