Stone Oak Methodist Hospital review: Hospital stay and service

This submission includes three disturbing observations made throughout my father, Felix Hernandez's, hospital stay.

Complaint 1:

My sister and I rushed my dad to emergency. Because of Covid-19 regulations, only one of us could remain by his side. I waited outside. It's worth noting that outside the emergency entrance, there is only one bench. I decided to sit on the bench. The one or two families that arrived later resorted to either standing or sitting on the cement and leaning against the hospital wall.

I remained on the bench until the sun began beating down on me. I have multiple sclerosis, and exposer to the heat of direct sunlight compromises my health. I expressed my concern to the door attendant, but was repeatedly told that I was not allowed to remain inside and was actually making her "uncomfortable". Waiting outside or calling my sister to request the keys to her car were my only recourses. My sister had already been assigned a room with my dad and the waiting room was empty. Security footage will confirm this if a specific time and date is required. My first, unaddressed complaint is timestamped. I walked into the waiting room and explained my situation with the window attendant. She allowed me to sit in the waiting room as long as it remained empty. She assured me that I would have to leave if more patients filled the room. The disregard to my disability was disturbing, but my fathers welfare was paramount. By the time they moved my father to a personal room, the waiting room had remained empty.

Complaint 2:

Weeks passed and dad was showing signs of improvement. One day, after inspecting my fathers sleeping position and comfort level, I noticed that he had been laying on urine drenched padding. An hour or so after summing a nurse TWICE to address this, to no avail, I decided to change his dressings myself. Caring for dad at home, required us to do this frequently. I walked to the nurses station and informed them of my intentions and requested help. Soon after, as to be expected, a nurse kindly added new padding and attended to my fathers hygiene. Sincere apologies were received by his nurse. She explained how she never received the two messages I left. Witnessing this breech in communication was haunting. What if dads' condition was life threatening? Would I have to physically run through the halls screaming for help?

Complaint 3:

Weeks passed and dad was looking good. His vital readings assured us that he was on his way back home. The day had come when both of the draining hoses connected to him were going to be removed. One hose was removed successfully. The second hose removal was problematic. A component broke off inside him. The nurse had to retrieve the broken piece with tweezers. My sister witnessed my father enduring excruciating pain. Following the botched procedure, his condition grew exceedingly worse. Two attempts at inserting a catheter in him failed. Finally they were successful after inserting an alternative method of extracting urine from his urethra. They informed me that not enough urine was being produced. Before I knew it, I was told that the only thing keeping him alive were the machines hooked up to him. Then I was asked If I wanted him on life support.

This hit me like a brick wall. He went into organ failure after enduring so much pain. He passed in pain, not peacefully.

Medical malpractice is an understatement. I feel it necessary to expose my experience in hopes of sparing another family from having to endure a similar fate such as ours.