A Hospital in Name Only

I would rather DIE than EVER go to Surrey Memorial Hospital here in Surrey BC Canada EVER again. That hospital is staffed mostly by self-absorbed bigoted incompetant assholes who don't care about their patients unless you're rich and/or cis & white.

I had to go to emergency last night because of ridiculously excruciating pain last night and it was a very bitter experience. Though given my history with SMH AND their already horrid reputation for racism and transphobia, I'm not at all surprised.

First, NO ONE would respect my wish to be called Penny. Staff would bellow my legal name in the waiting room extra loudly then make sad excuses why they somehow didn't see the big note that said "Refer to as Penny". Nurses gave me dirty looks all night. Of ALL the staff there last night, only 2 nurses and 1 volunteer were ANY help to me, or did their damn jobs.

The first doctor I saw tapped my arm twice and dismissed me as perfectly okay without doing ANY tests other than an X-Ray. He dismissed it as a pinched nerve in my NECK somehow, cutting me off, talking over me and ignoring everything I said to him about what hurt, where and why. Then despite knowing that I had already taken FOUR morphines yesterday because of the crippling pain, that those 4 morphines had ZERO effect on the wrist pain, which in fact was getting worse, and being clearly told I did NOT want ANY painkillers, just to have my wrist treated, he discharged me without telling me while calling me by male pronouns to his staff, probably assuming I couldn't hear him.

I stood my ground asking to be readmitted and see a different doctor while EVERYONE adamantly refused to give me the first Doctor's name so I could file a complaint. Apparently they fuck up so often at SMH now that it's officially policy to not give patients ANY names. No doctor introduced themselves by name, no nurses had nametags, and for two hours I was given the runaround until someone finally informed me of the No Names policy. One nurse got uppity with me for accusing them of giving me a runaround until I pointed out he himself had pretended he was trying to find me the first Doctor's name and stalling me hoping I'd drop it.

The second doctor tried the same crap as the first until I looked him in the eye and demanded to be actually listened to. He refused to drain my ganglion cyst, blatantly lying to my face claiming they don't drain cysts there, which I know for a FACT is bullshit because I have HAD cysts drained in their emergency department before.

He ordered bloodwork and an Anti-Inflammatory. Then while waiting for my bloodwork, I noticed a leather laptop case that an earlier patient had his Tablet in and forgotten, checked to find his tablet still in it, and turned it in to the Nurses telling them exactly which patient had forgotten it. I was VERY clear in telling them who it belonged to, describing the now discharged patient and explaining how I knew the case and tablet PC were his.

They just left it on their counter. 2 hours later a rich white man in a suit who'd been sitting there just walked right up and grabbed it over my shoulder when their backs were turned, and hid it under his coat. Sat there smugly in his tuxedo, and gave me a look practically daring me to say something.

So I reported him. To 3 nurses, a security guard an a doctor. NOT A FUCKING ONE OF THEM would go confront the guy. NONE of them were willing to do the right thing. I'm guessing the rich white guy was a hospital donor or something.

"Oh well WE didn't see it so we're not going to worry about it."

Even though I DID see it. Even though they admitted the tablet was no longer on the counter yet no one had spoken to them to claim it. Even though I was RIGHT there TELLING them what happened. Their attitude was hey it wasn't MY tablet so I should just shut up.

When I pushed them to do the right thing I was ejected from the hospital.

This is not the first abuse I've suffered at the hands of SMH. A few years back one of their male nurses threatened to beat me up in the parking lot for using the women's bathroom to get my pee test. IN FRONT of the other staff. The doctor I complained to then dismissed it as "Boys will be boys", including ME in that sentiment.

The staff of SMH are the reason Fran is going back to the US. Someone there ratted her out to immigration.

And they have a history of hurting people who aren't cis and white, including an elderly Sikh man some years ago who was told he just had a bad cold without any examination and sent home, only to be dead two days later of a burst appendix, something they could have caught had they cared to do their fucking jobs.

And somehow they always get off scot-free. They NEVER suffer any real consequence for this bullshit, and they keep on doing it.

Unless you're cis, white and rich, NEVER go to  Surrey Memorial Hospital. They WILL NOT treat you properly and they WILL NOT give a fuck about you. They do not CARE about doing what's right, only about protecting their own asses.

Surrey Memorial hospital is the worst hospital in the Lower Mainland. If ever a hospital deserved to be shut down, it's this one.