THIS HOSPITAL IS ABUSIVE TO ITS PATIENTS AND ITS DOCTORS WILL RACIALLY AND EMOTIONALLY PROFILE AND ABUSE THEIR POWER OVER YOU, ESPECIALLY PEOPLE OF COLOR. THEY WILL EXPLOIT AND DIRECTLY LIE TO YOU TO TRICK YOU INTO STAYING LONGER SO THEY CAN EXTRACT THE MOST MONEY OUT OF YOU AS PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE. THEY WILL DEEM YOU "DANGEROUS" AND DETAIN YOU IN CRISIS CARE IF YOU ATTEMPT TO LEAVE. THEY ARE ALWAYS "OUT OF ROOMS" AND WILL KEEP YOU ON A GURNEY IN THE HALLWAY FOR HOWEVER LONG YOUR INSURANCE ALLOWS.
Stay away from this place. If you get your arm torn off by a bear you're probably better off tying your own tourniquet than dealing with these emotionally stunted, two-faced nurses and the bigoted, malicious money-hungry doctors that work alongside them.
This is longest review I will EVER write because I am truly and absolutely disgusted with my personal experience beyond simply telling you to stay far away.
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Mountainside Medical Center is the most malicious, shady hospital in North NJ. I'm visually disabled and was brought to Mountainside Medical Center on the verge of passing out by my university's EMTs. I have asthma and waited from 1-5 AM sat in a bed in the hallway with 3 other people and was told to "cut out" my labored breathing because my vitals were "fine". Needless to say, I was never given or presented asthma treatment despite disclosing it immediately. What hospital doesn't have a nebulizer mask???
When 5 AM rolled around, my condition had cleared and I had planned to leave. I had asked the staff if it was appropriate to do so, and they mentioned I would be seeing a doctor shortly and that they could not stop me from making an informed decision. Upon beginning to walk out, the same nurse immediately and loudly CALLED FOR SECURITY and coincidentally, the doctor showed up within seconds. I was repeatedly interrogated by said doctor because my UNIVERSITY'S ADDRESS, a PARTNER of this hospital, "sounded fake" and I needed to "stop lying" and "give her my real address"?????? Huh??
Upon informing the doctor I was no longer interested in treatment, she told me she would soon return with referrals to other medical centers in the area. What I was never informed about was the room she entered being labeled "CRISIS" before I was shortly and forcibly detained by 3 security members into a crisis care room until 9 AM. 5 hours of waiting in the hall, 4 hours of isolation for trying to leave AFTER BEING TOLD I HAD THE RIGHT TO.
I was forced into a small room with only a bed and a window for various doctors to stare at me and had all my personal belongings confiscated from me, including & especially my phone so I couldn't call for help, document my experience, or report the doctor mistreating me. After an hour I was told and given a handheld hospital phone to contact a friend to pick me up before she arrived and outright denied entry by other staff due to it not being "crisis care visiting hours". I was later told by the (very kind) security that I was forced into crisis care because the doctor noted my HEALED self-harm scars from 3 YEARS AGO WHEN I WAS 18 that had already blended into my skin. And shocker, after finally receiving my discharge papers, I was NEVER referred. I gave a urine test and got bloodwork done with no stated results and had to wait 3 hours for the paperwork to be completed and printed because they had a "backlog". A 3-hour backlog at the crack of dawn? Really?
To be COMPLETELY CLEAR once again, I was directly and maliciously tricked by the doctors into staying longer, and when I asked to leave I was told I could before security was called and I was detained against my will for 9 whole hours. I am a 5'3" black-latino man and I'm sure I don't have to disclose that my doctor was a white woman. I hope everyone who handled my case gets fired immediately and, by the way, I asked for the name of the doctor for this review specifically AND to report her to the New Jersey government and conveniently never received it! This hospital is a joke and its workers should feel ashamed of allowing any patient to be treated the way I was and directly covering their tracks to not be reported.
To my "doctor", rest assured I WILL be finding your name and reporting you to the NJ Jurisdiction of the Division of Health Facilities Evaluation and Licensing at the Department of Health. I will not stop until your position is revoked and you can never profile or abuse your power against another vulnerable patient ever again. You are much better off working elsewhere where you cannot leverage what little superiority you feel you have over others.
My heart goes out to those who come in for a genuine emergency, especially children & parents, because you've probably been treated much worse than I have. I encourage all patients who feel even slightly mistreated to do the same and report this hospital to the NJ government because they have no internal policing and will continue this unless they are externally shut down. read more