UAB Medicine review: Disturbing and unacceptable experience

My family’s experience at UAB West was deeply disturbing and unacceptable. My relative spent approximately three weeks in intensive care, and what we witnessed during that time was a serious decline in professionalism, compassion, and basic bedside manners.
Several interactions with staff were completely inappropriate for a healthcare setting, particularly an ICU where patients are critically ill and extremely vulnerable. The following are a few of the incidents:

One nurse listened in on a private conversation my relative was having with a visitor. The nurse then came into the room and questioned my relative about the private conversation. This was intrusive and unprofessional.

Even more disturbing was an incident involving my relative’s breathing. She was having difficulty breathing and was breathing heavily. Instead of showing concern or compassion, the nurse told her to “stop breathing all over her.” A critically ill patient should never be made to feel like a burden simply because she is struggling to breathe.

The interaction with a phlebotomist named Tommy was especially alarming. My relative explained to him that she had experienced problems with blood draws in the past. Rather than responding with patience or professionalism, she says he told her to be quiet and that he would stick her wherever he wanted. He then told her that she was going to die and stated that he did not care because he was a traveling phlebotomist.

Telling a critically ill patient that she is going to die and then saying you do not care is completely unacceptable. There is no excuse for speaking to a vulnerable patient in that manner. Being “frank” does not justify cruelty, intimidation, or a lack of compassion.

When the incident was reported to a nurse named Meagan and the attending physician, instead of taking the complaint seriously, THE PHYSICIAN explained that she knew Tommy and believed he was simply being “frank.” She went on to say that if it were her family member, she would want him to be frank. That response was dismissive and completely failed to address the conduct that had just been reported. Her personal opinion about Tommy did not excuse or resolve what happened to my relative.

What made the situation even more frustrating was that Meagan would not identify herself despite being asked for her name four times. Patients and their families have every right to know who is involved in their care and who they are speaking with when raising a serious concern.

This was not simply one unpleasant interaction. It was a pattern of behavior that left our family feeling disrespected, dismissed, and deeply concerned about the level of compassion being provided to patients.

People in intensive care are at some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. They deserve dignity, patience, privacy, empathy, and professional treatment, not rude comments, intimidation, dismissive responses, or a lack of basic human compassion.

UAB West needs to take complaints like this seriously and hold staff accountable for how they treat patients and their families. Medical expertise means very little if patients are made to feel frightened, humiliated, or disregarded while they are receiving care.

Our family will not forget how my relative was treated during a time when she was already fighting for her health.