The hospital needs renovation, no question. However, my Mother received two surgeries there after a bad fall both which required a very high level of skill. The surgery was successful and doctor's in Dallas checked her over when she was able to return. They told me that she had gotten excellent care. The hopital didn't really provide food to the patients, or not food you would want to eat. I took food everyday. No one, not even doctors spoke English. Luckily I had my friend to interpret. Shortly after we got there they took my Mother away, not telling me where but said "stitches" when I asked after 5 hours waiting in the middle of the ER. This space was a mix of people on gurneys with various needs with a small area in the middle of the room with 10 chairs in a circle for family and patients not needing a gurney. A girl with 2 swollen black eyes sat next to me and told me her woes from the previous night. She was still drunk. An elderly man would occassionally rise up, arms stretched moaning loudly and say "Sil vous plait" and then fall back into the gurney. A couple of inches from my right shoulder was a bare foot, dirty and bloody. I decided best not to look right, best not to look left, if I looked at the floor I could miss the Fellini scene. We got there at 5:00 in the morning and it was 7:00 before I saw Mother. The doctor said her eye is gone. I said "Gone? where did it go?" My friend explained she no longer had an eye. Then there was bleeding on the brain from one of the bones which was broken in the fall. She went to Intensive Care. The next morning when I arrived for visitation I was told she was gone. They had moved her for brain surgery. massive rush to find my friend and get to the second hopital, this one. The taxi left us at the bottom of a dirt road. We had a Letter identifying the building. We walked up the hill past many of the hopital's complex of buildings. All in deplorable shape. Patients in their open gowns smoking cigarettes outside the doors. We made it up the hill finally and found her with much effort. She was out of surgery but we couldn't see her, so we left. For the next week i walked 30 minutes to get food, took a bus 45minutes, then walked another 30 minutes up the hill to her building. There were no doors on the building, there were no lights on. the room was large with french mouldings, decorative cement tile floors, large french doors looking onto a beautiful veranda. At some point in the past it was an elegant hospital. Two nurses were washing and combing and drying my mother's hair very carefully. They also came daily to massage her arms with lotion. There was no built-in equipment, a pay TV that looked like it was from the 60's which we couldn't get to work. The food was some sort of grain patty, whitish with a yellowish sauce. This was served everyday. It was an adventure, not in the best way. However I can report that the bill for 2 weeks of hospital, ICU, ER, 2 surgeries, ambulance, meds, etc. total was about $25,000. We pay tremendously for the bank lobby atmosphere of our hospitals. I think there could be a middle way less expensive, less fancy with a focus on care of the patient than on the furniture. read more

This "hospital" would be an amazing punchline to a joke about the state of French healthcare if it weren't such a serious subject. Simply put this hospital requires an improvement on vast scale to truly qualify as even basically capable of reasonable care or it should be shut down and built from the ground up. The place is filthy, decrepit and falling apart. The staff, at night, are mostly young and treat the place as an extension of high school - Not wearing proper uniform, smoking when people are waiting, constant using of personal phones when on shift, lots of chatting to each other & barely speak English when Nice is a tourist haven full of English speakers. The lack of humanity & compassion is appalling. No senior figureheads visibly in charge. No communication on what's happening or who people are if you only speak English. Left alone for long periods. I had a young guy tend to me who was a completely embarrassment to the medical profession. Kept dropping stuff, using his phone during assessing me, generally gave off the aura of an amateur. Eventually I was taken for something I can only assume was an X-Ray. Apparently I was okay, according a young female medic, but I don't trust their expertise like I would trust my own on medical matters. All in all - wow - how does this place exist? read more

Don't EVER believe that French health care is so wonderful. One star is too much for this place! Worst hospital in the country of France. I broke my ankle and was delivered here by ambulance staff. (THEY were excellent!) The severe break required surgery (two days after the accident!) , followed by six days in the hospital. My doctor and the radiology tech were the only ones I can even barely commend for their work. Refusal to provide interpreters for my English needs was common, although many spoke very fluent English. Thank goodness I found an Translation App on my smartphone! I was never informed of my condition, despite daily Rounds done by the intern teams. Everything was a guess regardless of the event. Patient Rights? Not in France.... Costs too much. Conditions were absolutely filthy. Floors, walls, elevators, casting room, surgical areas, bathrooms, food trays: ALL were covered with dirt and scum from decades of use and lack of repair/care. Walls in all areas had large holes where pictures and equipment were ripped out of the plaster and not repaired. Paint was peeling and cracked anywhere you look. The wood-frame windows have no screens, so bugs enter freely, and mosquitoes bite all night long. They were water-damaged, split and unpainted/unrepaired. Filth and noise from the busy streets outside prevented any restful recuperation. Since there is no air conditioning or heat, windows are the only source of cool, fresh air, and are open in the mornings then closed at night to keep out the cold. Just try to get a blanket if you are cold. Elevator interiors were covered with cigarette/lighter burns; I was told it was done by employees "for fun". This is a "teaching" hospital! Every employee reeked of cigarette smoke. All staff were rude, loud, dismissing any needs of patients. My bedpan went for several hours without being emptied. After 4 uses, I placed it on the bed table with my lunch tray to be removed. One nurse dispensed my medications directly from her hand, touching the pills as she took them from the bottles on the meds cart. (I refused them until I watched them served in a pill cup) In the middle of the night, the nurse stood in the doorway of my room screaming at the person in the next bed to BE QUIET and GO TO SLEEP NOW! (She had a broken hip and Alzheimers!) Cigarette smoke from hallways and outside is present in every area, including reception areas, waiting rooms, patient rooms, ER, radiology and surgical rooms. When asked if smoking was allowed inside the hospital, the charge nurse just laughed and flitted out of the room. Soap and towels were not provided, making personal hygiene an impossible challenge. This was the worst experience of my life! Don't use this hospital unless you expect abuse, filth, insulting care, and possibly a deadly disease that ends your life. read more

I completely agree with giving this hospital minus rating. I was rushed in by an ambulance I called, for breathing issues due to a bad allergic reaction to drinking beer. ( Yes very funny, but true) whislt also having sprained my ankle that same night. There were two young interns who thought I was joking about the allergic reaction. A doctor came in an hour later, said something in French( and I do know some french) and disappeared saying there was nothing serious that I should be worried about. "A beer reaction" they laughed and then after that wrote me off completely. The doctor who came in an hour later, checked my breathing, felt my stomach, and walked out without any instuctions. They didn't even bother looking at my ankle despite telling that i've had two ligament tears. I was left aone for 4 hours with no idea what they were going to do next. The least I expected was they give me some medication( inhaler, decongestant, etc) to ease my situation, but NOTHING. And there were other patients lying and It felt like there was no basic human dignity that the staff felt. There were about 20 people at 4 in the morning, doing nothing, but wasting time, chitchatting, smoking and watching TV. I eventually broke completely being alone and in a new place and in the middle of the night. I walked out,and requested a taxi and went back to Vilefrance. I have so much more respect for US ER services and Bedside manner. This is the worst experience ever. There is a place for human dignity in the US. I now have to find another doctor to get my ankle checked out as it's been getting worse. I've become wary of this French medical system. It's very very disappointing and disgusting. read more