Christus Santa Rosa Hospital Emergency Room In New Braunfels Texas

Unfortunately this is not the kind of letter any hospital would like to receive describing a recent experience to their emergency room. This event starts at about 1pm Sunday afternoon when swelling in my left leg began to increase. That is when I called Southwest Home Care and they sent a nurse out to respond to my needs. At that time the nurse examined my leg. It has swelled considerably but I was not having any discomfort. Before the nurse left he instructed me if it continued to swell and I started having pain in the leg then I should go to the emergency room for a possible blood clot; I received a total hip replacement on April 13, 2009. At 6:15 pm I arrived at your emergency room with considerable pain in my left leg and my pain level was at a five.

Your ER admitter took my information and within ten minutes the nurse took my vitals and what the problem was and then returned to waiting room. At this time I estimated there were, what appeared to be, four patients there. I identified to your triage nurse the following problems:

Considerable pain in my left leg.
Significant swelling since the nurse had left my home at 2pm.
Possible blood clot.
Elevated blood pressure.

Your triage nurse also asked me who is my doctor and my religious preference; what religious preference has to do with my emergency room treatment I am still at a loss. I informed her that my surgeon was Doctor David Fox and that I am a Jehovah’s Witness. She then made the statement that I did not have my hip replacement at your hospital and that Doctor Fox does not have privileges at your hospital.

I sat in the waiting area for the next hour and a half watching the room fill up and one after another go from there to the treatment area. My seat was directly in front of the admissions desk and was in clear view of your employees as my pain level increased to a seven. I sat in that chair so that if I had a blood clot and it did break away I would be in clear view of someone that could help me. At 7:30 pm my wife went up to the admission desk and asked how much longer it is going to be and reiterated that I was there with a possible blood clot. She was informed that they had two ambulances come in and they would get to me soon. As she passed me going to her seat I made the statement we should have went into Northeast Baptist Hospital where I had my surgery done. It was then your triage nurse notified me, from the admissions desk, that I was next up to see the doctor and that all the ones that had been going in to the treatment area were being fast tracked and are not seeing a doctor. I then continued to sit in my seat for the next hour waiting and my pain level progress to a nine; this was exceptional since I had sent my daughter to my home to get me some pain pills [10mg hydrocodone].

At about 8:30 pm the admissions desk calls me for my insurance information in preparation to get treatment. While my wife was taking care of that somehow it was mentioned that I was not going to see the doctor, at that time, but was being put into the grieving area to wait there for a doctor after sitting in your emergency room waiting area, with a possible blood clot, for more than two hours. Additionally your Insurance person requested her social security number and birth date before I could get treatment. I heard this conversation going on and at that time told my wife lets go and we left to go to the emergency room at Northeast Baptist.

We arrived at Northeast Baptist at approximately 9:30pm and as I went into their emergency room, with my pain level at a ten, they immediately identified that I was in complete distress and put me in a wheel chair to be taken back to a triage nurse. My blood pressure was taken and it was 195 over 150 and other vitals were taken. On an interesting note they were busy to. Within a short time I was given a shot of morphine; how long it actually took I cannot tell you because I was at a ten on the pain scale. Also a sonogram was ordered to check for a possible blood clot. Fortunately I did not have a blood clot but the important information here is that I saw the doctor, received two shots of morphine to control the pain, and a sonogram quicker than it took your emergency room to get to taking my insurance information.

I can only conclude that there were four things that caused your emergency room to act this way:

You did actually have two ambulances come in with life threatening emergencies because I can only see that type of situation would cause you to make me wait.
You were offended that I did not use your hospital to have my total hip replacement surgery.
That I am a Jehovah’s Witness.
Your emergency room is completely incompetent.

Write me a personal apology.
Deliver that apology to me personally; not in the mail.
Reassess your emergency procedures and make corrections. I also want this given to me in writing.
Pray that you do not get a lawsuit.
No charge for the triage.