Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin
reviews and complaints

My mother has high blood pressure culminating in an emergency room visit in June for hypertension.

Shortly after, she saw C Jensen/Theodore Mackinney. The emergency room doctor had recommended doubling her 12.5 mg hydrochlorothiazide. It seemed to work, at her appointment with Jensen her bp was normal.

This lead to her prescription running out early and cannot be refilled until a later date. Repeated calls to Jensen/Mackinney have lead to no resolution.

She is currently out of bp medication, cannot get a refill and cannot get an appointment until September 26

Hello

Name is Latunia Riley who has a cosmetic procedure scheduled for 11/21/22. Last week Friday (10/7/22) I was able to make a partial payment (due to daily withdrawal limit from debit card) with a person in finance who name was not Natasha. She was able to take the payment over the phone no issue at all. I contacted the finance department today and spoke with someone who name was similar to "Tasha" who said she couldnt take my payment and said I need to speak with "Natasha/Latasha". I thought this was poor customer service as this contact has yet to contact me and I was able to keep the transactions going before the 30 full payment requirements.

I am highly disappointed and simply want to make my 2 of 3 payments before the end of this week. Poor customer service

9/27/22 I had an appointment scheduled to see my doctor. It was for a check up and I had a list of items to go over with him, some serious. Over a week prior, I went to the lab to get get my blood drawn for them to run the tests the doctor requested. I had no issues. I can't wear a mask (I am exempt). Again no issues. Note: some of my blood work came back abnormal and may point to why I have been experiencing some issues.

Arriving at my appointment I was refused medical care because I can't wear a mask. This is ridiculous! How can they refuse medical care when it is needed? I really hope I do not end up in the ER because I will be sending them the bill.

I can't get another appointment at a different doctor for 2 weeks.

I filed a claim with the eap. Ever since then I have either been sent home or drug tested.I was sent home on 6/6 for filing ada paperwork due to having a disability and i havent been there a year so i cant get fmla. The ada paper work states that you and your dr have 5-7 business day to send it back it says nothing about if its not back the next day you will be taken off taken off the schedule because your mentally and physically unstable to work. I have worked just fine since i was 15. 5 51/2 days later I return to work and I am pulled to the clinic managers office not to ask how I am doing or how is recovery going but to scold me about my attendence and then hr was invited to this meeting at 8:30 in the morning to also tell me that i am on a mandatory eap and list the rules and if they feel that I am under the influense at work they will drug test me. maybe a hour or so later I went to the mgr in my clinic and because I was having some jaw pain and tooth discomfort and it felt like my jaw was starting to close in so I ask if there was something i could take my retainer out with. she then told me I was fixated on my mouth. I spent 7,000 on my teeth im always fixated on my mouth and that I was shaking I am diagnosed with trimmers have been since i was 16. I went back to my desk bc it appeared that she was insenuating something. 5 miniutes later she walks in with folder and says we need to go to hr and bring your stuff. I get to hr and the hr manager says we are assuming that you are under the use of something as i was holding my face and my jaw was starting to have spasms. alls I could say is are you kidding me bc I am haveing a litteral issue with my moth. they test me send it to the lab and then she treatends to call the cops if i drive. I left cause I am not a conflict kind of person. I head to my ortho dontist and the next thing i know is my right jaw and the muscles all come in to the middle of my face and i am on the phone with my parents they call the ortho foer me and let them know im on my way and something is wrong. I head home get settled in and my jaw bones and mucles both come in twords mt throat and I am yelling for help and eventually have trouble breathing. I then eventually make it to the er and they say nothing is wrong just tight muscles in my face and mouth. I have a vertual appointment with my dentist and he thinks it tmj but not to sure and has me massage the muscles on the side of my face to loosen them up. I seen my primary and at this point one side of my face is drooping and the other is extra tight. my primary thinks since my last almost 2.5 weeks had been extra stressful that i had a stress relateed stroke at 33 then refers me out to nurology . Here I am going on week 3 still with no hours at work and still waiteing on a drug screen (not to mintion hr and the mgr already new what my eap claim was for so they new the out come) I was promissed that this would be a simple and not scary process but it have been both not im on the verge of loosing my apartment and car bc of the extensive amoutn of hour that i havent worked. I have followed everything that the eap has said and been to all the appointments.

I can’t remember the last time I received superior care. Every time o go to the doctor they say oh, you’re fine or your test results are normal. I’m guess they’re normal to the doctor. The doctors never listen to me or hear me out.

I have issues with clearing my throat and choking and had tests on that and was told it was normal. How is it normal to wake up choking or go around at work clearing my throat constantly? And, my hearing how is it normal that I say ‘what’ all the time? And, I do mean all the time. I have so much pain in my hands and I drop things all the time that I can no longer grip things. This is a problem with my job as I work for the USPS. My one doctor says I have neuropathy and while I don’t doubt this completely I do think there is something else that is causing it. I have had other tests and yep-you guessed it- all flipping normal! I’m so sick and tired of hearing normal because I know that something isn’t normal. I’m the one in pain not the doctors I’m seeing. They tell me I’m not in pain ( yes, I’ve had plenty at Froedtert and MCW) tell me it’s all in my head and that I’m not really in pain. Charles Waisbren, Laura Kletczka Sargent Clinic(sp?)And, the latest treatment was my rotator cuff surgery by Dr. Raasch at Sports Medicine. He never missed a chance to tell me that my tear was small so my recovery should be no big deal. His nurse is just as rude and told me if I don’t get better quickly I’m going to have to seek out a different doctor. I’m not sure what they think I do at work but I don’t just sit at a desk twiddling my thumbs. I work at a big distribution plant downtown with machines and equipment.

My name is Amanda Davis.

I am here by sad to file a complaint against my pulmonary doctor due to disrespecting mine and my fiance's decisions and I found out before I left she decided to put yes I gave permission on my paper work for nurse and contacting my family. that is fraudulent I gave no such ok and a nurse showed up at my in-laws house without us being notified when we said no Doctors name is Dr Biller

Chronology of my wife's care.
My wife was seeking a new primary care physician for ongoing issues that were not getting better. Thinking that a "academic setting" would bring her better care she decided to switch primary care to Froedtert.

Contact 1
My wife got an appointment in February with Dr. Kurre. It was 2 weeks after initial contact with scheduling. She wrote down a list of her problems and concerns, which as a senior, were not singular. At the appointment she first talked to a nurse, who did vitals and asked questions. She then waited 15 minutes past her appointment time before she saw a PA, who asked the same questions. She then waited an additional hour before seeing Dr. Kurre. Because my wife had an obligation (watching our grandchildren) her visit with Dr. Kurre was very short. Because there were GI issues, a referral was made to Dr. Patel. We were told we would be contacted. By the way, her blood pressure was 180/95.

Contact 2
On a trip out of town, my wife fell and broke her wrist on a Friday morning (around 6AM). The ER doc put a splint on and said it should be casted within 4 days. While still out of town we contacted Dr. Kurre's office and asked for a referral. The PA said they would make an urgent referral to orthopedic service and they said we would be called that day. She also gave us a number and said to call it if we had not heard by that afternoon. At 3PM that day I called the number. The person answering said you called the wrong number and gave me another number. I called that number, and again, they said it was the wrong number. She gave me another number. I called that number and they said that the have the referral and the "nurses are looking at it". They will call us. On Monday, 3 days after the fracture, no one called. My wife called the number and was again told "the nurses are looking at it". Tuesday, I called. Again, I was told "the nurses are looking at it". I was very upset and asked to speak to the nurses. After a 20 minute wait, they asked which doctor we wanted to see. IT DIDN"T matter. We finally scheduled a visit for the next day (5 days after the fracture) with the PA. They took X-Rays and the PA sent her over to get a cast. A followup was scheduled in 1 week. By the way, her blood pressure was 200/95.
One week later, after X-Rays, my wife was told she would need surgery that next Monday. Upon scheduling we were NOT given a time and were told "the doctors decide when and how the cases would be done" so no time was exact. Just come at 6:30AM and we will get you in. Because I teach, I had to find a substitute for the entire day. As expected, it took all day to get through the surgery. By the way, my wife did not meet the surgeon until right before anesthesia.

Contact 3
2 days after surgery, my wife was still taking the pain pills. She had not had a bowel movement since surgery. Unfortunately, she had lost count and took her pain meds twice within an hour. She passed out and fell. The nurse from the orthopedic office just happened to call and told us to go to the ER. We went to Froedtert Menomonee Falls. They had us wait in the crowed waiting room (COVID?). Another patient came in and a nurse came out and discussed her entire history in front of us. (HIPPA?). When we finally saw the triage nurse, she took a history and sent us back to the waiting room. She mentioned that my wife was probably dehydrated. While we waited another 45 minutes, my wife asked for some water. The person at the front desk said he could not give us water until the doctor said so. One and ½ hour later we were put into a ER room. A young man came into the room and said he had to put an IV in. He did not introduce himself or say who he was. There was a young women with him and they had a conversation about starting the IV, barely acknowledging my wife's existence. That being done, a person entered the room and began to take another history. Because she did not introduce herself I asked who she was. She said her name and told us she was the nurse. From this point on, my wife's care improved and the physician she saw was polite and informative. By the way her blood pressure was 200/95.

Contact 4
Weeks later my wife had still not gotten an appointment with a GI specialist. I remind you that this was her main complaint. She finally got to see Dr. Patel her said that some of her medications for depression were causing her problems. He suggested she work with DR. Kurre. Dr. Patel said he wanted to see her previous colonoscopy reports and my wife told them where she had precious care. He did order a very expensive drug, Linzess, which we purchased, but Matt the nurse said not to take it until they had seen her previous medical record. Weeks later, her GI issues were getting worse.

Contact 5
My wife, on instructions from Dr. Patel and Dr. Kurre, stopped taking some of her meds and any miralax. She did not have a bowel movement for 2 days. Her pain and cramping were so severe that I took her to urgent care at Mequon. The physician did a physical exam but did not order imaging or blood work. She instructed my wife to take a "cleaning dose" of miralax, similar to a colonoscopy prep. Within 2 hours my wife was doubled over with pain. Instead of going to a Froedtert facility, we went to the closest hospital Ascension in Ozaukee. There we were seen immediately. The nurses all introduced themselves and the physician came within 10 minutes. He ordered bloodwork and an Xray which showed a massive backup of gas. He then gave her pain meds, and ordered a CT. The CT showed fecal impaction in the rectum, the site of a previous surgery. He began to manually remove the impaction and she emptied her bowels. He told us to get a follow up Xray the next day to make sure the obstruction and gas had moved.

Contact 6
We called Dr. Kurre's office the next morning asking to get the recommended Xray. As before, we never talked to anyone beyond who answered the phone (the receptionist?). She said she would relay the message. By that afternoon, no one had called. My wife called again and was given the same message. By 3PM, I was angry and called, insisting to talk to the nurse. Matt, the nurse said he finally got ahold of Dr. Patel, who ordered the X-Ray. We went in immediately, and got the Xray but did not get results. We waited until the next day to learn that the gas had not passed and that the CT showed narrowing of the rectum. We were told that DR. Patel wanted to see the results of previous colonoscopies and asked who the performing doctor was. This information was given to him a month ago and no one did anything with it. By the way, we still have the $400 worth of Linzess sitting there.

5/10/21
My wife finally got a call to schedule a sigmoidoscopy. She called and waited 10 minutes for a response. They told her they could not schedule it and transferred her to the GI lab. She waited 8 minutes until they answered. They told her they could not schedule it because of some of her medications and transferred her to the "nurses". She waited 10 minutes before anyone answered. The nurses said they would have to talk to her doctor to get the okay to schedule it. We are waiting for a call back.

Frustrated and worried about my wife's health, (she has lost 25 lbs in the last 6 months!) I file a complaint. I got a call back from the Service Excellence Teams (only 2 people?) and was told I would receive a call back today or next morning at the latest from Mequon Clinic management.

5/11/21
Guess what. No call back. Surprised? No. Disappointed? Yes. Scared about my wife's care. Absolutely!

Thoughts as of today.
It has been 3 ½ months since my wife transferred her care to Froedtert. Outside of us fighting to get her wrist fracture taken care of, it has been a living nightmare. Their system is not patient centric but doctor centric. The long delays in getting appointments, getting tests, fighting through layers of people between you and your doctor. For instance. My wife wants to see a female physician, but she rarely interacts with her doctor and sees a male PA instead.

I have been made aware of a RN Sandy Tarkowski posting negative degrading remarks about minorities on Facebook, she openly has Froedert listed as her employer and her opinion is her opinion but I have had family members in that hospital, I am a retired nurse and I did not make negative statements that certain people bring certain diseases, plus I know a lot of staff who also after reading this are to unsettled by her remarks

The care I received was fine. The follow-up was not. As my out-of-pocket expenses had reached more than $1, 000, I was concerned about paying additional money for a follow-up visit once my treatments were done - knowing that a new year's deductible was about to kick in. However, the doctor volunteered to me that my first follow-up visit would be free of charge, due to the fact that "by law, (he) would not be allowed to charge me." His exact words. However, when I scheduled that follow-up appointment, I asked the scheduler if she could send me something in writing affirming that there would be no charge for the visit. She said she could not do that. As such, I had to reschedule the appointment while she researched what the doctor had promised. Prior to my rescheduled visit, I asked again for the written confirmation. The scheduler said she was unable to provide this and suggested I call the doctor. I asked her if SHE could speak to the doctor about the situation and then call me back. She said she would do that, but never called me back. I again had to cancel the appointment, but still expected to hear from them eventually. This was more than six months ago. Have I heard anything more from the doctor or the department? No. Great to know that they are concerned about my follow-up.

Billing is another area where Froedtert is sorely lacking. I paid nearly all of my bills ahead of time, as soon as they hit my insurance. However, there was one large bill that was twice the amount of my pre-treatment estimate, so I disputed that one and it went into review. In the meantime, I paid a portion of the balance. After many, many weeks, I was told that the charge was valid, so no adjustment could be made. I then asked if they would be willing to waive half of the remaining balance (about 1/4 of the actual charge), being that the charge was so vastly different from the estimate. After many, many more weeks, and multiple Froedtert billing employees being involved, I was told that no, they would not be willing to waive half of the remaining balance. In the midst of this multi-month process (3 to 4 months), I continued to get calls from the patient financial services area, but each time I called back they seemed to have no idea why they had left a message with me or why I was calling them back. They would spend large amounts of time reviewing my notes to try to figure out why they had called me in the first place and/or the current status of the billing review -- a total waste of my time. And in many cases, their notes were not updated, causing me to have to repeat my previous conversations with billing representatives. It's a bizarre and completely inefficient calling system that needs to be fixed.

Finally, healthcare waste/rip-off. At my initial visit with the nurse, I was given a 4 oz. tube of "Vanicream" to use on the area of my skin being treated. Low and behold when I examined my detailed invoices, I discovered that Froedtert had billed my insurance $40 for the Vanicream - yet the same sized tube can be purchased at Walmart or Target for less than $7. Absurd

Bradley A Miller
Birth 02-19-1967
[protected]
I recently had septoplasty surgery with Dr. Woodson at which time I developed a sinus infection. We talked pre surgery about my CLL diagnosis and my frequent sinus history. Ive visited him 4 times, post op, explaining my surgical recovery problems and it wasnt until today that he actually listened and prescribed something . I had been seen in urgent care Saturday the 17 th. Id like someone to look into this quality of care and let me know if this is a Freotdert standard?

I entered the urgent care in Mequon on a Saturday evening at 5 p.m. with my daughter who injured her foot badly in need of stitches. It was so bad in fact that eventually they turned me away and told me they couldn't help me and I needed to go children's hospital. Regardless, this is not the issue. There were no other patients there waiting at the time. Someone (a nurse, short blondish-brown hair) came out but did not seek us even though she saw us. I assumed she was not to help. She proceeded to talk to the other employee, the woman who checked us in. She continued speaking with her for a while, all while we waited with a pretty bad injury. Plus it was a child. Finally (15 minutes later?) another nurse came to get us and the first woman who came out responded "oh I was going to take her back but they were going to the bathroom." So not only did she make us wait unnecessarily, she lied in front of us and to her coworkers as we were not "going to go to the bathroom." She didn't even speak to us I don't know how she would know that if it was the case. Getting my child help was the priority, but clearly it wasn't the priority for the staff. Thankfully the doctor made quick work and told me to get to children's hospital ASAP. I was focused on my daughter and upset with our situation but this made it worse and I will continue to tell everyone I know about the poor and disturbing service. Or lack of service.

I have been dealing with abdominal issues and constant pain for many months and keep getting referred from Dr to Dr and department to department to get NO answers and feel like I just keep getting "pawned" off to somebody else or another department or something. Do some tests and tell me gonna do another or more tests and then get discharged and they never got done. I was sent there due to the quality of care and the expertise of that imparticular facility to figure things out. Well its been over a year and still no answers and a tube hanging out of my abdomen that isn't used for anything and leaks around it constant and can't eat or drink anything without leakage and having constant diarrhea and seeing it in toilet in less than 40 min. So not retaining much and have lost a bunch of weight. I have constant and continues unbearable abdominal pain and my life is pretty much miserable. I feel like nothing is being done to help me and the hospitals in my area won't even look at me because they said whatever is going on is "beyond there realm of care" and tell me to call Froedert and I get no answers there either. I feel like a yo-yo and my life is spiraling out of control due to pain and lack of ability to function daily most of the time. I'm not usually a complainer but I don't know what else to do so thought maybe filing a complaint would help me to get some answers or somebody to do something to help me. I'm not sure if forgot anything but I think hit most important points. Thank you for your time.

Quadriplegic patient my son and frodert hospital treatment and false clam of pneumonia and a collapsed lung that the doctors said at the meeting on December 13 2018 at 1pm. And their was one family member on the phone with the meeting of pulling the plug. That week the nurse name Nicole looked and had knowledge and said that there was nothing on his file or on the computer about pneumonia or if he had a collapsed lung they would of had to give him a ventilator to blow it back up if he had a collapsed lung think about it. They was giving him the wrong treatment and caused him to lose speech and have a anoxic brain injury within 3days and bowl moment was not done right says the caretaker that came up there with us and she had to do training so they could do?! Today the 31 of December2018 was moved to Waukesha Wisconsin. Mother and father was not noticified when first arrived at frodert hospital for high fever November 28 2018.

My niece went into the ER terribly sick and painful. We were there 5 1/2 hrs before they got her into the Neuro ICU. She had been released from the same hospital 36 hrs before. She had just had a surgical procedure done to resolve the failing shunt in her brain. None of the ER docs seemed to have a clue- which was odd considering she had just undergone surgery. Her symptoms in the ER all pointed to infection from the last recent procedure but was not given antibiotics for approximately 4 hrs. There was a complete lack of communication between staff. It was incredibly frustrating to watch. My niece was in an incredible amount of pain and they couldn't manage her vital symptoms. She ended up staying in the hospital for nearly 24 days. They did finally figure out the next day that she had gotten an infection during her last procedure. The Neuro ICU was mostly positive with just a few issues that anyone would have to realistically expect. However, when they moved her to 5NW- a Neuro unit- the care was horrible. I could not believe how the nurses treated my niece who has considerable brain damage. It was horrible to witness. The first 2 nurses she had, Jamie and Bre, yelled at her instead of deescalating the situation. Instead of acting like adult professionals, they sunk down to the level of verbally abusive monsters. No nurse should ever act that way to a patient with brain damage. They were extremely combative with her which only made the situation worse. They also were horrible to me and totally passive aggressive, dismissive and would refuse to even look at me. It truly made me cry. I tried to explain to her nurse Jamie that my niece had brain damage and could not remember if you told her to do something in particular, i.e. don't pull the tape off of your arm securing your IV. The nurse dismissively said the telesitter camera in her room was for that exact purpose and they would be closely monitoring her. The first night she stayed in the NW Neuro unit she climbed over the rails of her bed and fell to the floor- even with the bed alarm going off. She also had a telesitter camera in her room which was supposed to stop her from being able to hurt herself. The camera is hooked up to a computer where someone is SUPPOSED to be watching her, yet nobody alerted staff. What a nightmare. I came the next day and was told what happened. They finally decided she wasn't safe and had a human sitter in her room with her so she wouldn't hurt herself. That woman was wonderful, Jo, and apologized for the inappropriate nurses she had. She even gave me a big hug which was the catalyst for all the tears I cried for the next hour. It's so stressful being in the hospital with a very sick loved one and to have such uncaring, immature nurses is simply unfair and unfortunate. Please go to another hospital if at all possible...

I received an eye exam on 2/5/18 in WB. Billing submitted this to my health insurance which of course they denied. I called in May to tell them what they did, they admitted the mistake and said it would be corrected. Instead I then received a bill from a collection agency for $315. I called both parties to explain the situation, Froedtert refused to listen that it was out of their hands and needed to be dealt with the collection agency. I called again and again refusing to pay as all they has to do was submit the bill to my proper insurance. This went on for months until finally after getting EyeMed involved, my bill was properly submitted to my eye insurance and in August was paid. I wish someone would investigate how many times I had to call and insist what they needed to do even after Supervisors admitted the mistake but no one there gave a [censored] to correct the situation. I heard many times they made a mistake but one followed up and fixed it. I had to call, call again and again until it was taken care of. I was so frustrated and fed up with the horrible customer service. Then on October 9th I received a call from billing that I had an overdue bill of 258.86. I said I never received a bill for it. Billing then admitted the mistake that the bill wasn't even mailed yet. Are you kidding me? I am rethinking where I go for service because this is the most incompetent billing department I have ever dealt with.

I have always raved about Froedert and care. This came as a surprise. On my second to last night of hospital stay I was treated with such cruelty by an aid that I begged to be go home the next day. I always write list of staff on floor who helped me, even cleaning lady in mornings i was there, so i can write thank you notes. The good ones stand out but this one makes me cry everytime I remember what happened. I had alarm on bed due to risk of falling so i called nurse button. She would turn light off and never come. My body was washing out toxins and i was having accidents because i couldnt make it to bathroom on time. All the other nurses got me to bathroom but let me clean up myself so i could have some dignity. One of the last times she had to help which was only once she roughly took washcloth and cleaned me, rubbing it all over, mixing back side with front. She roughly put the adult diaper on me loosely and i walked to bed by myself with saggy loose diaper. I couldnt reac blanket and she already left with
helping into bed. I asked for a warm blanket, it never came. She said i have one. When i was in pain and moaning a little bit she walked in and said "we can hear you outside. Be quiet" and shut my door hard. How she talked to me showed no empathy. There were other small things but biggest was after she did that last diaper and clean up she wouldnt answer her calls. I was stuck in a my own filth for hours before AM nurse came in. I felt embarrassed that i couldnt help myself but she made me feel like i wasnt even human. I get enough of less than stellar care at home, i didnt think it would happen there. I told nurse, she said she would look into it but never heard anything. I will still get my care at Froedert but I wanted to bring this to light. How many others feel hurt and dont report. I dont know if this goes to Froedert directly but for more info my email is [protected]@live.com
Thank you for reading

7/27/18
Christopher Mitchell
11703 60th street unit 6
Kenosha Wi. 53144

I re injured my surgically repaired neck and could not stand the pain. I felt weak and was possibly having some kind of anxiety attack. I tried calling my doctors at Ascension and could not reach them after hours. The staff at there informed me to go to emergency room. I decided to go to closest where my family doctor is. St. Catherines. The staff was great checking in. I ran into my problem with the doctor. Everyone coming into the emergency room is not seeking drugs. I was crying like a baby. I am a 44 year old construction worker with 5 kids. I dont cry. I really believe she took the opportunity to pick on me. I was not offered a pillow. I was squeezing the bed in pain and dropped the head rest bar 2 times, she scolded me the second time not to do it no more. She could not understand why I would be wearing slippers into the hospital. Maybe I should have went to Wheaton Franciscan. Pain patients cant always suck it up. A little bit of bed side manner would go a long way.

Chris Mitchell [protected]

These people are trained thieves. They put the wrong billing codes on my treatment. And consequently my co-pays have quadrupled.
Ihave been trying to get my bill corrected for about 2 months. My insurance company says Froedert is using the wrong billing code. I suggested we do a 3-way call with Froedert myself and my insurance company to get this billing code mistake corrected. They said sure but it never happens. Everytime I try to set up the 3-way call they give me the run around.
All they do is threaten to send my incorrect bill to collections.
Terrible hospital and terrible billing department. Do not go there you will be sorry.