Montrose Memorial Hospital Hospital failed to notify Doctors and Patients of unsanitary colonoscopy equipment Montrose Colorado

I am a former employee of Montrose Memorial Hospital.

I feel an obligation to let people know of YET ANOTHER problem with this hospital. (There were a slew of letters to the Editor (of The Montrose Daily Press) recently complaining about many, many things at this hospital. Check some out before you people attack another whistle blower.)

While I won't go into details of how many ways they have made people sick (employees, patients, etc.), I will relate one problem.

They have cleaning equipment which cleans the instruments which are used for colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy examinations.

For whatever reason, after the water filter was changed on [at least] one of the cleansing machines, the water was not turned back on.

As a result, the equipment was only cleaned with harsh chemicals, and never got a proper rinsing between examinations.

Yet the equipment was used on patients.

They never contacted any patients regarding this in follow ups, and my surgeon, who used to do those tests at the hospital stated to me that they never informed him, either. (It is so bad at this hospital, that the local surgeons actually got together and built their own surgical center!)

How many patients got ill, or worse, from this, we'll never know.

After working there for about two years, and getting fed up with all of the bad decisions affecting the health of my neighbors, I started to document the problems at the hospital.

If anybody or their loved ones have become sick due to ANY malfeasance at this hospital, they should reply to this posting. Documentation that will never be forthcoming from the hospital is available.

I have about two years worth of documentation that I would be happy to share with their lawyer(s). Please note that I will need about one or two weeks notice to retrieve the documentation, as it is safely locked away in storage in Arizona. However I am available for personal communication. Post your request here.

This includes taped recordings of out-right lies, as well as the Human Resources Director and Assistant Director treating this blatant lie by a Department Manager as if it was standard procedure at the hospital. Unfortunately, it IS, as the tape recording shows.

There are also COURT RECORDS (in Grand Junction, CO.) of this same HR Director and Department Manager getting caught lying - in court - about another employee. Yes, dishonesty is company policy at this hospital, and it is well documented.

When I moved to this town, I heard dozens of horrific stories about the hospital. I refused to believe them, attributing them to rumors, etc.

After having worked there, I now believe the bulk of them to be true. Especially after conversation after conversation with locals, about their relatives who have gotten sick or even died because of this hospital. As well as having witnessed (and documenting) so many bad decisions, wasted tax dollars, outright lies, HIPAA violations, and otherwise avoidable illnesses.

At best, the administration at this hospital is incompetent, at worst, criminal.

During a recent multi-million dollar addition, AFTER the out-of-state contractors were paid off, the maintenance personnel ended up spending many of their hours doing the work that was supposed to have been done by the contractors. (And NOT doing THEIR jobs, like turning water back on.)

So either the administration didn't do their job and do proper inspections to make sure the work they were paying for was done and done right, or they received kickbacks for the over payments. (I remain open to any reasonable argument for a third possibility, yet no one has yet to offer one up.)

And this is not just my opinion. A JCAHO inspection documented much of this non-performance, and there were work orders entered for hospital employees to do the work that was not done. (JCAHO is the federal agency responsible for hospital inspections.)

In my opinion, the State and Federal Government should do a full audit of this hospital, and interview some of the dozens if not hundreds of locals, employees, patients, and survivors. Review the financial records and contracts. Find out why millions of dollars were paid out when the work wasn't completed as contracted.

And, judging by the unbelievable incompetence of many of the Department Directors, they should review their resumes for lies. When you've got so many high-level personnel who are supposedly in possession of advanced degrees, who can't even spell, or don't know the particulars of their supposed specialty, something is wrong. Very, very wrong.

For one example, their Purchase Orders don't even include a field for "extended cost." How can you fill out a P.O. for X number of items, at Y unit price, and not have a place to put the total cost for those items? This is so very basic, so very fundamental to a Purchase Order, that you have to wonder how much a Purchasing Department Director, who uses these forms for years, can really know about his/her business.

And how can the person passing themselves off as the Chief Financial Officer approve Purchase Orders without this field? Unless they have no experience as a financial professional. Can anyone think of ONE purchase document - P.O., Invoice, Statement, Receipt - ANYTHING - that does not have the extended price on it?

Further evidence of incompetence is that the word "materials" isn't even spelled correctly on the form! It's like someone had their 10 year old design it. Certainly not professionals with a background deserving of the position.

And while it may be excusable for the unbelievable poor spelling from these supposed professionals (again, well documented), there is little excuse for their inability to maneuver a mouse pointer over a spell-checker button, and click on it. How unprofessional can they get our health care?

Don't get me wrong. There are good departments and many, many good employees at this hospital, all trying to do a good job. But unfortunately their good work is undermined by bad management.

And the turnover rate is unbelievable, and Human Resources pretends there is no problem. Again, don't take my word for it. The neighboring town of Delta, Colorado's hospital is loaded with former employees of Montrose Hospital, but not the other way around. And they are VERY happy to be out of Montrose. Unfortunately, that option is not available for all of the patients.

Now I'll wait for the postings by everyone attacking me instead of addressing the problems at hand. Assailing the whistle blower seems to be the M.O. in our country lately. (And seems apparent in this web site, by what I've seen.) Mind you, Paul Revere was a whistle blower.

Just keep in mind that there is already MUCH documentation regarding Montrose Memorial Hospital. This includes Letters to the Editor of the local newspaper, Court Documents, [knowingly] taped conversations, Government Inspections, and in-hospital complaints.

The Whistler
Montrose, Colorado
U.S.A.

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