Coincidently, we visited Royal Oak Beaumont’s emergency this morning for pain meds. We arrived at about 9:30 AM and were checked into one of the emergency waiting rooms by 9:43 AM.

Within the first 5 minutes a nurse came by to verify who we were and to take some vital info. Shortly thereafter, billing popped in to make sure they had the right information for billing purposes. Billing is always very prompt!

Then we sat... At about 11:05 AM the first intern stopped in, followed by another shortly thereafter.

We were not discharged until about 2:10 PM. A little over 4 1/2 hours for pain management.

This is curious though... We have had to visit the emergency room on a couple of occasions over the past year. The first visit we had to stop a nurse who was sent to draw blood “..before meds were dispensed.” We had to let her know that the meds had already been dispensed.

This time, a nurse came by to remove the IV. There was no IV.

Nothing bad happened and I’m not complaining, but it does raise a red flag. With their dependence on computers, you would think they would have accurate information. Given the simple nature of the errors, how does this translate to bigger, more complex processes and procedures.

Oh, and for those of you who may question as we have, the use of hospital emergency resources for pain meds; direct your concern to the doctors themselves. In both cases we were told by specialists in their field to “Go to emergency!”

I don't know what happened at Beaumont. That place has gone steadily downhill over the last 15 years.

I lost a good friend at Beaumont RO, RO advanced life support came to my apartment where he went in and out of consciousness (had a diabetes and heart issue). I beat them to the hospital without speeding on Woodward and waited twenty minutes for his arrival. He was talkative, and was being given an ekg when I was allowed to come in. The nurse said he had an electrical problem, he was placed on a gurney and stored in the hall. She said they had three heart attacks that day. He said he was nauseous and they gave him a bucket, he started to turn blue, I called for help and was told not yell, so I said "do you understand stat" He was dead by morning. RO's fire chief did not return my call when I inquired what took them so long.
My own experience with delay almost cost me my life. I knew I had an intestinal strangulated hernia and needed immediate surgery, they kept me waiting for hours in pain, gave me pain pills I initially refused as I knew it could paralyze the small intestine. I am lucky to have made it out alive after the surgery and had to return to battle a life threatening infection. RO Beaumont received a C in safety compared to DMC's A.

A few years ago, our child was taken into Beaumont in excruciating pain. They provided the strongest pain killer possible for age, size and weight - and still constant sobbing. It took JUST 12 hours to finally get the emergency surgery necessary, to be done.

Given Mr. Wolf's experiences, I suppose I shouldn't complain, though

Beaumont, like any big business today, is too busy taking care of their shareholders. The consumer is just an inconvenient necessity. I have a very jaded view of the entire medical community. As they blatantly reach into our wallet charging us for this test and that, and then simply prescribe drugs - with no real effort to diagnose.

I especially like how docs include specific directions in their written notes, yet verbally tell you to do something else. Talk about sleezy.

Sleezy? Has anyone experienced the daily harassment from the lowlife collection agencies RO Beaumont turns their unjustified unpaid charges over to! I paid a premium for full coverage but you should see how they find add ons to charge you with. If the disease does not kill you, their collection agency will.

Oh, there's no question the medical community puts collecting as the primary consideration. Billing nearly beat the first nurse, checking us in.

What I don't understand is how they can screw up billing so badly. We were getting threatening letters from them a year after we had paid the bill - on time, by the way. When you call to straighten things out, they are not nice.

I'd like to be able to bill them for the amount of time we have had to spend to help them discover what we paid and when. They can pull up every time you have been in, what procedure was done or what was prescribed, yet they can't properly document a payment when it is received...?!