This is my (very summarized) experience at Valley Regional Medical Center on Alton Gloor in…read moreBrownsville from April 28, 2026 around 1:45 AM to May 1, 2026 around 6:00 PM, as I remember it.
I was suffering from symptoms related to alcoholism. I stopped drinking to deal with these issues, but I am aware and afraid of the potentially deadly effects of alcohol withdrawal. As I've done in the past, I went through the steps I take to detox, which consists of drinking a very small amount of alcohol (less than .2 oz of liquor) three times a day several hours apart. I did this for three times a day. I ended up feeling something stuck in my throat and I was afraid I would choke on it at night. At 1:00 AM on that fourth day, I drove myself to the emergency room at Valley Regional Medical Center on Alton Gloor in Brownsville Texas. I was barely able to get myself in the door, fill out the forms and after a long wait I spoke to someone, shared my story and symptoms, and told them I did not need to detox from alcohol, I had already done that. They immediately and repeatedly injected me with what I'm call synthetic alcohol and I lost the ability to think straight or fully control my body. I think they pumped me with this stuff multiple times a day for most of my stay. This was really power stuff I told them I didn't need. I tried to get to the restroom soon after that and defecated myself along the way.
My mom got there later and luckily the doctors told her what my issues were and a few days later updated her on the status of those issues. My sister, who I did not want there, also showed up. I asked her to leave shortly thereafter but she hung around and was somehow able to get some of the information on my issues from the staff which she later used against me and shared this incomplete information with several people including one of my good friends.
They put me in a bed, connected me to various medical equipment, and told me I wasn't allowed to move from the bed. I was starting to go crazy from what I think was the synthetic alcohol. I repeatedly and annoyingly begged anyone I could talk to allow me to let me stand and walk a bit. At the very least to let me sit up straight with my feet on the ground. They told me I could not move. My mom made the same appeal but she was told that they couldn't listen to her because she wasn't the patient. The assured us that the physical therapist would be there the next morning at 10AM to take me for a walk.
To deal with me, they started pumping me anti-anxiety meds and sleeping pills for at least 24 hours. This drove me absolutely mad. I was a completely out of my mind. They had these robots that according to one or two nurses were always recording patients, even in the most intimate of procedures\activities. I tried to put my feet on the ground to sit up straight for a little bit. The robot went off like an alarm and I was surrounded and forced back into the bed. At some point they moved me and I tried to put my feet on the ground again. The robot went off, and keep remember, I was absolutely insane at this point, and I'm not a violent person, but I went after the think to try to punch it. I didn't have control my body, so I missed, but I nicked it with my thumb and got a huge gash on my thumb. I was moved to another room. Several people saw me bleeding, no one gave me medical attention even as my mom kept asking someone to take a look at the huge gash. While in the other room, I kept asking folks, is this real? At some point I was convinced the hospital was doing this to me to cover up some equipment I they were using I had a patent for. I'm not an inventor or engineer, by the way.
I think it was two days after I was supposed to get my PT, the PT guy finally found me and let me walk with him up and down the hall for about 30 seconds.
From my second day there, I asked several nurses and doctors if I could please get a list of what was given to me (in most cases injected), how much, and what it was for. I also asked repetitively for that list to include what my diagnoses were when I got there and how they had progresses. I was assured by each I would get that before I left.
Friday afternoon, I talked to the Kidney doctor. He told me that my kidneys were doing allot better (I guess there was something wrong with them), but he wanted me to stay one more day because there was still a chance of a seizure. I reminded him that he was scheduled to see me on Wed, so when he said one more day, that probably meant one more week. He told me that as my doctor he had the right to make me stay longer. I told him that as a patient I had the right to refuse service. He shook his head no, but there was a nurse there that reminded him I was right. I was eventually allowed to sign some forms and leave towards the floor exit.
When I spoke to the billing lady, she assured me, there was no way I was getting that list of what was given to me, the issues the