Methodist vs St. Luke's - Both in Medical Center

AmyFTM · July 2011

Hi all! FTM here due in December and I just joined this board

My OB delivers at both Methodist Hospital and St. Luke's both in the Medical Center. If you've delivered at either I'd appreciate some feedback on your experience and why you would or wouldn't recommend delivering there.Things I'm looking for:

1. Guaranteed private room
2. Baby in-room with mother
3. Comfortable room for DH to stay with
4. Competent nurses
5. Support for drug-free delivery
6. No shady billing - I have BCBS PPO

I plan to tour both hospitals to finalize my decision, but I was told that Methodist is the newer facility of the two and that it has the better reputation. Any merit to this?

TIA!

PAGAS · July 2011

I delivered at Methodist.

1. You are guaranteed a private room

2. My baby never left my room, she roomed in the whole time

3. There was an odd fold out couch area for DH, it wasn't fantastic, but it worked (we were only there for 24 hours)

4. I loved all the nurses, which I know seems crazy, but I really did

5. I didn't have an epidural, but I did have Nubain. I wasn't pressured one way or the other.

6. The whole thing cost $50 co-pay with my plan, which I paid in advance. There was no billing afterwards that I had to pay.

Good luck with your decision!

Red_Dahlia · July 2011

I think they both have good reputations. I delivered at Methodist and was very pleased with my experience.

1. Guaranteed private room - Yes.
2. Baby in-room with mother - Yes
3. Comfortable room for DH to stay with - ditto pagas - it was a pull out couch thing. It wasn't as comfortable as being at home in our own bed, but it was just fine for a few nights.
4. Competent nurses - Yes
5. Support for drug-free delivery - Yes. I was never pressured either way.

6. No shady billing - It wasn't shady, but it wasn't as simple as PAGAS's experience. I have good insurance (UHC PPO), and still had quite a few bills. (My OB, My hospital stay, the anesthesiologist, DD's hospital stay, radiology (DD had to have an ultrasound), and the Pedi that saw DD - these were all billed separately.)

maiyamoore · July 2011

My aunt delivered at Methodist and had nothing but great things to say about it, however she did say that St. Luke's was good too but if you have a choice (I don't) I've heard more about Methodist. My insurance plan covers Methodist with more percentage paid by them.

kat.in.the.hat · July 2011

I've delivered both my girls at Methodist and had a great experience each time. The only time we were separated was during my c/s recovery, and that was only with my second. They had the staff available during my first c/s so that she and I were together the whole time. I had to go to a post-op wing for an hour after my second because the nursing staff wasn't available to be with me. (They require you to be observed for an hour and they didn't have a nurse available to just sit in my room and watch me.)

Both girls were taken to the nursery a few times for weight checks and such, but never for longer than 15 minutes.

melissa0312 · July 2011

1. Guaranteed private room yes
2. Baby in-room with mother yes (dd was in the nicu at tch so i didn't get to do this)
3. Comfortable room for DH to stay with not great, but ok
4. Competent nurses i was in L&D for 3 days and they were awesome, especially the one who was there for delivery
5. Support for drug-free delivery they didn't push, but when i asked it was readily available
6. No shady billing - I have BCBS PPO didn't really have the problem with st lukes. tch on the other hand had a bill for everyone who came in contact with dd...

KelleyA · July 2011

1. Guaranteed private room - had both babies at Methodist (always a private room), St. Luke's has two shared postpartum rooms

2. Baby in-room with mother - both allow it, St. Luke's is actually more friendly on this and your baby stays with you if you have a c-section. Methodist the baby goes to the nursery while you're observed (up to 3 hours). This worried me a lot, but I had two vaginal deliveries and the babies barely left the room (DD#1 left 2 times for 15 minutes and DD#2 left one time for maybe 10 minutes).

3. Comfortable room for DH to stay with - Methodist won the spacious room award and is one of the main reasons we went with it. We got a nice big room the first time and due to being at max capacity and not having anything available we got one of the suites the second time (woo hoo).

4. Competent nurses - the first time I thought my nursing care was good (had nothing to go on), the second time it was outstanding...amazing even.

5. Support for drug-free delivery - my labor nurse encouraged the epi because I was wavering. If there's a next time I will skip it since it didn't work anyways.

6. No shady billing - I only had to pay my co-pay and I paid it about a month after the baby arrived. Simple and easy.

Quizzle · July 2011

melissa0312:

1. Guaranteed private room yes
2. Baby in-room with mother yes (dd was in the nicu at tch so i didn't get to do this)
3. Comfortable room for DH to stay with not great, but ok
4. Competent nurses i was in L&D for 3 days and they were awesome, especially the one who was there for delivery
5. Support for drug-free delivery they didn't push, but when i asked it was readily available
6. No shady billing - I have BCBS PPO didn't really have the problem with st lukes. tch on the other hand had a bill for everyone who came in contact with dd...

Pretty much this, except I had a scheduled c-section at St Lukes. It went great, and the care I got was awesome.

I wasn;'t a fan of the NICU experience at TCH, and yeah, a bill for everything. It was crazy. St Lukes was pretty straight-forward.

kat.in.the.hat · July 2011

perhaps just as anecdotal tale, but I was having a scheduled c/s with my second and was leaning towards St Lukes since on paper they most definitely do have better c/s recovery policies in terms of keeping baby and mom together. However, after several of the experiences other nesties had with St Lukes and the NICU, I asked my doctor (who delivers at both) why it seemed more babies delivered at St Lukes (especially via c/s) tend to go to the NICU. He couldn't give me straight out factual answer for it, except to say the nurses there err very much on the side of caution and that a higher percentage of their patients that deliver at St Lukes end up with babies in the NICU when compared against the NICU admittance rates of patients that deliver at Methodist.

duchessII81 · July 2011

kat.in.the.hat:
perhaps just as anecdotal tale, but I was having a scheduled c/s with my second and was leaning towards St Lukes since on paper they most definitely do have better c/s recovery policies in terms of keeping baby and mom together. However, after several of the experiences other nesties had with St Lukes and the NICU, I asked my doctor (who delivers at both) why it seemed more babies delivered at St Lukes (especially via c/s) tend to go to the NICU. He couldn't give me straight out factual answer for it, except to say the nurses there err very much on the side of caution and that a higher percentage of their patients that deliver at St Lukes end up with babies in the NICU when compared against the NICU admittance rates of patients that deliver at Methodist.

He was being very PC Stick out tongue

I think the most telling thing when we met with staff about our train-wreck experience was what our first PP nurse (the one that caused all hell to break loose) said: that she thought she was doing the right thing by doing what she was trained to do: to find a problem.

Even when one didn't exist.

As for billing, it took 17 months to straighten everything out between StL and TCH to recoup almost 5K. Pretty much par for the course on our experience there.

jenna1008 · July 2011

I had my first at St. Luke's and liked it but for the anesthesiologist. I had planned to have my second there, but I found out Sunday that they charge an extra $97 per night up front for a guaranteed private room. Since I have to have a c/s, that means it will cost me at least an extra $300. Call me cheap, but after all of the other bills I will have to pay to deliver this kiddo, I'll opt to save my $300 and go to Methodist which doesn't charge a premium on a private room.

Oh, the other big issue I had with St. Lukes was that I expressly declined IN WRITING the Hep B vaccine, but by the time they brought me the paperwork to decline they had already given it to my son. They never pointed this out, and I didn't find out until my son had already had another three rounds of the vaccine as a new pedi ordered his hospital records and alerted me to this. Furthermore, although it is medically advised not to give that vaccine until the child is at least 24 hours old, they gave it to him (without consent) within two hours of birth. Even though there weren't any negative effects, I think that is unprofessional and disappointing.

Krissi0931 · July 2011

I delivered at Methodist

1. Guaranteed private room

2. Baby in-room with mother (my son never left but for bath time)

3. My husband didnt like the couch its seemed too small.

4. Competent nurses they are so helpful and nice

5. I had 100% support for a drug-free delivery until my emergency c-section

6. I had medicaid so everything was billed to them.

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Methodist vs St. Luke's - Both in Medical Center

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