Lovelace Medical Center

tl;dr: I [early 30's dark-skinned Afro-American male)] had a poorly done bone marrow biopsy on 9/25/25 (Thursday), regret it, and might have to do it again. Post-operation: On Day 1, I mostly stayed in bed and endured the nausea that eventually changed to pain in the evening. On Day 2, it changed to a strong pain on most of my left side when walking. Day 3 was better and I was able to easily walk, but I don't recall that day's discomfort/pain. It's now 10/19th and, on top of the bump I feel there, bending in certain ways still causes me notable pain in the general poke area aswell as 1/3rd of my left side. Details: I arrived at 9:45am for the 10am appointment with my respirator on, went through registration, and then the waiting room. After being called, I spoke with the lady who eventually gave me the open-back hospital gown and told me to leave the back wide open without tying anything because it'd just get tangled or something. At 10:45am, I met the male nurse (dark-skinned BIPOC, salt & pepper beard, slight accent) whose name I was never sure of. The name he gave was a bit unclear and it didn't sound like the not-quite-legible name I saw on the papers I read through and signed. But based on the Provider list's photos, he was either Dr. Michael Adjei-Poku or Dr. Michael Bestawros. Here's where it gets weird. At some point after informing me that I'll be waiting for an on-going operation to finish, he 1) informed me that I'll either fall asleep during or just won't remember anything, 2) proceeded to say "hopefully you won't remember anything," and 3) leaned in with an odd expression and said "Don't worry, we'll take good care of you." There was nothing comforting about #2 and the way he said #3 felt like a really bad sign. I was reminded of my denied desire to meet the person doing the operation weeks beforehand and my anxiety about something 'going wrong' during operation. From ~11:00am until ~12:02pm, I waited with my phone in-hand until two nurses (female, light-skinned) arrived to stroll me to the room. The one pushing said what I recall as "I'm Jessica, and *pointing at the one pulling* this is Jessica." I didn't comment on it, but it did strike me as odd and I later learned neither of them had that name. (Small chance it was "Kelly" both times and not "Jessica", btw.) In the operation room, they instructed me to lay face-down on the operation table (or whatever it's called) before eventually putting my phone out of reach and pulling the table inside the large scanner. I was awake when they pre-cleaned the 'poke' area a few times, but all of a sudden I was being woken up by a different lady (light-skinned) in a post-sedative room. Hearing her use two separate names when referring to the aforementioned female nurses was my confirmation, but nothing negative happened after that. She was great and the only real comfort I had the entire time I was at the hospital that day. The medical transportation I hired arrived at 3:02pm and I learned days later that 1) the biopsy's results were inconclusive and 2) it wasn't even done correctly. Which brings me to the point. I feared something would go wrong for racial reasons and here we are. None of the three who had access to my fully sedated body were trustworthy and I'm left to wonder what exactly happened in that room. So much so that I seriously want to know if there's video & audio recording of it, if patients get access to it, and if they'll get a proper investigation. I have no reason to believe they can be trusted with the power they have over patients nor that they haven't taken advantage of people in some way. For the record, my body type is worthy enough of note and my buttocks is not small. Fun Fact: The large bandage they stuck tightly over the wound was so difficult to remove that I had to press a hot wet towel against it until it cooled off on two different occasions. Since it was highly recommended to do so, I hired a home healthcare company to checkup on me by phone call every 2-3 hours (minus bedtime) for the first 24hrs. It was not cheap.

Less stars would be more appropriate. My mom was sent there by the 24 hour nurse line. She needed to have a catheter replaced or new one depending on what was found by Dr. We arrived & checked in by 6:30 (right before shift change) so there was a bit of a wait. No problem. They put her in a room, drew blood, took vitals etc. The nursing staff was great. When it was time to take her to IR, the tech came & got her, never introducing herself. I asked where she was going & expressed that I would like to go with her. She replied, well there isn't much of a waiting room but whatever. So, I went with her anyway. On the way down, she was bumping her bed into walls, chairs etc. So, I grabbed into the bed after we got off the elevator & tried to help. She snapped "I've got this". I said you have bumped her into every possible surface that was available. I was just trying to help. She left us downstairs & the nurse came out to prepare her for what all the possible risks. The wheeled her back & I met her back in her room after she was done. She informed me that they couldn't use the existing access site & had to create a new one. She was awake the whole time & informed me that the Dr's that were doing the procedure were bad mouthing UNM Dr's & they didn't like the way UNM put the original catheter in, stating that they don't know how to do their jobs & complained during the entire procedure. Such an inappropriate place to have this conversation. So unprofessional. When we finally got discharged & headed home. We were almost home when I turned to my mom & asked if she spilled something on her jacket. She said no, I looked a little closer & it was blood, a lot of blood. We happened to be close to Lovelace Westside & I took her to the emergency room there. As I'm checking her in, she is soaked from the shoulder to her waste & dripping blood all over the floor. The lady at registration collected her information & I asked if we could get someone right away to triage her because she is dripping blood everywhere. She said Oh she's bleeding? I said, clearly (maybe with a little sarcasm)! She was finally wheeled back to get triaged. The nurse made sure she was comfortable & provided gauze & a towel to sop up the blood. Another nurse came in & helped her get into a gown & cleaned her up again & place towel & gauze all around her. They never took her blood to see where her numbers were at & considering how much blood she lost, that is concerning. The Dr came in the redress her catheter & assess the situation to see if the new access cath was bleeding or the stitched-up area. The Dr asked the nurse for more gauze & towels. They didnt have any, so had to order some from another floor. (this is the ER) Why aren't they prepared for this? They were able to get her somewhat cleaned up again & then patched up. They informed us that there may be a little bleeding but if it soaks through like it did before, to come back to the ER. Shannon came in to discharge us & she was awesome & let us know that we can call her direct & that she would be on ICU unit if we needed her. When we got home, it did in fact start bleeding quite a bit & I was not about to bring her back to Lovelace. I took her to UNM SRMC, problem solved. They assessed the situation & cleaned her up well, took blood to check platelets & hemoglobin (both appropriate for this situation & should have been done at Lovelace Westside). Applied medication & anticoagulant, did some imaging to be sure there was nothing that was missed. Needless to say, I am disgusted at how my moms care was handled at both Lovelace location. I didn't have a choice but to add at least one star. :/

The women at check-in are rude and unprofessional. Asked for assistance getting my grandmother out of the car and one of the ladies said I should have had the ambulance bring her. Asking for assistance has never been an issue in the past and second not everyone can afford that expensive ambulance bill.

If I could give negative stars I would. Completely terrible center and hospital. Went in for a colonoscopy in 2023 and even heard a nurse say tools may be compromised when rolling me back with air being out but they just have sedative. Week later full on fever & could barely walk on my left leg. Fever was over 103 for 3 days. Went to Lovelace women's emergency room. Where nurse took blood work waited on doc 4 hours. He came in threw blood work put said I am overweight and that they probably just dropped me during colonoscopy. Didn't examine never looked at my leg just said take Tylenol for fever and prescribed muscle relaxant. Another 5 days go by can no longer bend my leg it's now black and fever for over a week. Went to my NP at Lovelace who could visibly see I was in pain, fever, PALE, as Lovelace ER sent me to primary care. She said maybe infection and again no blood work no exam of leg just poor care. At day 14 of fever found another private care emergency room. They diagnosed me in 5 min as the colonoscopy led me to having blood infection that settled in my leg and full on cellulitis. Said if I would have waited longer would have been dead. Because the infection went rampant for over 2 weeks they had to treat aggressive and ended up having to have a drain put in my leg to get infection out. This is beyond crap as I almost died from a routine procedure because this medical center is incompetent. Ended up having to relocate to get further care. If I could find legal support at the time would have sued. Terrible center and care. Go somewhere else.

5 stars we were given blankets when we asked for them (ask Check in staff). Check in staff is ok x1 available. After vitals (cocky staff typical Albuquerque woman) you'll be lucky to get the good vibe from the nurse practitioner (Male) he's a rockstar in the waiting area. I guess they are short on staff. Atmosphere is clean and busy. Security man looks crabby or maybe he's just over working like everyone else. Plenty of cameras on any level. TV is on. Masks and tissue are available to your right near check in, bring warm clothes, snacks, food, beverage, charger, neck pillow etc. Other than that it's waiting time 1,2,3,4,5 hours.