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Somerville Hospital
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- No
- By Appointment Only:
- No
7 reviews for Somerville Hospital
Not that you always get to pick your hospital...and I wouldn't like, hang here voluntarily on a Friday night, but I had a surprisingly easy (if necessary) visit.
I had occasion to visit after this scary bizarro allergic reaction a few weeks ago and after some freaking out and contemplating I decided to hit up the closest ER just in case. I'm glad I did - the staff was nice, the nurses were nice, I saw a friendly young doc right away and got a steroid IV and was out with prescriptions in hand not even an hour later. Questions were answered, symptoms were cleared, and nary a staph infection acquired.
OK nobody likes the ER. I took the GF here Saturday night because she was in servear abdominal pain (later to be diagnosed as appendicitis). We thought it was food poisoning.
We had the funniest doctor. 3:30 in the morning as he's about to give her a pelvis exam and the GF is like, "So what's your specialty? Are you on rotation?"
To which I respond, "Oh he's a podiatrist babe," which made him laugh, and then kindly explained that he was an ER doctor, which was why he was in the ER.
He gets out the plastic duck lips and drops part of it. GF says, "oh god. Have you done this before?" As the nurse handed him a new one, he smiles real big and excited like then says, "Actually you are my first one...JK!"
I took his picture with my phone and sent it to someone who thought we were at the Olympics because the doctor was Chinese. An obvious conclusion.
Those four stars were valid... until the bills rolled in.
5 minutes = the length of time i met with the doctor. During this time, I explained that I had pulled my back (which happens to me about 2-3 times per year) and that I needed flexiril and vicadin. He left the room, and a nurse came back to deliver my scripts.
5 mintues with doctor / 1 minute with nurse
No x-rays, no blood tests, NOTHING.
$1500 = the emergency room bill
THEN, I get another bill.
Turns out the doctor can ALSO bill you for his time, in addition to the bill from the hospital.
ANOTHER $1750.
Thats over $3000 in bills for six minutes, a self-diagnosis, and a prescription.
And my health insurance hasn't kicked in yet.
Unacceptable.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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8/29/2008
In terms of hospital ER's, this place actually moved quickly. My emergency was a slipped disc in my… Read more »
I have had to go to the emergency room at Somerville Hospital twice, once I took a very ill girlfriend and once I took myself. Both times it took me under 20 mintues to get admitted and seen and the nurses/check in staff were helpful. Yes, this is a small hospital but that can have its benefits in certain cases.
When I took my then girlfriend, I remember being really pleased with how nice the ER doctor was. The girl was in bad shape from a very bad flu and ended up needed 4 bags of saline by IV. I have been in emergency rooms for similar things and doctors will look at you as if to say "you have the flu, why are you wasting my time." But this guy (wish i could remember his name) was very kind, understood the severity of what was happening and made the visit as easy as it could have possibly been.
4 stars.
Um. I had to go to the ER the other night due to a torn meniscus and I felt like I was whisked back into 1954. The receptionist was probably my age in 1954 as well.
Everyone other than my doctor was rude and could barely enunciate words, so that I lovingly had to ask for a repeat every time.
My doc was good, I guess. A bit lazy as I obviously needed an x-ray but he didn't give me one. He was like, "yeah, i had that once, it'll be fine. you prolly won't need surgery" of which I do, now that I went to a real doctor.
Somerville sucks, medically, as it really and truely has not changed since the 50's. So sick of not having a hospital, doctor, or dentist within walking distance in that town!
Anyways, try to go to Mount Auburn or Harvard Vanguard if you need an ER. It'll be busier, I'm sure, but get over it. You'll see.
I liked it when I lived around the corner from this place, and the lights burned out so that it only read "Somerville HO". I think that about sums it up really.
In my never ending hospital review tirade, here's another one to avoid. I don't have the same hatred that I have for Mt. Auburn, but the care here is inadequate. Their primary care is absolutely terrible. I went in there a few years ago with a whole host of symptoms that pointed towards a sinus infection, and was told that maybe I was depressed. I went to another healthcare facility where they checked my sinuses and said "Wow, you have a raging infection in your maxillary sinuses! I don't understand how or why someone would confuse it with depression before doing a physical" I mean, this was an infection that was obvious through a physical, I didn't need a CT-Scan or anything like that.
I went to their ER once because I fell down the stairs and cracked my sternum, and it was a decent experience, if only because there was literally no wait at all and I got a prescription for percocet.
Who impales themselves on Easter Sunday? Oooh ME ME ME! Warning.. this story is not for the squeamish.
First off.. a little back story. The previous tenant had nailed a full length locker mirror to the back of my bedroom door, but used nails that were too long for the door. He/she put corks into the front of my bedroom door to prevent a full body Hellraiser situation. This has worked for the 1 1/2 years I've lived here.
So it's about 5am. For some reason I'm still awake. Could it have been my natural high from the elevated bar tour? Because I seriously didn't drink. Anyways, head out of my room to get some water and my pajama pants get stuck with something and I try to pull away. BIG mistake. What stuck me was a rusty nail. What happened was a 1cm wide/deep gash about 8 inches long on that piece of flesh close to the knee (connecting my leg and thigh). I call the operator at Somerville Hospital and she advises me to come in since I can't remember when I got my last tetanus shot. "What were you doing up so early? Headed to church?" Hah.. that would have been ironic. Well.. maybe if it was Good Friday.
I call Green Cab, they send someone right over. We're not a good team. So far, he's gotten 2 flat tires this shift. We head to 3 different banks because the Bank of America ATMS in Cambridge and Somerville have decided not to work and I have no cash to pay him. Score.
Finally.. several dollars poorer, we get to Somerville Hospital Emergency Room. There is paperwork to fill out but no attendant. I get some eye contact from some employees, but I guess they don't do the whole speaking thing until I've filled out the form. It's your basic stuff, but it's translated into 4 different languages. Whoa. I put my form in the side box and head to the waiting "hallway". There's ample space, but it's not like your typical waiting room. There are seats extending from the walls and they're situated in a hallway/corridor instead of your standard "room". More open to hustle and bustle that might be annoying during the daytime.. but right now it's just me. Antibacterial and tissue boxes adorn the walls. Useful/Cool. Tv-age is lame informercials.. but then again, it's Sunday morning.
I get called in about 5 minutes later and my vitals are taken. The nurse laughs at me because I can't remember when I got my tetanus shot. She checks out my gash and says she's seen worse. Overall she's nice. Kind of what my mom was probably like back in her days as a nurse. She shares a story about one of her kids and it's kind of comforting. Makes me feel a little less alone for some reason. I'm sent next door to another woman who takes down my address and I sign some form saying I'll pay (hah). Then I'm sent out to the waiting hallway again. Another 5 minutes later, I'm sent to a hospital room. Another 5 minutes pass by and a doctor comes in. He does the "ooofff" head tilt and asks if I want it glued back together. If they couldn't glue Humpty Dumpty back together (and he had more material to work with), then my slippery skin aint gonna work. Doctor says it's up to me. No real need to glue it up, but the scarring will be kind of intense/wide without the glue. Vanity. I say, whatever, I have tons of scars or I'm pretty scarred. He does the head tilt sigh. Are you sure? Yep.
A woman comes in to clean off my bloody mess of a leg and then the woman who checked me in comes in and finishes the job. She uses small stitch-like pieces of tape so my insides don't fall out, then gauzes and tapes me up. Tetanus shot is administered and I'm good until 2018! SWEET.
Shortest trip to an emergency room EVAAA. But then again, it's Easter Sunday. 3 stars for now. I'll update when I see my bill. lol
And then I got lost in Somerville for an hour before finding a bus. I rock at life.
