Franciscan St Francis Health - Carmel

Avoid the Carmel Franciscan Center for Hip and Knee Surgery if you have any health related issues that may require emergency care. Dr. Pierson may be an excellent ortho surgeon; however, the hospital is not capable of dealing with an emergency situation. They did not even have a plan in place.

Within a few hours of my hip replacement surgery I began to experience severe chest pain. I told the staff I was having a heart attack. All the symptoms were the same as with my previous heart attacks. They followed their protocol and ran the necessary tests. Because their tests did not indicate it was a heart attack they disregarded what I was telling them and would not call it an emergency situation.

At this point my family insisted that I be transferred to St. Vincent's Heart Hospital. We were told they could not call for emergency transport since it was not considered an emergency situation. They arranged for transport with a service located 60 miles away. Seven hours elapsed between the time I first made them aware of the heart attack and I was finally moved out of their facility at 11 p.m. The staff was still in denial.

Once at St. Vincent's hospital it was determined that I did have a heart attack. An angioplasty was performed to break up the clots and it was necessary to remain in the hospital for five days.

By the grace of God and the skilled care of the cardiologist at St. Vincent's Hospital I am still here to report this incident.

A fantastic experience for my dad with a knee replacement. Small hospital provides a controlled environment and every single person we encountered was competent and caring.