Lifehealth Mercantile hospital

If l could give a 0 l would. My hell started the moment l was pushed into casualty with a broken hip where l was left against a wall, waiting approx 40 minutes just for a cubicle to open up so a dr could see me. From there everything went downhill fast. Our medical aid was suspended the previous day because payment was made late the Friday, but we knew the suspension would be lifted the Monday. Life Mercantile hospital however demanded we pay R87 000 cash upfront before they would admit me. I wanted to go home until Monday and they refused to let me sign out, using scare tactics by saying l will be transferred to a state hospital where l will be operated on by trainee doctors. They came down with the price to R70k+ and still l said no. After a while they came down to R17 600 to admit me for just 2 days until our medical aid suspension is lifted. After l was assured the money will be refunded when the medical aid authorized the admission, l borrowed the money from a friend. Monday we found out the suspension was lifted the previous day already. Medical aid authorized my admission from the Saturday and my op was booked for the Tuesday at 2pm. At 2h30pm l was pushed to the operating theaters. There it went downhill even further. I was left in a pre-op cubicle for an hour and a half with no feedback on why. An hour in a huge fight broke out between a manager and junior staff member with them shouting, screaming and swearing at each other. All the staff came out to watch this fight and no one made any effort to stop it. My surgeon apparently came out of a tearoom to tell them to stop and take their fight to a private room, which they ignored. By that time l was extremely anxious, hysterical and crying, asking why am l still waiting as it's already 1 hour since l came here. I was only then told they are still waiting for the anesthetis. For someone who was clean of taking anti-depressants and anxiety meds for the past 6 months, this huge, ugly fight triggered me and brought back all my painful memories l managed so well to put behind me. l had a panic attack and while crying hysterically l told the staff l want to postpone the op as l was not feeling comfortable putting my life in the hands of these unprofessional staff members. Some staff member laughed a few steps away from me, telling one of the ladies involved in the fight 'you guys are unprofessional' and again they all laughed. Another nurse came to talk to me and convinced me that a matron or unit manager will come see me 'just now'. The second l calmed down a bit they steamrollered me into theater and still telling me a matron or unit manager will be with me just now. Within a few minutes l was asleep and the op (full hip replacement) was done. The next thing l remember was the one guy in the theater calling me non-stop, telling me to wake up now AS HE WAS GOING TO MISS HIS UBER WAITING OUTSIDE! I was in total shock when pushed back to my ward. There l told one of the nursing staff what happened and nothing was said except the staff member telling the other nursing staff in the ward and they all laughed about it. The next day l was still in shock and crying most of the morning, with anxiety and panic attacks threatening to overpower me. One of the sisters saw what was happening and offered to take me to an empty room so l could have some privacy. My surgeon came around for his daily visit and immediately apologized for the previous day. I told him l never wanted the op to go ahead as l was petrified that my blood pressure would spike as it always does when l go under anesthesia and then these unprofessional staff would not be able to handle an emergency as they didn't have the professionalism to de-escalate a huge fight. My doctor immediately wrote a script for the same anxiety meds l was on previously as l was in full panic mode and hysterical, crying non-stop from shock. When he learned that no one has come to see me he left with the promise to escalate the matter himself as to me it seemed everything was swept under the rug. 2 ladies came around later and admitted that no-one brought the matter to their attention until my surgeon spoke up. After listening to me hysterically crying and talking they apologized and promised feedback in 24 hrs and left. The promised 24 hour feedback never materialized so 50 hours later l decided to follow up myself. 52 hours later Mrs Myburgh came dashing in with a snack box and apology, saying they are still investigating the matter. This when SHE offered me the option of same day feedback or 24 hr feedback. In the interim our fight became a nightmare to get my friend's R17 600 refunded. All of a sudden the money will only be refunded AFTER our medical aid settled the bill. Keep in mind that this money was paid to admit me on Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 9th of November. Our medical aid took responsibility for those 2 days by authorizing my admission from the Saturday so that cash payment was supposed to be refunded to us. No patient with medical aid is ever told to pay a roughly R20k deposit upfront for 'just in case' your medical aid did not settle your bill in full. I've made 21 calls in 8 days to try and get hold of management and call after call was unanswered. Message after message was left for anyone to contact me, to no avail. My friend's possessions are held 'hostage' in a warehouse in Gauteng with a daily 'storage fee' adding up to a huge amount already, while she is in her new rental property in PE with no furniture, no clothing and no utensils or crockery to even prepare a meal. My mental health took a serious knock as l spiraled back to depression, anxiety and panic attacks. I'm constantly in tears or gasping for air. Finally, 3 days after l left my first message, Mrs Myburgh contacted me today, November 19ŧḥ. I made sure she knows that my husband and l, my son, my daughter and hopefully family and friends will avoid Life Mercantile hospital in the future. Her voice changed from friendly to very monotonous when she then accused me of 'threatening' staff because l told them l'm taking my fight to social media. With a husband who yearly spends 5 to 10 days in hospital for stents, triple bypasses, spleen removal, heart attacks etc or me who just raked up a +/-R100k bill and who will soon need a third knee op, with a 4 year old daughter who still has her whole life ahead of her with probably many hospital visits, it's a big loss for Life Mercantile hospital. Never have l received such ********** treatment before, not even from Netcare where l brought my family from to use services at Life Mercantile Hospital. It is now 13 days that l'm fighting to get my friend's money back and all l hear when l try and get hold of different managers is that they are in meetings. Today will be the 4th day in a row that supervisors and management are in non-stop meetings!