Seton Family of Hospitals

I have had several surgeries here and have had problems each time. The first time I had a broken right eye socket repaired. Afterwards, my eye was bandaged. I could not see or reach the bedside table, my cpap machine mask was broken because the nurse kept trying to turn it on and set it and wouldn't do what I was telling her to do. I had given my medication list no less than 4 different places/people. Yet the next day before I left, no one gave me any breakfast and the nurse still hadn't given me my morning meds stating that she was scheduled to leave and acting like she didn't even know what meds I took even though I had given a detailed list. The second time I had knee replacement surgery which was painful. I was supposed to take pain meds 1/2 hour before the therapist came in. However, despite repeated calls for pain meds, no one would respond. My water pitcher was placed on the windowsill out of my reach. Despite many requests, no one would help me take a shower after being in the hospital for 4 days. The food was horrible. I then had to go to St. David's for rehab and it was like night and day. Immediate response whenever I needed assistance and every meal was like eating at a 4-star restaurant. more

I have been to 2 different Seton Medical Centers and both times I have been overcharged for services performed. The EKG was even done wrong and I had to go to another hospital to have it redone! St. David's is so much nicer, well organized and do not overcharge! I will be going there for all my hospital needs. more

Late last year I had a sharp pain in my left side and went to the emergency room at Seton. I was nauseous and wanted to use the only restroom available to the public in the ER - however a large pool of blood coated the floor and when the on-duty nurse was informed she entered the restroom, shrugged and said someone would have to be called to look after it (2 hours later the pool of blood was still there). After 30 or so minutes, I was brought into the back area of the ER and had the nurse take my blood pressure and check my temperature. A resident quickly looked at me (no more than 2 minutes), saw I was in pain and I was placed on an IV with a pain killer and brought to a bed where I waited another 30 minutes to be wheeled in for a 2-3 minute single CT scan of my abdomen. After another 30 minutes, another young doctor came in and spoke to me for perhaps 2-3 minutes saying that I had a small kidney stone which would likely pass on its own and I should go home and rest and I was given a prescription for vicodin. The nurse spent another minute removing my IV and I left. The total time I spent speaking with either a doctor or a nurse was, perhaps 10 minutes (maybe 15 if you consider the time it took to mention the pool of blood and nodding to the orderly who took me to the CT scan room). During that time I was in the ER a total of 90 minutes and really received no treatment other than being told to go home and given a prescription for some pain medication.I was simply shocked when I received a copy of the bill for this 10 minutes of 'medical advice'. It was over $11,000 for Seton's ER alone and another $1,000 for actually speaking to the doctors. The CT Scan alone was in excess of $7,900 when I had an almost identical procedure performed literally across the street a few weeks later at the Heart Hospital of Austin for under $200. I thought there must be some kind of mistake - less than 90 minutes in the ER, one quick CT scan, sent home without anything other than a standard prescription for $12,000+ and asked for a detailed invoice. I was told that even though there was a single CT scan performed (and obtained a copy of the records from the radiology department - where there was only one image), they were able to see both my kidney and my bladder (two separate body parts!) on the same scan and they were entitled to charge *twice* at $3,400 a time because the radiologist spent two or three seconds looking at two spots on the CT scan image instead of one - I kid you not, that was the explanation for how they justified charging for two separate CT scans when only a single image was obtained. I don't hold it against hospitals or doctors to provide a fair cost for service, but I don't think I have ever received less value for money for anything in my life. I would never voluntarily use Seton's services again - $12,000+ for a dirty (as in disgusting) ER, 10 minutes of medical attention with nothing beyond 'go home and see if everything is ok in a couple of days', and charging an all ready *extremely* overinflated CT scan price twice (which at the end of the day was only glanced at by the doctor who sent me home) because there was more than one part of the body captured on the image. Oh, they also charged $19.95 for the single Tylenol tablet they handed to me on the way out - nice touch! BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE! more

Late last year I had a sharp pain in my left side and went to the emergency room at Seton. I was nauseous and wanted to use the only restroom available to the public in the ER - however a large pool of blood coated the floor and when the on-duty nurse was informed she entered the restroom, shrugged and said someone would have to be called to look after it (2 hours later the pool of blood was still there). After 30 or so minutes, I was brought into the back area of the ER and had the nurse take my blood pressure and check my temperature. A resident quickly looked at me (no more than 2 minutes), saw I was in pain and I was placed on an IV with a pain killer and brought to a bed where I waited another 30 minutes to be wheeled in for a 2-3 minute single CT scan of my abdomen. After another 30 minutes, another young doctor came in and spoke to me for perhaps 2-3 minutes saying that I had a small kidney stone which would likely pass on its own and I should go home and rest and I was given a prescription for vicodin. The nurse spent another minute removing my IV and I left. The total time I spent speaking with either a doctor or a nurse was, perhaps 10 minutes (maybe 15 if you consider the time it took to mention the pool of blood and nodding to the orderly who took me to the CT scan room). During that time I was in the ER a total of 90 minutes and really received no treatment other than being told to go home and given a prescription for some pain medication.I was simply shocked when I received a copy of the bill for this 10 minutes of 'medical advice'. It was over $11,000 for Seton's ER alone and another $1,000 for actually speaking to the doctors. The CT Scan alone was in excess of $7,900 when I had an almost identical procedure performed literally across the street a few weeks later at the Heart Hospital of Austin for under $200. I thought there must be some kind of mistake - less than 90 minutes in the ER, one quick CT scan, sent home without anything other than a standard prescription for $12,000+ and asked for a detailed invoice. I was told that even though there was a single CT scan performed (and obtained a copy of the records from the radiology department - where there was only one image), they were able to see both my kidney and my bladder (two separate body parts!) on the same scan and they were entitled to charge *twice* at $3,400 a time because the radiologist spent two or three seconds looking at two spots on the CT scan image instead of one - I kid you not, that was the explanation for how they justified charging for two separate CT scans when only a single image was obtained. I don't hold it against hospitals or doctors to provide a fair cost for service, but I don't think I have ever received less value for money for anything in my life. I would never voluntarily use Seton's services again - $12,000+ for a dirty (as in disgusting) ER, 10 minutes of medical attention with nothing beyond 'go home and see if everything is ok in a couple of days', and charging an all ready *extremely* overinflated CT scan price twice (which at the end of the day was only glanced at by the doctor who sent me home) because there was more than one part of the body captured on the image. BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE! more

THIS IS THE WORST HOSPITAL SEEK MEDICAL TREATMENT ELSEWHERE September 12, 2006 5:29 AM PST My brother went to Seton Emergency Room on September 2, 2006 in the evening hours complaining of chest pain, abdominal pain, back pain. He was not even completly evaluated instead he was given some pills and told to go home. In the early hours before 2 AM my parents arrived at home to find him in bad shape and so they rushed him back to Seton hospital. Guess what? He needed emergency open heart surgery because he had an Aortic Ascending and Dissecting Aneurysm. The symptoms he had not even twenty-fours hours earlier were the symptoms of an aneurysm. The doctor told my parents if they had not brought him in when they did he would of died within the hour. Unbelievable considering my brother went to the hospital to seek medical help and was sent home with pills. After, surgery he was in ICU and he had some really bad nurses in the evening that had terrible bedside manner, lazy, cold and unsympathetic to their patients needs and care and the patient's family. A good example is my brother soiled on himself and rather than change the bedding and clean him up the nurse left him in this condition. My mother had to coax the nurse in cleaning him so he could then be transferred to another floor. She did the very minimal cleaning lets put it this way a dog or cat is cleaner after a bowel movement than he was. She just did not want to take the time to clean him up rather send him up to the next floor and have them do the dirty work. The fourth floor nurses were more interested in keeping him drugged up on Rispedal and sedatives so he would not wake up without being in a dazed confused state of mind. My parents were very cooperative with the nurses and provided them their cell phone numbers and alternate numbers to contact as needed. Today, on September 12, 2006 in the early hours of the morning before 2 AM a nurse comes in by and manhandles my brother with a rough swab in his mouth and made the inside of his mouth bleed. Then she tries giving him more sedatives when the whole objective is to wean him off the sedatives so the physicians can evaluate my brother's condition better. Fortunately, my mother was there in his room and she asked the nurse what she was doing and the nurse told my mother and my mother said no more sedatives my son needs to wake up without being in a daze. So then she rips his other IVS out and has the IVS leaking on his bed sheets and she never changed the sheets either. My mother found a clean sheet and put it where the IVS were leaking on his bed. Another issue is the "Sitter" whom is supposed to be in my brother's room monitoring him today was told to go home when my mother arrived yesterday ( 9-11-06). When my mother asked where was the sitter going the nurse said they sent the sitter home and did not need her anymore. My brother has been running fevers and rather than run blood tests they let him stay that way until my mother demanded some blood work be done to findout what is causing the fevers and he also has an infection. The nurses like to restrain my brother rather than speak to him and tell him he just had heart surgery. My brother has had a feeding tube in him since this past Saturday because he is not awake yet to eat solids of coarse he would not be able to eat on his own when all the nurses keep doing is giving him sedatives. My final thoughts would be for any and all people to BEWARE SETON HOSPITAL is a great place to become addicted to pain pills and to be kept sedated and to see plenty of rude and uncaring nurses. THIS HOSPITAL IS NOT FIT FOR AN ANIMAL TO GET ADEQUATE TREATMENT LET ALONE A HUMAN BEING. more

Out of about 5 of the area hospitals that I have had the unfortunate opportunity to visit this hospital has to be the best by far. I was diagnosed with gallstones and was referred to a doctor to have my gall bladder removed and this was the hospital that he performs his surgeries. This happened on a Thursday and the hospital was able to fit me in for surgery on Friday morning. Registering and Pre-Op was easy and the hospital was ready on time for my surgery on Friday. The surgery went well and I was home by that evening. Each person that we came in contact with from the Registrar to the nurses were kind and courteous and made my short stay as comfortable as it could be. more

I was in Seton a few years ago to have my appendix removed (emergency surgery) and things went so quickly and they really took charge and did the surgery as they should have. The care after surgery could have been better, the nurses were never around, IV bags went dry before they came and changed them, etc. The Doctors were very good and informative. This is not the worst place to be, but it's not the best either. more

The Seton Medical Center is located on 38th Street right next to Seton Medical Tower. The doctors for the OB/GYN are right next door, so they were able to come over and check on me after having a baby. The nurses there were great, making sure I had everything I needed, and controlling the crowd that came to visit. The pharmacy right down stairs made it convenient for me to get my pain meds before we left to go home. more

I delivered 2 babies at Seton Hospital and have a very pleasant stay both times. The staff was very nice, and the hospital was very clean and comfortable. I was treated very well by the check in staff, and the nurses were very knowledgeable and efficiant. The parking was very easy to find, and the hospital had many signs to make it easy to find your way around. The hospital is updating all of the time, and remodeling to fit the needs of Austin, so it makes for a very patient friendly place to be. more