Methodist Hospital

It has taken me a full year to gather the emotional and mental courage to write about my traumatic experience at Houston Methodist in Sugar Land, Texas. I hope that by sharing my story, I can help others who may find themselves in a similar situation.

The emotional and physical trauma that I faced during my stay at the hospital has lingered to this day, long after I was discharged, and I believe that it's important for others to be made aware of the potential pitfalls in the healthcare system.
The experience at Houston Methodist has left such a lasting negative impact on my life. The results are that my physical and mental health have never been the same. The mere thought of going to a hospital or seeing a doctor for follow-up check-ups now triggers intense anxiety and fear of not getting the care I deserve.
My trust in the hospital system has been severely shaken, and I no longer feel confident in Houston's Methodist ability to provide adequate care.
To understand what happened to me, here's the Reader's Digest version
Early December 2021, I underwent a hysterectomy with a Bilateral Salpingetomy surgery and was released 2 days later. After being home for 2 days, I started suffering from extreme abdominal pain.

My family rushed me to the Cinco Ranch Methodist ER and from there I was transferred by ambulance to Sugar Land Methodist.
I went to the ER at noon, and they placed a Foley Catheter because I was not able to urinate on my own. In addition, they placed a Nasogasteric Tube. Which took about 1.5 hours. They spoke to my gynecologist, and she directed them to transport me back to Houston Sugar Land Methodist.

We were expecting transport around 3 or 4pm, and they did come until after 7pm. During this time, they gave me some pain medication due to the level of pain I was in.
After arriving I explained to the medical team that I was in a lot of pain, please note that over 7 hours had passed since they gave me medication and needed something additional to help me with the pain. I have a high tolerance for pain, but this pain was excruciating. For context,I've had two kids and that was a walk in the park compared to this abdominal pain.
I was told that they were waiting for the doctor's orders and could not do anything until those orders were in.

Both my husband and I asked for updates continually, and at one point my normally gentle husband became frustrated and aggressive as we were not getting any answers nor getting any help for me.
The nurse stated that she had called the doctor's service but not the doctor's cell, and it wasn't until my husband brought it up again multiple times that someone finally called the doctor. The doctor showed up around 10pm, about 2 hours after my arrival. My doctor had been waiting at the hospital for hours and finally decided to leave around 7:45pm. Remember, I was supposed to be at the hospital around 4pm.
About an hour and a half later, a nurse finally came in with the doctor's orders and pain medicine.

However, she couldn't administer it due to a previous dose of Toroidal. So, the nurse took the Tool and never came back with different pain medicine, so I was in pain with no medication for over 2 hours. It wasn't until my doctor arrived that I was put on self-medicating morphine pain medicine, which took over 6 doses before the pain became tolerable.
Despite the doctor being at the hospital until 7:45 pm and putting in her order in the system, there was a computer error, and the nurses were not able to see her orders.
As I remained in the hospital, my pain levels only increased, and it was later discovered that I had a tear in my bladder and needed surgery. I am not sure how this happened but was even more disturbing to me was that nobody with a medical license could explain how it happened.
The lack of communication and support, the sheer incompetence, and the physical pain left me feeling helpless, angry, emotionally drained and beyond frustrated.
My husband and I simply could not understand how one thing after another kept happening.

When I say one thing, one medical thing after another.
And at my expense.
I deeply regret not having an advocate to speak on my behalf during this difficult and painful time. My husband was busy caring for the kids and navigating his job and no matter how many questions we asked regarding why random things kept happening, we never got any answers.
As a patient, and never being hospitalized, I was vulnerable and in pain, and I felt helpless and alone in navigating the hospital care system. While my husband is a wonderful and kind man, this was a new experience for the both of us, and we couldn't understand why there was so much miscommunication and medical negligence.
I cannot imagine anyone ever having to go through what I went through.
I strongly believe that every patient deserves an advocate to ensure that their rights and needs are being met. I also believe that people need to be accountable for their mistakes.
In my case, nobody, not the 10 different doctors that came in and out of my hospital bed could answer or explain how I went from going in for a hysterectomy to having severe abdominal pain, Sepsis, my bladder punctured, and emergency surgery and to top if off I got Covid all during my stay and being treated by Houston Methodist.
When I look back and share my experience with my family members and friend circle, they are in shock and in disbelief that a healthy person like myself with no other medical problems went through what I went through.

It literally was a hospital gone wrong nightmare.
It's my hope that this situation serves as a wake-up call for Houston Methodist Sugar Land and those steps are taken to improve the system for all patients and hold people with medical licenses accountable.
No one should have to endure the same traumatic experience I faced, and I can only hope that changes were made to prevent this from happening to others in the future.
This medical fiasco has resulted very negatively for me and my family emotionally, mentally, and financially. This lack of care and accountability has resulted in further health complications and added unnecessary financial burden, as I am now faced with mounting medical bills for the surgery to repair the tear in my bladder.
The proper protocols and communication were not in place when I was admitted because if they were incidents like mine could have been prevented.
I want to extend my support to anyone who may have gone through a similar experience or going through this.
If something similar has happened to you, and you need someone to talk to or share your experience with, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

I believe that it is important for us to come together and support each other through these difficult times.
No one should have to face what I went through alone, and I am here to listen and offer my support. You can reach me at HMSLexperience@***.com.
I hope this review serves as a reminder of the importance of advocacy and the need for change in protocols, procedures, and communication at Houston Methodist Sugar Land.

My sister and I took my brother to Methodist Sugarland Emergency Room last Friday. He was given an overdose of Fentanyl and he wasnt in excruciating pain.

He was conscious, talking and able to answer questions. Less than 2 minutes after the nurse gave him the fentanyl he immediately fell to the side and back and stop breathing. We screamed for the nurse and she ran and got more nurses and they all seem confused and didnt know what to do. I begged them to call code blue and no one listened.

The nurse called the doctor on the phone instead of calling code blue. I walked down the hall begging call code blue or stat and get my brother some help and was told by a nurse that a doctor wasnt available and my brother is not breathing. The worst hospital I ever been to. The doctor finally appeared and now my brother is on a ventilator, not responding or doing anything.

They gave him Norcan to reverse the fentanyl. The doctor Hiba said she would come out and talk with me after she put an arterial line and control line in. Today is Tuesday and havent seen her yet. Im still waiting to speak with the health administrator regarding this.

I will hold them responsible. My brother weight 129 lbs and no one has answered why fentanyl was ordered when he wasnt in dying pain. Stay away from Methodist Sugarland because they didnt feel that a patient not breathing and conscious is a code blue. Why would I have to beg everyone to call code blue.

What nurse states there is no doctor available and the patient isnt breathing. Nothing was in the room to bring my brother back, they had to bring in the crash cart when the doctor finally found her way to the ER.

I dont know if she was taking a nap or at home watching tv. This place will be held responsible. Dont go to Sugarland Methodist Hospital unless you are ready to leave this world.

No one has taken responsibility and they all cover for each other. He is still in ICU. The ICU doctors is much better.

They are having to correct Dr. Hiba Negligence and the unprofessional inexperience nurse that administered the Fentanyl.

I pray this review get to the right person to investigate this situation. Im giving them an opportunity before I get my lawyer involved.

I have taken some time to write this because what happened to me in the ED department was beyond comprehension. At this writing, I still HAVE NOT been contacted by the ED, though I was told app.

2 days after discharge that the supervisor would love to get in touch with me. STILL WAITING. My 2 stars are NOT for the ED, but for the 5th floor, who did a very good job of taking care, once I was admitted. But I cannot give more that that because of what happened at the hands of the HORRIBLE night staff.

I cannot adequately tell you how humiliating and disgusting the whole thing was that night. I have had an issue with my back. I had a previous MRI in November and was trying to take care of the sciatica and low back pain with ice, rest, TENS therapy and massage. I had also received several steroid prescriptions for the suspected inflammation, which had helped.

On Dec. 31, that changed. I still do not know what happened but by late 12/31, I could barely stand, sit or even lay down without considerable pain. Up to this time, I could move, sit, stand (which I what I did the most) and sleep for app.

2 hours at time before I had to be up again nursing my back. I was taking some pain medication (Tylenol 3's) and had been for a few weeks. My greatest desire was to get off the pain medications. When I awoke on the January 1, I could no longer walk at all.

Every step on the floor, or movement of my back was excruciating. I was an athlete for many years, (a swimmer) and have a pretty good pain threshold. I also delivered 2 children, natural childbirth, with no pain meds, so I know what they mean by 10 for pain. This pain on the 1st was past a 10.

I was crying and writhing in pain. My husband called an ambulance to our home. The ambulance transported me to Methodist Hospital because there was suppose to be a pain specialist practicing there, recommended by one of my doctors. They had given me Fentanyl for pain and it didn't touch it.

I was given a bracelet and admitted through the ED to the hospital. My husband had followed in his car with the MRI and the final results. He was told to wait in his car, they would call him when it was time. As we were traveling down the hallway, I saw and heard a nurse say, "she's just looking for drugs, put her in there." They proceeded to place me in a "results waiting" room.

I remember the EMT, either Marcus or Joseph said, "I can give you one more shot of Fentanyl before I go." I said, "yes." He had already started an IV at home, so he gave me another dose. He picked up the blanket he had placed on me and left. I was in my pajamas on the gurney, in the dark, completely alone. Or so I thought.

That room is actually between 2 hallways, so it is used as a pass through from one hallway to another. It was dark, but I heard people walking through..I begged, I pleaded for someone to help me. NO ONE did. I was crying and begging and pleading.

For 2 hours...not one person stopped in. I lay there, in the dark, no cover, no comfort, no nursing, nothing. I was admitted at approximately 8:30 pm and finally at 10:30 (or thereabouts) the lights go on and a face appeared next to me. It was a woman with a round face, short bleached blonde hair, who said "You have to stop making noise, you are disturbing the other patients in this hospital." I said, "please get someone to help me." She said, "There is 1 doctor and 3 nurses here, and 45 patients.

There are 2 patients dying right now. Should the doctor leave them to come help you?" I said, "get another doctor, get more nurses, but I need help too." She said, "There are 25 people in the waiting room, do you want to just go out there with them?" I said, "Fine, if someone will help me, send me out there. It won't stop me from crying to get help for this pain." She said, "You have to breathe." I said, "I'm trying, but the pain is horrible." She said, "Look, I have cancer in my back and I KNOW what back pain is. You need to understand something....NO ONE is coming to help you.

So you might as well, shut up." She got up, turned off the light and left me. There was a tall, dark-skinned lady with a bun on her head who was in the room the entire time. They both left me, in the dark, still with no sheet, no cover, no comfort. I could see a lady in the room off the hallway to my right.

She was sitting up in her bed, eating or drinking. A nurse went in and I heard the nurse say, as she was exiting the room, "we'll see if we can move you. I'm sorry, she's just looking for drugs and we are trying to calm her down." Eventually, within a short time, they moved her out of that room. Approximately an hour later, I started begging for someone to help me because I had to use the restroom.

Finally, the tall, dark- skinned nurse came and said, "I'll get you a bed pan." I told I couldn't use it because I couldn't move my back, including lifting my hips. She said, "okay, I'll get you a flat bed pan." I had asked for a Pure Wick and had been told I couldn't have one because the room I was in, still the "results waiting" room didn't have the capability. She came back with this bed pan and said "Okay, lift up your hips". I told her that I couldn't.

She said, "well what are we gonna do?" I said, "Maybe I could roll over to one side." I grasped the bedrail on the left and tried to roll, she pushed me. I screamed because of the pain, and she said, "You have to be quiet." Then she left me, pajama pants and underwear down around my knees in the open....STILL NO COVER and left me......for over 40 minutes or more. App. 10 minutes in she came back, to pass through and said, "Oh my goodness, you need a cover." Another 10 minutes before the cover came.

She left me again. Someone came in and around 40 or more minutes into this humiliating experience and said "Is your name Linda Hoffler?" and I said, "NO, IT'S Lisa Hassler". "Oh", she said, " your husband should be here shortly." More time, maybe 20 minutes goes by and I hear him calling, "Lisa where are you? Honey, where are you?

Lisa Hassler, where are you?" I was crying and saying, "Here I am, please help me." He finally came and saw what was going on. He helped me off the bedpan and cleaned me up. The nurse had brought some wipes, but there was no place in this room to put anything, no surface, no chair, no trash can, nothing. My hospital bed was the only thing in the room.

The tall, dark-skinned nurse came back and said to him "What did you do? Why did you throw those wipes in the pan? We needed that sample." Dave said, "there wasn't anyone here and no instructions and my wife has been sitting on this thing a long time, so long the urine is cold." He stayed with me until at 12:30 am, full 4 hours since arriving, a doctor finally came in. He said, "let's get her some pain medication and hang some fluids and see if we can get her pain to a place she can talk." I got a shot of morphine IV and he talked a bit to me.

He never touched me. He listened hurriedly and called for a CAT scan of my back. I told him I couldn't move, that it would have to be done by portable scan and he said, "nope, we don't have those capabilities." I reiterated I couldn't move and he said the CAT scan people knew what to do. I got to the CAT scan room and the attendant said, "just move on over to the machine." I told him I couldn't.

He said, "I'll get the back board." He slid a board underneath me and I screamed in pain. I told him I didn't think I could lay flat for long. He assured me it would be fast. I was in the machine when I started shaking.

The pain was so intense I had started having uncontrollable shakes. He called into me in the machine, "You have to lay still." I wrapped my arms around my chest and held myself and gritted my teeth, but I still couldn't stop. When he took me back, my "room" was the hallway. My husband had a chair behind my head and he was my nurse.

Whenever the blonde nurse went by or the tall nurse went by, he would say, "excuse me, but I need to ask a question?" They would brush by usually saying, "I don't have time for you or you will have to ask someone else, or you will have to ask the doctor." Now, he started to notice that the other ER rooms were being emptied out, cleaned and filled with other patients. It came time for me to have to go to the bathroom again. I was in the hall. He asked for help.

One orderly said, "there are some privacy screens around" and he found 2, which didn't quite cover everything. Dave found a third one. He asked for a bedpan...someone finally found one. He was my nurse, he helped me everytime I need privacy and needed to use the restroom.

He kept me covered. The nurses barely gave me or him notice. Finally, the doctor came and said "the CAT scan is inconclusive. I can give you Delauded for the pain." I said, "yes." Finally, with a dose of that, I finally got some relief.

I slept for 2 hours from 5:30-7:30. The doctor wanted an MRI. We told him I had the MRI from November with me. For the first time, he actually LOOKED at us.

'You have a previous MRI with you?" "Yes and the final report." "You have a final report, too." He refused the MRI disc saying he couldn't open it with their computers, but he took the final report. I was cleared to drink and eat and per usual, no one could be found for help. Dave had 2 bottles of water in his backpack, which after some wrangling, he got me a cup and poured water in it. I was very thirsty by now.

He had to ask for a straw. No bendy straws, of course, so we did the best we could. When the day shift came on, those nurses were finally some help to us. Dave had been with me since the night before doing everything and even though he continued being my "nurse", at least he got some help with emptying the bedpan and we actually got a tray ordered.

They couldn't find me, though they tried 3 times and they kept telling the Food people we were in the hallway...the ONLY bed in the hallway, but finally Dave had it sent to the nurses station and he went up there to get the tray. I ate a little. I went for the MRI, after another dose of Delauded and when I returned from that, we were in a room in the ER. Now, as we were waiting for all that day, in the hallway, the rooms around us were emptying, getting cleaned and being refilled.

We did not get into a room until late that afternoon for app. 1 hour and I got the Pure Wick system, so I didn't have to try and roll onto a bedpan any longer. I was finally sent to the 5th floor where I was once again, given the Pure Wick system and the nurses took good care of me. I was given steroids by IV and some pain meds for a while, but by day 2, I was in charge of the pain meds and I was using Tylenol 3 and Lorazapam as muscle relaxer.

I remember one time the nurse came and told me I was past time for taking any pain medication and I told her I'd like to wait another hour and see how I do and then I asked her for the Tylenol 3 left by the doctor for me. I had a PT consult, a neurosurgeon consult and a pain management consult. I was told by the neuro, that what I was experiencing was rather "minor" in my back and I told him, "that may be what the picture shows, but the pain is MAJOR." I got his partner, a pain specialist and she concluded I needed a procedure to help my inflammation. We did the procedure on Tuesday morning, the 4th and by that afternoon was walking and using the restroom on my own, so I was discharged.

In conclusion, I have gotten a second opinion and am having surgery upcoming to alleviate the pain in my back caused by the pinched nerve. My greatest anger is in being called " a drug seeker" or however they phrase it.

I am not. I do not have a history of drug seeking, which they could have found out in less than 1 minute, if they had CARED enough to check.

I've been calling for my results, but no one seems to know what happened to the results. I have called several times.

Furthermore, I called on the 21st, and they told me it would take two weeks, and I told her it had been three weeks. She intimated she would find out where the results were and call me back. She did not call. Today, 8/24/2020, @ 3:09 p.m.

I called, and the same thing happened...no results. Here is my concern. Dr. Tiu told me that I don't get enough oxygen during my sleep, which could cause a heart attack!!

It was Dr. Tiu who sent me to Dr. McMichael.

I am 75 and very concerned and worried. Please help me.

Docs and nurses are great.. check in staff at front doors may not let you back inside for no reason at all

Read!!!

I was treated like I was a criminal!! The denied entire against me was completely uncalled-for and this girl at checking in desk is very unprofessional and doesn't know how to treat people and do her job!!!! My spouse came to the hospital at around 5am on 2/2/22. I had been coming in and out of the hospital since that morning as me and my spouse stayed over night.

This morning at about 9am I walked outside to get something out of my car. The young white female with tattoos on her arms and hands checking people in at the door needs to be FIRED. The guy helping her and the police officer who was not wearing a face mask saw me walk out and walk right back in. Apon entire she stopped and asked me who I was here to see.

I told her I stayed over night with my spouse and that I had just walked out to my car and came right back in and she had saw me and agreed she did. She then asked who I was there to see again I gave her my spouses name and without any reason why I was denied entire after they just saw me walk out. I had to call my spouse who she couldn't find in the system to call the nurse and explain to her what's going on to get back in. The nurses were notified as 3 of them rush into my spouse room wondering why this girl wouldn't let me in.

I also walked passed the desk to talk to the officer who wasn't wearing a face mask and told him I stayed over night and he had just seen me walk outside and that I was being denied for no reason and I needed to go back to our room. He said step back and to deal with them that he had no authority to let me in which is b.s bc he had seen me walk by his desk. Finally the nurses got ahold of the girl who was rude and denying me entry to let me in then she finally supposedly found my spouse in the system as I gave her my spouse's name multiple times and then I was aloud in. I didn't have a fever etc and was still denied without any explanation.

This women should be fired she saw me walk out and right back in and denied me cop with not following hospital mask protocols and unwilling to help should also be fired.

They are working the morning shift right now 2/3/22. Also the girls manager intervened and said she was sorry she was in training but her training manager was no were around denied entire for no reason with no temperature etc after had seeing me walk in and out can find patience info and being very rude and unprofessional need to be fired I should have to have my pregnant spouse get ahold of nurses etc to get back into a building I just walked out of for a few mins and was seeing walking out and after they were told we stayed overnight.