Mercy Behavioral Health - St. Louis

This place literally saved my life. Good staff. Made me feel empowered not imprisoned. Trust me. It's much better to go voluntarily.

It is unfortunate you have to leave a star. If I could give this hospital negative stars based on my family member’s experience this weekend, I would. I believe the families of prisoners might be treated with more compassion than we were treated this weekend. My family member arrived at the hospital with severe mental health issues. We all thought it was best that she was hospitalized. We initially were concerned about a possible stroke/dehydration. Boy were we wrong. They did not explain she would not be hospitalized at the main Mercy hospital. As my dad left (no visitors due to COVID) they saw workers putting a coat on my family member and driving her away. When he called repeatedly for updates from a social worker, psychiatrist and the charge nurse, he could not get any information. I eventually called myself because my father was so distressed (he is going through prostate cancer treatment himself). I was treated extremely rudely by the charge nurse (who also refused to give her name because it is a mental health facility). It was only after frantic calls to her psychiatrist (who is with SSM) that my dad was treated with more dignity and given more information. It is sad we had to get another doctor involved from another hospital system to get information about our own family member. Thank goodness for doctors that actually care. She was placed with a roommate (also without our permission). The workers have zero compassion and don't seem to care about the patients or their families (who should be viewed as partners in their care). Horrendous experience. I have never dealt with anyone at any mental health service that was as awful as that nurse. My family member also said the nurses were not kind. It is a good thing I can't actually see the condition of the room, as I can't imagine what I would write. It is so sad that our society doesn't value or care about people with mental illness and that we strip them and their families of basic dignity. Please do better Mercy. It clear from reading recent reviews this is a systemic problem and not a one-off. Rude nurses and caregivers who don't value patients or their families. Take your loved ones elsewhere. Update: this facility also does invasive strip searches of patients’ private parts. My family member said she found the experience extremely traumatizing and violating since she was voluntarily admitted. It is hard to see how this could possibly help someone who was admitted for anxiety.

Oh man, my experience here probably made my mental health worse. If it weren’t for one of my nurses, i wouldn’t even give this place a star. I came in very sick and detoxing off of Xanax. I was having focal seizures and muscle spasms and shaking uncontrollably. I begged most if the nurses for help for hours and they refused to take a look at me until my “urine sample came back”. One nurse even made fun of me behind my back for my muscle spasms and I heard her call me weird. Luckily, I had a few other patients in the ward that were friendly to me and told me everything would be okay. The food was so-so, not very many options if I didn’t like what was being served, leaving me without a meal to eat sometimes. The psychiatrist I had didn’t really listen to my feelings so I just basically lied after a few days saying I felt fine so I could get out if there as soon as possible. Gave me no guidance on meds and good help when I was released. Please take your loved one somewhere else if they are in need of help.

I was sent here on account of wanting to die, this place just made my thoughts, mental health and physical health worse. The food was horrible and rules were really strict also, the food being horrible is most likely what caused me to stop eating. When i started to have lowered blood pressure, i was YELLED at whenever i stood up to get a little cup of water because the medication that i had to take caused me to be dehydrated. And with me being very insecure and scared to show any part of my torso, i was practically in tears when i had to show my stomach. Don’t recommend this place to anyone

Be very careful taking your loved ones here. My wife was having postpartum depression and we wanted to see and talk to a psychiatrist. We VOLUNTARILY checked her in and waited 24 hours for a bed. Only received updates when asked and eventually at about the 24 hour mark, I began making calls to therapist to get her an appointment. I have a degree in Social Work and have worked in behavioral health centers. After calling a few therapists, they told me that my wife didn’t need to be admitted and that an outpatient care program would suffice...nnI brought this up to our “care providers” and was told that we had to wait to talk to the psychiatrist to be released. Due to her not being technically admitted to to a ward, we have no “treatment team” so we’re currently in limbo with no hope of getting real help.nnI’ve asked to file a grievance and have still not heard back from anyone. Hours go by with no update and what they are currently doing to my wife is unethical as this is not the care we signed up for.nnWord to the wise, if you have a loved one that needs help, take a deep breath and call around to a therapist. Don’t rush in to see a psychiatrist and don’t sign the papers. I can’t believe that we went into this, voluntarily, and now we’re being told were basically stuck.nnWe’ve gone to Mercy for everything. Health issues, our baby delivery, everything. Always had a great experience, this time has ruined it all.nnIf I could offer zero stars, I would have. Please be warned.nn****update*****nnSo eventually we were told that we had no rights since we signed in to be admitted. I asked the social worker to review the paper work as it states that:nn“you have the right to request discharge from the hospital. If you request discharge, your treatment team must determine if you should be safe to leave the hospital. Under Missouri law, if there is a concern about your safety or the safety of others, the treatment team can opt to keep you in the hospital as an involuntary patient. If we determine that you are safe, your request for discharge will be honored.”nnJust so everyone knows, you have no “treatment team” until you have been fully transferred to the ward or actual psych building. You will not see a psychiatrist until that has taken place.nnWhen we brought it up to the nurses that we wanted to leave, they transferred us to a more guarded area of the ER. Basically put into a locked area. I continuously asked to see our treatment team and I was told we didn’t have one yet. They eventually told me that my wife would have to be re-evaluated before she could be let go... but we never got that. One of the social workers eventually told us that the psychiatrist reviewed the notes from the day before and denied our request. So much for a revaluation from our “treatment team” right?nnFast forward a week: my wife was let out, but ONLY because I had her therapist, psychiatrist, and Mercy’s own ‘mommy and me’ program calling the behavioral group and INFORMING the team what my wife had and was dealing with. All they did was push meds. I’m my opinion, it wasn’t to better my wife, but for financial gain. Which is extremely disheartening.nnI tried to file a grievance prior to leaving that day, as I was told by Er staff that they would help me do that, however, they never did. They told me to go to the Front desk on the way out and when I did, the front desk lady was shocked they had me ask that as there was no grievance form I could fill out. She told me that I’d have to call in and speak to the patient relations team. So I did. Left messages twice and no return call for several weeks.nnEventually I was able to speak to Keith, director of nursing, who reviewed the notes, heard our story, and was shocked that “the ball was dropped several times”. He did a report and told me the team would review it. They eventually did and sent me a letter saying they we’re sorry but felt as though they did everything to protocol.nnAgain, I’ll never go back.