[wp169]

Most of the reviews of DH I read are terrible, some are even calling for a shutdown of the facility. A few years back DH was rated even better than Greenwich Hospital.
I was thinking of getting a summer rental in Danbury, thinking it would be perfect to be near Candlewood Lake and have a good hospital close by, now I am changing my mind and will probably stay elsewhere.

What happened to Danbury Hospital?

[brownedbits]

With all due respect, most user reviews of hospitals are awful and can't be trusted. If someone has a good medical care experience, they generally don't go online to sing it from the rooftops, only the disgruntled people do.

[Catheetiem]

I had no idea it had this reputation? I've always heard pretty good things about it.

I was in the ER there for appendicitis two years ago. I went in at 11 PM on a Friday with abdominal pain, I wasn't referred by a doctor or anything. I didn't know what was wrong with me, I certainly didn't expect to have appendicitis, I just had a lot of pain and it felt really strange. I was seen very quickly. They did a couple tests, determined my white blood cell count was high, and got me ready for a cat scan. I had to wait a couple hours for the drink to go through me, and a little while for them to read the scans. Mine was a little complicated and I did initially have a surgical resident saying they would be moving me to gastroenterology because they couldn't see the problem, but like 10-15 minutes later I had the surgeon in the room telling me I had appendicitis. The problem was that my appendix was in the wrong place, and hiding on all the images but the very last one. The catscan guy caught it, as did the surgeon. I don't know if he was just on his way into work or if they called him in, but when he came into my room he was still in a suit with his briefcase. Once they had that figured out they explained to me my options, and I chose to have it removed. I was wheeled down to the operating room like 10 minutes later and was prepped for surgery. I woke up like an hour later, recovered for another hour or so, they made sure I could pee, and I was out of there.

Everything went very smoothly, and honestly everyone was so, so, so nice. The nurses were so fantastic. I was a nervous mess, I had never had anything like this happen to me, I had never had surgery, it was the middle of the night and I was confused and scared. They went out of their way to make my boyfriend comfortable while he sat with me in the ER. I don't really blame the resident for initially missing the problem, it's apparently something like less than 1% of people that have their appendix in the middle rather than on the right.

I healed well and have had no complications. The entire thing went about as well as it could have gone. I was probably better off going to the ER than a doctor, because a doctor might have done the press on the belly thing, and it might have pushed them away from appendicitis (because it was in the wrong place, pushing on the typical appendicitis areas didn't hurt me that much). It was because of the imaging that they caught it.

I was in and out in about 14 hours. Again, I cannot praise the nurses highly enough, each and every one was fantastic. Everyone involved had fantastic attitudes, were comforting and inspired confidence, and I never felt that I was not listened to.

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by brownedbits

With all due respect, most user reviews of hospitals are awful and can't be trusted. If someone has a good medical care experience, they generally don't go online to sing it from the rooftops, only the disgruntled people do.

Right, online reviews have now been delegated to the "Useless" category. You don't know who's affiliated or who has sour grapes.

[kidyankee764]

This has to be the first time I’ve ever heard of someone potentially passing on a summer rental home because of nearby hospital reviews.

We have never had any negative experiences at Danbury Hospital and even if we did, there are also many departments and employees working there that our hypothetical negative experience would be isolated. We had a very negative experience at a local CT hospital due to malpractice that caused a life altering condition in our family, and we still find that hospital’s care to be solid. That specific doctor, not so much.

I, too, would caution online hospital reviews. People are much more likely to post negative reviews than positive ones.

[wp169]

Originally Posted by Catheetiem

I had no idea it had this reputation? I've always heard pretty good things about it.

I was in the ER there for appendicitis two years ago. I went in at 11 PM on a Friday with abdominal pain, I wasn't referred by a doctor or anything. I didn't know what was wrong with me, I certainly didn't expect to have appendicitis, I just had a lot of pain and it felt really strange. I was seen very quickly. They did a couple tests, determined my white blood cell count was high, and got me ready for a cat scan. I had to wait a couple hours for the drink to go through me, and a little while for them to read the scans. Mine was a little complicated and I did initially have a surgical resident saying they would be moving me to gastroenterology because they couldn't see the problem, but like 10-15 minutes later I had the surgeon in the room telling me I had appendicitis. The problem was that my appendix was in the wrong place, and hiding on all the images but the very last one. The catscan guy caught it, as did the surgeon. I don't know if he was just on his way into work or if they called him in, but when he came into my room he was still in a suit with his briefcase. Once they had that figured out they explained to me my options, and I chose to have it removed. I was wheeled down to the operating room like 10 minutes later and was prepped for surgery. I woke up like an hour later, recovered for another hour or so, they made sure I could pee, and I was out of there.

Everything went very smoothly, and honestly everyone was so, so, so nice. The nurses were so fantastic. I was a nervous mess, I had never had anything like this happen to me, I had never had surgery, it was the middle of the night and I was confused and scared. They went out of their way to make my boyfriend comfortable while he sat with me in the ER. I don't really blame the resident for initially missing the problem, it's apparently something like less than 1% of people that have their appendix in the middle rather than on the right.

I healed well and have had no complications. The entire thing went about as well as it could have gone. I was probably better off going to the ER than a doctor, because a doctor might have done the press on the belly thing, and it might have pushed them away from appendicitis (because it was in the wrong place, pushing on the typical appendicitis areas didn't hurt me that much). It was because of the imaging that they caught it.

I was in and out in about 14 hours. Again, I cannot praise the nurses highly enough, each and every one was fantastic. Everyone involved had fantastic attitudes, were comforting and inspired confidence, and I never felt that I was not listened to.

I'm so glad your surgery turned out so well! When I was a teenager I had an ovarian cyst removed and my smart doctor took out my appendix also because he was operating on the same side, so I never had to worry about an appendicitis attack all these years.

Anyway, all the bad reviews can't be passed off to disgruntled patients when they are leaving their full names on the reviews and the hospital is apologizing about their bad experience and asking them to call to discuss it. Let's just leave it at that, thanks for all replies.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by brownedbits

With all due respect, most user reviews of hospitals are awful and can't be trusted. If someone has a good medical care experience, they generally don't go online to sing it from the rooftops, only the disgruntled people do.

I agree. Danbury Hospital is a small regional hospital that does a better than average job serving its region. It’s not Yale but it never was and never will be. It’s rankings in US News & World Report rankings certainly don’t show anything of concern. It ranks high in five procedures/conditions, just like Greenwich and better than Norwalk or Stamford. I certainly wouldn’t reconsider using it because of a few bad reviews written on some website by who knows who. That just seems silly. Jay

https://health.usnews.com/best-hospi...spital-6160100

[Catheetiem]

Originally Posted by wp169

I'm so glad your surgery turned out so well! When I was a teenager I had an ovarian cyst removed and my smart doctor took out my appendix also because he was operating on the same side, so I never had to worry about an appendicitis attack all these years.

Anyway, all the bad reviews can't be passed off to disgruntled patients when they are leaving their full names on the reviews and the hospital is apologizing about their bad experience and asking them to call to discuss it. Let's just leave it at that, thanks for all replies.

Thanks! Wow, I've never heard of that being done before! Ive always been scared of appendicitis, since I read Madeline when I was a kid haha. I thought I was pretty much in the clear in my 20s, but the doctor at the hospital said they're seeing it happen later and later in early adulthood. Anyone coming into the ER under 30 with abdominal pain is under suspicion of appendicitis.

Just for contrast, while having your appendix in the middle of your body is very rare, it just so happens a friend of mine had it in the middle too. She got appendicitis in Colombia, and was at an ER there. The doctor refused to believe she wasn't pregnant until her appendix burst and the pain worsened expontenially. This was in a major city with normal medical care.

Danbury hospital is my local hospital and I have absolutely no concerns about it, I will go there again with zero hesitations. Honestly, I would avoid renting at the lake because the lake is a crowded **** show, not because of concerns about the local hospital.

[RoundTableKnight]

Maybe those reviewers are employees of other hospitals and are trying to make Danbury Hospital look bad because they're jealous of its reputation.

[brownedbits]

Originally Posted by wp169

Anyway, all the bad reviews can't be passed off to disgruntled patients when they are leaving their full names on the reviews and the hospital is apologizing about their bad experience and asking them to call to discuss it. Let's just leave it at that, thanks for all replies.

The hospital responding to peoples concerns makes you think ill of them? That is an interesting take. I would interpret that action as their customer service dept. trying to do better by their patients who are clearly upset about something. Look up reviews for any hospital in the area of equivalent size...none are 5 stars and that is because no one posts reviews of positive hospital experiences online. You are doing the equivalent of trying to find positive reviews for the DMV online. That's on you if you want to pass on a home because of keyboard warriors leaving online reviews for a local hospital, however just know most internet savvy people would not take the same approach.