Policlinico Umberto I

My family member experienced unspeakable cruelty and neglect at this hospital.

Do not go to this hospital if you are from another country. I can't publish details here as we will be following up in a more formal way.

It was an unthinkable nightmare.

Rome, in fact all of Italy, should be ashamed of this hospital and the lack of compecompassion and humanity.

Look no further than the horrible women who work in the Emergency reception box. I was treated like garbage every time I went in, regardless of my state of upset ... (Especially the leathery old tan lady with the glasses and the unattractive frumpy grey blonde haired woman with glasses). So nasty and horrible.

While we were racing to grab a bus my mother fell and hit her chin on the sidewalk. It was pretty bad and we knew she would need stitches. There was a taxi driver nearby and he said that it would be better for us as Americans to call an ambulance and not to take a taxi. He was right, the ambulance driver helped us all the way through registration and was very helpful with the language barrier. (I had a small translation book, and it helped that her injury was visual not internal)

We were checked in fairly quickly, it helps to have your passport on you. We were then taken to another waiting room. From there we were taken upstairs to yet another waiting room. I asked to use a restroom but the staff just looked at me like they've never heard of a bagno and as if I was asking to find my spaceship. Finally another patient pointed me in the right direction.

They wouldn't let me go in the room with my mother while she was getting the stitches which I thought was not very nice. I wanted to be there to hold her hand, but I guess it wasn't something she could die of so it was ok. My mom said that it was quick, but painful as stitches go.

We were in and out of there and back on the streets in about an hour and a half. Pretty good timing compared to the US emergency room wait time.

I'm not one of those people who leave lengthy reviews but had to share this! This review is for anyone visiting this hospital who is not Italian.
If you are seeking medical attention and are American/anything not Italian do not come to this place you will be pushed to the back of the list/not even serviced.

I crashed a scooter and banged up my knee pretty bad. My knee and ankle were swollen, bruised, and cut so bad to the point where I could not walk. I knew nothing was broken but I wanted to make sure I didn't tear anything/rupture a bakers cyst. I came here with my boyfriend and asked about how long should this take they said not long. After being checked in they separated us and told him he had to go to another waiting room. I walked to the waiting room I was directed to and sat down. After an hour of waiting by myself and looking around and noticing everyone else in this room had their family/companions with them I walked to the front and asked the man who helped me why can I not have my friend in here when everyone else does? He spouted something off in Italian and I did catch "..... Classico Americano" lol. Then they let my boyfriend come sit with me.....? Two more hours pass by and a nurse has not even come to check my vitals.
Another hour passes by, by this time it has been 4 hours and no one has even seen me. And several people that have checked In to the ER much later than me have already been helped and left...? There was another couple from the UK that had gotten there 30 min prior to us and had not been helped yet either...Getting pretty anxious I asked the woman at the desk what is going on? She proceeds to tell me that there is 3 people ahead of me which is bullshit because I watched all these people (at least 8) check in after us and receive care before us and leave. My boyfriend being fed up as well tries to ask what is going on and no one will help us. Now it has been 5 hours of waiting with not one single thing accomplished. We both go to the entrance and start asking people for a wheel chair... People tell us no, some ignore us, others tell us they don't have any....no wheelchairs in a hospital lol!! Finally I asked a paramedic can you please please give us a wheel chair. We finally get one and my boyfriend sneaks us out the back door in it. Of course no one is paying attention to us so leaving in it was a breeze. At least I have some mobility now...

If this is what free healthcare looks like I'd much rather pay for it in the States. Ciao!

My husband became ill while we were visiting Rome. He has many complex medical problems so I asked the desk clerk at the hotel for the best hospital in Rome. Sadly, they recommended Policlinico Umberto I. It was by far the worst experience my husband has ever had. When we entered the ER, there were numerous people in the small entry and people were yelling. I struggled to find someone who spoke broken English so we could understand the procedure for registration. We were asked who we were standing behind when we came in. Since we didn't know, he was placed at the end of the line. Because my husband could not stand, we were shown a waiting area with 6 metal chairs. We sat there for about 2 hours before we were escorted to a room to register. At this point we were given another number to wait in another line. While there, someone noticed how bad my husband looked and brought over a stretcher that had to be at least 40 years old and in disrepair. Hours passed before he was moved from the large waiting room to a hallway. Yet, another long wait. Once he was actually moved to a room with 4-6 men, the longest wait began.
There aren't any gowns, pillows or blankets for the patients or chairs for families. Staff rarely wash their hands and infection control is non existent. Some tests were ordered but he never saw a doctor, nor did anyone give us the results. The ER is inadequately staffed and patients just lie on stretchers, sometimes for days in their street clothes. If they need to be fed, they are out of luck unless family is there to help them. My husband received 2 meal trays during his stay there. Both were contraindicated for someone with vomiting and diarrhea. They do offer bottled water but no gingerale or juice. After he had been lying on the stretcher for 27 hours and still hadn't seen a doctor, my husband begged me to get him out of there. At this point, I demanded that a doctor be notified to give me a prescription for the medication he needed and a copy of his paperwork. A medical student or intern approached us and said my husband should stay for observation. That statement was beyond ridiculous. We left against medical advice without my husband ever being seen by a doctor. To make a bad situation even worse, the medication prescription we were given is not available outside of a hospital in Italy! That was another nightmare but enough said.