It has been 4 months since my birthing ordeal with The Medical City. I thought hard before posting this because I kind of vowed not to write about rants or any other negative posts in my blog and this experience has been by far, the worst I had. But I ought to tell this story. Maybe others will learn from it, or not.
Please note that this post is highly emotional for me. Excuse any grammatical error as I don’t want to keep on reading and reading this post.
These are the reasons why my husband and I decided to give birth at The Medical City
1. It’s a stone’s throw away from our home.
2. My OB-GYNE is only affiliated with The Medical City.
3. Their CS Ward Package seems reasonable and the ward isn’t like the wards from government hospitals. It actually has its own accordion door and separated by walls. The CS ward package, mid you, is 110K so it should really be unlike government hospitals.
4. They are breastfeeding advocate.
5. I’ve had friends who gave birth at TMC and all had a nice experience.
Here’s my happy-sad-happy birthing story with The Medical City:
Day 0 – We were asked by our OB for series of laboratory tests which are all normal for any scheduled cesarean birth. I was also asked to do the Stress Test 3 days before my schedule and then on the day, I was asked to do it again.
Day 1- I was admitted a day before my scheduled CS and I was given instructions for my early operation the next day. The nurse we had was really nice. I liked her because she was accommodating and always smiling. There were 10 rooms (5 for each wing) in the ward and out of which, 3 were occupied including us so it was pretty peaceful.
Day 2- My operation day. We were told to wake up by 4AM (I had fasting the night before), full bath using the body wash they provided, I was prepped and IV line inserted after 2 failed attempts.
My operation was a success. I felt well taken cared of by the OR team and my doctors. They are fantastic! I didn’t feel any pain during and after my operation. When Luzy was taken out, she was placed on my chest until my sutures are done. When I was in the recovery room, Luzy was brought in for her first breastfeeding session. It was really nice and heartwarming.
It was not after a day when the problems started.
I was wheeled in on our room hours after giving birth and the barrage of medications where put in on my IV line. The nurse on duty told me she needs to re-insert a new line because my vein bulged. Please bear in mind this is my 4th re insertion.
4th attempt failed.
5th attempt failed.
6th attempt failed by another nurse on duty.
7th attempt failed again by the 6th attempt nurse.
8th attempt by nurse supervisor success. I asked them to put a splint on my arm so it’s safer and more stable.
ALL THIS TIME, I WAS VERY PATIENT. APOLOGETIC EVEN. I THOUGHT I WAS GIVING THEM A HARD TIME.THEY KEPT SAYING, I WAS THE FIRST PATIENT IN 2 WEEKS THAT THEY MISSED.
Sometime the next day with the next nurse on duty, she told me my vein again bulged. I had to be reinserted AGAIN. At this point, my hands are hurting. Sometime along their earlier attempts, one nurse moved the needle back and SEARCHED on my vein— it was soo painful. But I needed the pain medication so I had to comply.
9th attempt failed.
10th attempt failed.
11th attempt failed.
The nurse supervisor came and said he’ll do another search and said he won’t insert if he wasn’t sure. BUT he failed. That was 12th attempt.
They called a nurse from the chemo department to do the insertion for them. 13th attempt was a success. That was not the end. The next nurse on duty told me the drip stopped again and that I might need a new line because I need to finish the last dose of IV (pain killer). I told her, I had enough. I told her to call my anes and inform him I refuse another insertion.
Turns out, I can take pain killers orally. And the problem continues…
On our 3rd night, Luzy was unusually fussy. We knew it’s because she’s not getting enough milk from me. We told the nurse on duty but she pointed out Luzy’s urine and poop output which according to her were normal and still okay. My husband had to carry our girl out in the alley to pacify her. We didn’t get any sleep from then on.
4th day, a day before we are scheduled for discharge, we noticed Luzy’s lips were cracked and peeling, clearly she’s dehydrated. We told the nurses but they said it was normal for breastfed babies. We didn’t know any better. We were advised to seek help from their LACTATION EXPERT (which by the way costs P500 per visit), she visited and taught me how to properly breastfeed and how to massage. She poked my breasts and told me to apply heat compress. NO ONE MENTIONED, THAT WHEN YOU GAVE BIRTH VIA CS IT WOULD TAKE TIME TO PRODUCE MILK.
So I continued to offer my breasts to my crying baby every 2 hours even if she refuses at times.
I was not producing milk as much as my baby needed. I did EVERYTHING but my baby won’t stop crying. At this point, it’s very evident that my baby is close to being dehydrated or already is. Her complexion has changed, her behavior is unusual and her lips are cracked. My husband and I asked the nurses for help and what they can do about it. They said it’s NORMAL and so did nothing to help us. They were mostly NOT AROUND in the nurse station.
This was our last night at the hospital, we had our discharge letter we just opted to wait till the morning to settle the bill and go home because technically we paid for it! Luzy was crying from 8PM to 11PM non stop, we were getting worried as this was highly unusual and I feel that her cries sounded “painful”. We insisted the nurse to call a NICU nurse to check on our baby, the request was made around 11:15PM. After an hour, my husband followed up and was told NICU was busy. We asked for a pedia resident instead. We waited 3 hours before this lady came and checked on us. It was horrible.
When she got inside our room carrying our chart, her first statement was: “Bakit nandito pa kayo? Pwede na pala kayo umuwi eh!” in a very condescending and arrogant tone. My husband and I felt really offended as if she was saying, we didn’t have the right to extend our stay as we already have the discharge letter signed but the bills unpaid. We brushed this off because the important issue was why Luzy kept on crying. I asked the resident if my baby was okay and explained that she didn’t have output for nearly 24hrs and that she’s crying non-stop. The resident checked the baby, she said Luzy is fine. My husband asked if she’s dehydrated pointing out the cracked lips. the resident brushed him off and said she’s okay and that she will send a lactation expert to show me how to express milk. She poked around my breasts and arrogantly said that my nipples are inverted and that no milk is coming out. AS IF IT WAS NOT OBVIOUS. It felt like I’m the most useless mother and that I am a failure. At around 4AM, Luzy woke up and cried again. We called the NICU again because my husband noticed that the baby tag (this tag is put in the baby’s leg and a similar one on the Mom’s wrist, if the baby is some distance away from the mother, it’ll beep and will notify NICU), was really snug on Luzy’s leg like it was really hurting. 2hrs after (6AM), the NICU nurse arrived apologetically and cut the tag.At this point, baby was sleeping (from too much crying) and again, no intervention from NICU.
This was a holiday and I know that there’s a possibility that our pedia won’t come to check on the baby. I was asking the nurse on duty to call on a pedia consultant to check our Luzy. But at around 8AM our pedia came rushing telling us our baby is possibly dehydrated. She said, she called around 6 to check on the output before we were discharged and she said no one informed her of the output (or the lack of it).
She came to our room ordering a bottle of water and syringe. She fed Luzy water using the syringe and YOU CAN REALLY SEE HOW my baby was so hungry! She consumed around 5mL of water. I cried. I felt so bad. We spent the entire day asking the nurses and the resident pedia to check on her and pointing out she’s close to dehydration but NO ONE cared. At some point we asked ourselves, IS IT BECAUSE WE GOT THE WARD PACKAGE? OH AND THE PEDIA TOLD TROY TO BUY A CAN OF MILK AS.SOON.AS.POSSIBLE
That was the worst feeling. I felt relieved that the pedia came and helped Luzy, I was at the same time so angry with the nurses and the pedia resident who came to check on us hours before. I felt like we were taken for granted because WE HAD THE DISCHARGE LETTER.
I CRIED SO HARD. I NEVER FELT ANYTHING LIKE THAT BEFORE AND I DON’T WISH FOR ANYONE TO EVER FEEL THAT. I FELT SO HELPLESS AND NEGLECTED.GANITO BA ANG TRATO SA AMIN DAHIL WARD LANG YUNG PACKAGE NAMIN?
WHY DID WE LET THEM TREAT US THAT WAY?
I ALLOWED MYSELF TO THINK THAT IT WAS MY FAULT THAT I COULD NOT PRODUCE MILK. AND THAT AS THEY SAID, THE BABY WAS OK. AND I WAS REALLY TIRED AND HURTING (PHYSICALLY). IT WAS JUST ME AND MY HUSBAND AND HE’S TIRED TOO AND HELPLESS. We relied on the nurses and the resident because they should know better.
Honestly, I lost confidence in The Medical City. Though we were in the CS WARD PACKAGE, it still costs us 110,000! That’s less PHILHEALTH already. We even had to dispute THE 10 FAILED INSERTIONS THEY MADE because those were charged to us too. Imagine, P125 per failed insertion that wasn’t even my fault! We insisted on paying for the 3 successful insertions only. Oh, and the lactation expert that went in to “check” on me, that’s P500 per visit. I also had to dispute a charge from NICU, which was 3 days worth of stay. I pointed out, my baby was roomed in less than 24hrs after birth, what was the NICU charge for?
Still, we paid P110,000 after all the disputes AND THE HORRIBLE TREATMENT WE HAD POST BIRTH. NEVER AGAIN TMC.
Im so so sorry you had such an awful experience. What a nightmare! As mothers we always blame ourselves that we could have done better but there was nothing more you could have done! It’s the nurses and doctors job to notice and deal with these situations! And they actually had the nerve to charge you for all this afterwards after they completely messed up… unbelievable!!
Hi Dana,
I know! It was really so bad. I hope this does not happen to anyone else.
Oh my, what a horrible experience for you and your family! I would feel just as frustrated if that happened to my baby and me! It’s a good thing your Pedia came.
I’m sorry to hear of your bad experience. It was definitely not your fault. Care should be the same hate ER pavkahe you take. It was very poor service. Thank God your baby is okay.
I heard so many not so good stories about this hospital, I know someone died too after operation in the eyes. Reading your story, it seems that there is really problem with this hospital.
My friend just gave birth few months ago and she also paid 6 digits for CS Ward. Ang mahal na yata talaga manganak ngayon.
Oh my. And here I was thinking that our bill was the worse. I know we paid more than we should but at least I know and felt well taken care of. Mommies really has that great instinct to know what our babies need and they should have listed to you that your baby needs to feed. I’m glad Luzy is ok.
Oh my what a horrible experience. I am just glad that you and the baby were okay. My heart goes out to you *hugs*
TMC’s emergency unit is the worst..pero we still go there kase malapit and because covered ng HMO..
Ang bait to go through all that failed insertions.. kumusta ka na ngayon?
Hi Peh,
I am okay, thanks for asking. Strong naman ang character so we do not let incident like that affect as so much. But definitely, lesson learned.
Hi Peh,
Hinde ako maka angal mashado groggy sa meds lol pero feel na feel ang pain.
Ok na ko and the baby. Thanks for asking!
I can feel your pain through this post but I’m sure it doesn’t even measure up to the real pain you felt while you were experiencing this. I’ve never tried going to The Medical City for anything, mostly because it’s far from us. But they really should do something about this. You’re right, even if you only got the ward package, that’s still 110K! Hello!
OMG. I wanted to cry while reading your posts as I can imagine the horror you went though! We’ve never tried going to The Medical City but it seems like we’ll never try that hospital.. I hope you’re doing okay now. Hugs to you mommy!
Hi Peach,
Luzy and I are doing great 😀 Thanks for the hugs
I’m sorry to hear about this. I can just imagine the frustration and disappointment you felt. I wish you confronted the staff about this. Sometimes, we need to open our mouth and let these kind of people offering their crappy services a piece of our mind. I feel so bad for you. I am a mother too. I know how it feels after giving birth, and the last thing you need is this kind of reception. Huh, hearing/reading very bad experiences like this makes me think that the Philippines is really doomed. Please don’t get me wrong. I love my country, but there’s just so many crappy things going on. I had a very comfortable birthing experience. Inspite of the communication barrier here (even Thai doctors and nurses are not really good in English yet at least in this part of Thailand)doctors and nurses who attended us were very courteous, helpful, and patient. We didn’t pay a cent, thanks to the insurance I have from Thai government. This is also one thing I don’t like about Philippine insurance, they would only cover certain amount, gosh what kind of insurance is that.
nabu-bwiset na ko sa failed IV attempts kasi manipis ang veins ko at mahirap din ako lagyan ng IV. Pero more than that, bwiset na bwiset ako sa ginawa sa anak mo. Cracked lips, no output for almost 24hrs? Very basic sign ng dehydration na lahat dapat ng nurse at doctor eh alam! Kainis! Happy that you and the baby are both fine. I love tmc sm manila pa naman kasi ang babait ng mga nurses. Kaso yung pedia nga nila di magaling. At hindi bf advocate.
Hi Aubrey,
Ang nakakapag taka lang talaga…sa tapang ko..hinde ako makareact everytime those nurses and resident pedia turned us down. Naaasar din ako isipin na pinipigilan ko yung husband ko mang away. hehehe
oh my! i used to go to this hospital whenever my gastritis bothers me, but then again, that’s a different thing. i am so sad because you had such horrible experience. i hope they get to read this and do a lot of improvements in their service. im glad you and your baby are ok!
Thank you for sharing your experience. I am in search of a hospital where to give birth because i also need to be ligated. The last time i gave birth, year 2013, i gave birth in Cardinal Santos. It was far different from your experience in TMC. My husband was allowed in the operating room. They have the most caring and approachable nurses. I think they are trained for a good customer service. They even have a free lactation massage. It was really a pampering experience for a very affordable hospital package of almost 40k, PF not included. However, since this is my 4th pregnancy, i want a ligation. But they don’t do ligation.
I felt bad as i was reading your post. I imagined myself in your situation. I don’t think i can handle it the same way you and your husband did. You are such a kind and patient person. You will be blessed! Thanks again for sharing.
Hi Yza,
Thank you for your comment!
I still get teary eyed when I go back to those days in TMC.
I hope you find a good hospital and a team of medical practitioners to take care of you and your baby.
Be well always!