St Vincents Hospital

I was a patient there yesterday, while I had also a hour wait for my procedure ,I was very happy with the care I received . The equipment little out dated,and my doctor did not come back in the room to explain he findings,he should have ,I think. But a pleasant stay.\r more

I went to St. Vincent's in Birmingham, AL. The main reason I was there was because of severe headaches but was also there to get fluids due to dehydration.Long story short, they completely ignored my complaints about having severe headaches and I actually stayed in the hospital for 3 days so they had plenty of time to investigate but didn't. Then I go home thinking everything is okay and the headaches would just eventually go away. 3 days later I stroke-out and my left leg becomes paralyzed. I then go back to the hospital and before they can figure out what is going on my left arm becomes paralyzed. Eventually they figure out that my brain is bleeding and they then attempt to treat me without surgery but it was too late and I needed brain surgery to survive. In my opinion I got looked at as a person just looking for painkillers and I'm having to pay the price for it and may have to pay for it the rest of my life. What also bothers me is that they had an ""oh well"" attitude about my situation and accused me of abusing drugs. They told me later that they tested me for cocaine,which came out negative. The doctors that failed to diagnose me properly were Dr. Vaporean and Dr. Shallcross. Dr. Swillie is the one that kept implying I was abusing some kind of illegal drug. In my opinion you should not go to this Hospital if you look like someone that they can profile. I have dark hair,dark skin and had to ask for painkillers for my severe headaches so that's probably why they ignored my complaints about my severe headaches. more

ON APRIL 29TH, MY HUSBAND WAS CARRIED BY AMBULANCE TO THE ER AT ST. VINCENT'S HOSPITAL IN BIRMINGHAM, AL Cons: MANY more

I had outpatient surgery in the Tower. Dr. Cynthia Jones and her operating room/recovery staff were wonderful. Unfortunately I had complications and had to return to surgery. I was required to stay in St. Vincents Hospital Birmingham overnight. I could have stayed home by myself and been in 'good hands' compared to this stay. I had excessive bleeding. I had to call for help and to have my soiled bed changed----no one checked. I had to call three times---a grumpy employee came in and changed my bed each time [after a 30 minute wait] My IV was not working properly. I called the nurse. She agreed that nothing was dripping and an alarm was sounding. She shut off the alarm. She did not fix the IV in my hand. She said,""Won't you be checking out tomorrow?"" She said that ""we"" wouldn't fool with it 'tonight'. I explained that it seemed out of place and my hand was hurting. I was left alone until the next morning. After my doctor came around and checked me, she told me that they would get me ready to go home. I was so glad. I TOOK THE IV OUT BY MYSELF! I couldn't wait to get out of that hospital. The only security that I had in this hospital was that I wouldn't be so far from my doctor should the bleeding start or continue. I can't believe that your nursing staff was so spread out that the care was so poor. I think I just had a night nurse[RN] that didn't expect to 'work' on this shift. This should be a priority in your training and expectations for your employees! Pros: Great Physician/Surgeon Cons: Terrible Nursing Staff more

The Women and Children's Center leaves a lot to be desired here. The patient load is too high to be able to give the best professional care they can to each individual. The nursing staff seems to be fairly unknowledgable and ineffective. I had a horrible experience here and I can not recommend this Hospital to anyone that is going to have a baby. The care I received was not acceptable. The doctors were unable to handle the situation and had to call in doctors from another hospital. The cancer unit on the other hand is supposed to be wonderful. A friend's father lived the last few years of his life in the cancer unit here and received wonderful care. There is no other hospital they would have rather had him in. The nurses in the oncology unit were some of the kindest and most attentive nurses you could find. Pros: The Cancer Unit Cons: The Women and Children's Center, parking, waiting room time more