St Peter's Hospital in New Brunswick

Hi Has anyone had experience with St Peter's Hospital in New Brunswick?  I checked this site and the posts are pretty dated ( 1 yr or more ago).   My surgeon is Dr. Bertha and I am waiting for approval but I chose St Peters because it is closer to my home instead of Morristown.  I have heard great things about Morristown and was just wondering if the same holds true for St Peters. Thanks.

Which one has designation as a "Bariatric Center of Excellence?" St. Peter's is a good hospital, but I would want to be on a bariatric floor. Do they have one? Bernadette

I can only say I was there for other services with in the past year and the staff was amazing.  The hospital has had some renovations but, it was clean and there was always a nurse available.  Good Luck!! maxine

Hi,     I am an employee at St Peters and can't say enough good things about it, not because I have to but because I want to. I believe that there is a floor dedicated to our bariatric pt's. I work nights so I'm not always up on everything going on. Speak to Dr Bertha....he is very, very pleased with St Peters as is his office staff. I can tell you that when I went to his seminar there, there were several employees there as well...not for info as patients but for info as employees wanting to know everything about the surgery and the people who are seeking it. This was done on their time. I can tell you that I work with an amazing group of people, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. If you have any questions about how the hospital will accomodate the bariatric program your best bet is to call and speak to someone in community relations and I'm sure they can help you. Good luck with your surgery, I'll be there on 8/21. St Peters phone number is 732-745-8600.                                                         Judy

I had my surgery there and also spent a week there about 4 months later and I must say that the nurses are wonderful.  They are very nice and help you with everything (although they do encourage you to do things on your own).  I recently spent some time at Robert Wood Johnson in New Brunswick (bowel obstruction) and I HATE THAT PLACE.  I have written letters to the hospital and even returned their survey  with some nasty comments - including names.  It was horrible.  Next time I have a choice - its either St. Peters or the Robert Wood Johnson here in Hamilton, NJ, where I live.

Dr. Bertha did my surgery at Morristown more then two years ago. I loved him but wrote a terrible evaluatoin about the hospital when I was asked to do so by the outside service that does that for hospitals.  The nurse that took care of me the first night asked how long I had a pacemaker? She argued with me when I told her I didn't have a pacemaker; she insisted the chart said I did so I must have one. Had to show her my chest - no pacemaker. Next day, same nurse, told me that my blood sugar was in normal range - good for someone that is diabetic. Same arguement. I'm not diabetic - yes you are, your chart says so. Same time, another patient who was diabetic, was being ignored as her sugar climbed and climbed because family members could not get them to check her blood sugar. Her sister had to call a patient rep who came to the floor. When the blood sugar was checked it was more then 400. On top of that I dropped something on the floor my first time out of bed. It was still on the floor when I left two days later. If St. Peter's is closer I would listen to all the comments from others who were happy there. The best of luck to you. Wilma

http://www.state.nj.us/health/healthcarequality/documents/ba riatricsurgeryrpt0 The link about is from the State of NJ. It is a report on baratic surgery/hospitals in NJ. Interesting read that came out a month or two ago. Personally, I love St. Peter's overall, I used to work there (neonatal) BUT I did have a post-op stay/experience a few years back that would make me never want to be there as a post-op patient again. I ended up also taking care of my roommate. I also had surgery in their same day CARES Center and that was an excellent experience. I mention a bariatric unit as a positive because my recent stay in one showed me that the volume of bariatric surgeries makes it easier for the nurses to anticipate your needs post-op. St. Barnabas is not anwhere near my home, butI felt a lotbetter bout it after reading the above report and checking out their website to see they have a bariatric floor. If I have an emergency, I will not hesitate to go to RWJ for care.  You can have a bad experience in the "best" hospital, and the best experience in what one may call a "terrible" hospital.  Go with the confidence you have in your surgeon. The rest will fall into place. Good luck, Bernadette

Thanks everyone for your replies.  I feel more comfortable after receiving your comments.  I will also contact the patient relations dept and ask about the services provided to bariatric patients.  I also went to the seminar there in June.  The individual that actually gave the presentation was a nurse there and introduced Dr. Bertha and his associates.   Thanks again. Robin

I am one of Dr Abkins patients who had my surgery at Morristown Memorial BUT last month i spent a week at St Peter's for unrelated surgery and I must say I LOVED THIS HOSPITAL!!! The nurses there are WONDERFUL!!!

All three hospitals mentioned - St. Peter's, Morristown and RWJ in New Brunswick - make me nervous. My husband was in all three of them last year. The only question is which one killed him. RWJ is simply dirty. The place has an overwhelming problem with hospital-acquired infections (the kind you get that can kill you.) It's a teaching hospital (affiliated with UMDNJ), so you'd think it'd be great. In some ways, it is, but it's a flip of the coin with what kind of staff you'll get. Morristown is one frightening place. The hospital hasn't been updated since about 1910 (I'm exaggerating, but only slightly.) My husband picked up a hospital-acquired infection there that they didn't recognize until he went into septic shock. Then they spent all their time trying to blame HIM for being sick. God help you if you wind up in their ICU. It's absolutely frightening. (But they do have a great legal team. They kept a lawyer in my husband's room because they had a sneaking suspicion I was mad that they almost killed him.) Then there's St. Peter's. I never disliked them, even though the sheriff of middlesex county - a very heavy man - had bypass surgery there, had a stroke and almost died. He's still wheelchair bound. My husband got good care at St. Peter's. The problem there is the night and weekend staff. If something goes wrong and it's not during business hours on a weekday, well, you're going to be relying on some of the worst hospital personnel in existance. My husband was in their ICU, doing well, but on a respirator. I had wanted to hire an aide to stay with him overnights so I could get some rest. The dr. said it wasn't necessary, that there is one ICU nurse to every two patients. I insisted; he said NO. Well, one night the tube popped off the respirator. SOMEONE (we know not who) turned off the ALARM. hmmm. I do have to give them credit, though. They did catch it after my husband's heart stopped. THAT monitor at least went off. My husband suffered serious brain damage and died a few weeks later. But, hey, the nurse was VERY sorry. (She was in the break room while my husband's brain was dying from a lack of oxygen.) I don't know if there is a hospital in NJ that isn't a death trap. I spent too much time in hospitals in the past year to EVER want to go to one again. All I can tell you guys is that the best way to make sure you come out of it ALIVE is to make sure everyone who comes near you wash their hands, their instruments, and anything before it touches you, and that they wear gloves. And hire an aide if you have any fear at all, or have a loved one stay with you overnight. From my bitter, horrible experience, the only way you can survive a hospital stay is to have an ADVOCATE (that is, someone you hire, or a very smart relative) who is there with you 24/7, and who is watching all the charts and what they're doing. Horrible to say, but hospitals screw up. A LOT. I don't if it's like this everywhere, but I can tell you, I'll kill myself before I'll ever go to another hospital in NJ again (I look at it as beating them to the punch.)