MercyOne West Des Moines Medical Center

After 20 hours in the ER, a nurse entered my room and said, "We don't know why you are here." It had taken 8 hours for me to see a doctor in the ER. Fortunately, the nurses had done a great job prior to seeing the doctor and helped alleviate some of the pain. This doctor had 17 patients, and I was her last one. It was now 4 a.m. and she was going home. She told me the game plan and left; but unfortunately, she did not leave the details in my health record. Therefore, after another 12 hours no one knew why I was still there. All afternoon, I had been wondering when someone was going to perform the procedure the doctor told me would be occur after noon. Another doctor arrived 30 minutes after the nurse asked the question and arranged for an 8 a.m. procedure the next morning. Sooooo thankful this nurse asked, ,"Why are you here?"

I went to the ER for a kidney stone. I received a CT scan shortly after being taken to a room. I was told results would take about 45 minutes to an hour. The Dr did not come see me or issue orders until I was there for 3 hours and it was time to send me home. I didn't receive any treatment while I was there for almost 3 hours other than the CT scan. At discharge I was given some meds to "get me through the night" until my pharmacy opens in the morning. The next day my pharmacy had not received any prescriptions because they were never sent. I called the ER and was told that I was given medicine to take home instead of prescriptions, contrary to what the Dr had explained to me. My nurses were nice and they were sympathetic to my condition. This used to be a good hospital, but the entire Mercy system has become a shell of what they used to be. Between this location and the downtown hospital all experiences with Mercy have been mediocre at best.

My husband was admitted 11/6/25 after a total knee. The care was nothing less than APPALLING. First off they placed him right next to an isolation room after surgery, there were two other isolation rooms by him. The RN was horrible and frankly mentally unstable. She came into the room did not wash her hands and did not say one word to my husband. When transfering my husband to the bed the RN was the only one on his operative knee, she did not support his knee at all and drug it across. She then again without saying anything to my husband rolled him roughly to one side, the other staff told him it was for a skin check. After rolling him roughly to the other side she left him with his genitals exposed and uncovered and sat at the computer. I had to pull his gown down and cover him up. After 16 minutes I whispered to my husband I did not feel safe leaving him due to the nurse which he also did not feel safe. I finally addressed the nurse and stated she had not introduced herself and I did not feel comfortable with her cares. She literally spun around and yelled "I'm overwhelmed, I have to much to do and am overwhelmed. I'm doing the best I can." She kept repeating this which I finally told her to stop yelling at us to leave the room and get the charge nurse. She then stated she was calling security and I would have to leave. I left the room to find the charge nurse when this RN started yelling at my husband who was 2 hours out of surgery. I could hear her four rooms down. She was yelling at him how overwhelmed she was, how he would respect her boundaries and she was not going to tolerate him. When I found the charge nurse we walked in on this and the charge nurse kept asking her to stop yelling. At that time the security guard walked in sis not introduce himself and walked up to me and stated if I did not stop he would escort me out..mind you it was the emotionally disregulated nurse who was still yelling. The obese security guard kept threatening me until the charge nurse told him to stop and leave the room. During this time my husband was in pain, nauseated and felt threatened by the nurse. What was so frightening was they allowed this nurse to take care of other patients, they did change nurses for my husband. We have asked for follow up on this situation. The unit manager and supervisor did come and speak with us but only protected the nurse. We have asked to speak to administration and have yet to hear from them. I have turned the nurse into the Iowa Board of Nursing, the hospital to Iowa Inspection and Appeals, Medicare, and Jojnt Commission. Hopefully this will be investigated and something will be done about how this is tolerated. I'm sure the only response we will get from this dangerous hospital is the can response they will give in response to this review. In addition the room eas DISGUSTING. The chair was filthy, the couch so worn, and the drawers literally falling apart. The bed was barleyI able to sit up. f you love your family member or want good care run from this hospital.

Took my mom to the hospital thinking she was gonna be better there but she wasn't. The nurse that was in charge of her care in the er didn't care i called because she needed to go to the bathroom they never went she was soaked and nobody ever went to change her sheets 2 hours later she finally showed up to change her. i can take care of her at home better than the nurses that mercy has at the er. It used to be a good hospital not anymore, i don't recommend it at all.

Very few people in waiting room, but it took forever to be taken back to a room when I could barely keep upright due to kidney infection. My friend asked if I could be put in a room with a bed to keep waiting, and was told that I could not be taken back to a bed because I might fall. I was in such pain I was trying to maintain my composure in a wheelchair, but I might fall?? It was a liability for them according to the front desk person. What?! When I was taken back to a room, I waited for another 2 hours to get some care established such as a shot, Tylenol, and see you later. Unpleasant experience and way too long of wait for amount of people seeking care that afternoon. Mercy you can do better!