Dr. Khalid Khan-
I made the mistake of taking my son to Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg, VA Thursday February 10, at 3:30AM. The nurses I delt with were extremely rude, did not listen, and did not act like they cared about my son at all. My son is only 10 months old and when they attempted to draw blood from him he began to cry a little, but still tried to be patient with them. They tied the tourniquet to his arm and did not attempt to find a vein until several minutes had passed. Once my son's arm began to turn purple they decided it was time to find a vein. Although they could not find a vein they stuck the needle in the crease of his arm and began to use it to dig around in hopes of finding a vein. As my son wrigled in pain one nurse cranked his wrist to hold his arm still. His father and I became very upset with the way they were handling the situation and their evident inexperience. We told them they needed to stop and give him a break but they refused to do so. They continued to try and try as me and my son's father begged them to stop. My son now has a bruise on his arm and spots from where too much blood pressure had built up and made little "hickeys" all over his arm. I would also like to add that I did not witness the nurse taking the blood wash her hand, but she was wearing gloves. She claimed she couldn't find a vein with the gloves on so she tore the finger tip of the glove off and began to try again. I was also not explained why they needed to draw blood. The doctor assured me that the only tests they had to do were two swabs of the nose. After about 3 hours of waiting for test results we decided to leave the hospital and take my son elsewhere. One of the nurses at the hospital called my cell phone and left a very nasty message. In this message she declared that I better bring my son back for reevaluation and went on to say "...how dare you not allow us to draw blood.." They then proceeded to call social services on me and I recieved a visit from a worked around 10am the same morning. My son's real doctor told me she could tell by looking at his arm the needle used was too big, the tourniquet was left on too long and too tight, and that there was no reason for the hospital to take blood or even attempt to. She also ran the same tests and the results only took 10 minutes. I would like to add that they came back negative and he is now fine. I would also like to add how enraged I am at the hospital as a whole and that my son could not bend or move his arm for a few afters. I am dissapointed that a hospital would be so rude, careless, and most of all hurtful. Now I have a note of "Medical Neglect" on my record and cannot get any county job or school job, even as a janitor. The fact that the hospital was being truly neglective only enrages me further. As far as I can see the hospital is guilty of "Medical Neglect" and should truly be shut down until some real doctors and nurses can fill the building. I am thinking about sueing the hospital for hurting my son and practically ruining my life with their ignorance. How would you feel if they had been handling your child this way? How would you feel if you couldn't get a decent job because someone called social services on you basically out of anger, not concern. The social worker even said she could see how much my son loves me and what good care I take of him. Southside Regional Medical Center is a true disgrace and dissappointment. I can assure you I will never return to this hospital and will be sure to tell everyone I know and meet to not enter this facility unless they wish to die. The last thing I would like to add is I know for a fact I am not the only person who has had a bad experience because when I went a time before that a woman showed up and her young son had a broken arm. She sat there for over 2 hours before they even took her to the triage room.

Disgusted,
Cathryn Keifer