Nashville General Hospital at Meharry

Overall: Not Recommended

My review is to help anyone else who may be in my shoes. This is a totally true review based on the treatment I have received there since 2014. I have to come to Nashville General at Meharry due to they are the only place that accepts Tenn care blue care. I am thankful, very thankful that I am able to have any healthcare, please don't misconstrue my review. I had breast cancer in 2011. Thyroid cancer in 2012. Has to have a total hysterectomy in 2011 due to the cancer. After multiple surgeries and radiation, with a boost of radiation lasting up to 8 weeks, I developed Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus. For the first two years after surgery, I was pretty much in bed 75 percent of the time. I am currently on multiple medicines and have been on them since 2012. I attend the Rheumatology clinic every 3 months because that is how far apart they make your appointments and they claim you cannot come any sooner. Unless you go sit in the Emergency room first and wait , get seen by an ER. Doctor there, and then you get sent upstairs to wait until they can squeeze you in. Plan on being there between 3 and 4 hours for a scheduled appointment. My health has not gotten any better. My diseases are progressing, my joints hurt so bad most days I am able to do less and less. I have gone in there crying tears of pain and frustrations, I explain to their residents my struggles, my pain, my bone issues, I beg to try something different, a different medicine, they have denied me this over and over. Their notes are false. They will put in their notes that they took your vitals, and list your vitals, but they never took them. They list wrongful information about you personally, things that don't even apply. And then when you leave, ,you are no better off then the first day you started going. You are seeing residents, Never a physician. Never the same person twice who can get a history of your condition. I found out they never even requested my history from my Rheumatologist, They have nothing on me except what the resident students puts. REPEATEDLY, I have been there, sometimes in sever pain, chest pain from the lupus, Ive been diagnosed with costocondritis, crying tears begging them to put me back on my lupus medicine, for a year they denied me, claiming, because I don't have the rash on my face!! I have never had the rash! My blood tests, my symptoms, I was diagnosed with the lupus way back. I have open lesions all over my body now. Finally, they put me back on my plaquenil. My hands are in severe pain 75 percent of the time, they swell up with minimal usage. I have never been on or ever asked for any pain medicines, I don't take them, I lay in bed and suffer it out until the swelling, the pain or my flares are gone. They have never done any hand xrays to check the status of my RA. I had to ask my RA to get my hand xray ordered, and in between a 6 month period, over, a year ago, my hands had gone from minimal joint issues to complete Osteopienia in both hands. Severe osteopienia in my pelvis I am now a severe fracture risk at at 51. Every three months its the same neglect from them . And then, when I go and get my notes, there is NOTHING IN THE NOTES regarding my issues with my bones, my hands, my joints, my pain. Nothing at all. They have listed that certain relatives are alive and well when they are dead. My reason for telling my experience is because the last time I was there, at the Rheumatology clinic, I was crying and frustrated begging for new medicines. Begging to be tried on something new instead of Methotrexate.....low dose chemo. She told me no... and smiled.. she said that that medicine I see on tv is just for people who have severe R.A. I asked her, you mean with the crossed fingers? she said yes.. Well, WHAT ABOUT PREVENTING FURTHER DAMAGE.? My hands are hurting, My joints,, more of them in my body now,, locks up, pops when I move and bone on bone sounds.. I told the resident that I want to get better, that my quality of life is deteriorating.. I explained to her that I am able to do less and less because it's activity that causes me to swell up and lock up.. I told the resident that I now have sores in my mouth from the lupus. I showed her my skin, open lesions, that are red, and sore. I told the resident that I have had dark brown urine, almost dark red in the morning. They ordered blood tests. They ordered a urinalysis. The blood work they order has nothing to do with inflammation marker to see if your disease is active, any inflammation going on.. No, they check your basic cbc and that's it!! The resident called me the very next morning, before or around 8 a.m.to happily tell me my blood was normal, I said, thats good, what about my urine? She said, That was normal too. I drove up to get my notes.. The resident wrote that I was angry and tearful. .I have no active lupus disease and no active inflammatory arthriis.. She continued to go on to diagnose me with depression and said because my mother had recently died , I told this resident that I am seeing a counselor because I cannot take living with my disability. I am not getting better. I told the resident that I am a single mother, who raised 4 kids, worked her way through college, ran 5 miles every morning, was involved in volunteering, hiked biked, traveled. and now, I cant do those things becuase of the debilitating fatigue. My fatigue in unbelievable with minimal activity. That resident student MD. wrote in my legal notes that I was depressed and that it is a multiple reason for my being there. HOW DARE HER!!! SHE NEVER WROTE ANYTHING ABOUT MY illnesses. I informed her that my mom had passed away in December. and I see a counselor for that and my disability. I begged her for help. she denied me over and over. I cannot move my pointer finger on my right hand to close it completely , the joint wont let me, its too painful now. I cannot run at all. I cannot do household chores without literally passing out from fatigue and swelling . I am on Long term disability. I rely on this to support me. My policy. I told her this. I told her that I struggle with being on it because I am a strong independent woman. I told her that I know that my leg isnt blown off, I know, I don't look disabled on the outside, I get it,, I told her that I cannot take living like this, and begged again to be tried on something different, she said no. and then wrote in my notes, no active diseases. then wrote for me to continue on my medicines and she gave me another 3 plus months refills on my meds. Well, if I have no active disease why do I need medicine????? If you rely on disability, don't go here. They don't care about getting you well, They make smirked biased opinionated decisions judging you. I have noticed they are quick to give out the pain pills though.. its like a pipeline ........

Overall: Not Recommended

I forgot to mention in my original post that when the Rheumatologist resident called me and told me all of my labs were normal and my urine was normal, when I picked up my notes a week later, my Creatine was not a normal, it was 175.85 and my protein was High too... Now, with that being said, again, this goes to show you the quality of care. As a patient with Lupus and Ra, I am very concerned what is happening to my kidneys from the lupus.... remember, they denied me treatment for a year.... because I didnt have a rash.. have never drawn blood work for a Rheumatology blood work up.. And still waiting for them to tell me what to do about this High Creatine and Protein.. She told me it was normal. Its not.