And from the recent story, they are going to call their employees out from an operating room and lay them off in the middle of a surgery!! Good luck with the job hunt, I hope you are employed soon. Thanks for your service.

My belief is that as a society and as a nation, we need to focus on more positive news. We have a sad story about people losing their jobs and all we do is start throwing negative stuff at Mercy?!

How does that make sense?

90 families just had their lives horribly altered.

My thoughts and families got out to those families.

I'm glad Mercy provides so many excellent programs and services right here in our backyard. I'm thankful they are committed to this community in spite of the nasty things said about them. There are plenty of us who have had only positive experiences. We just don't use this type of media to voice our gratitude often enough.

All I can say is Dr. Sturm, Mercy's neurosurgeon, operated on my back last summer and it changed my life. I was nearly unable to walk because of the pain. Now, I am walking upright and able to play with my kids again.

Wow - Mercy still ranks high in my book. They saved my father's life when he had a massive heart attack last spring. They sure worked for us.

I am so disappointed to see all these negative comments. I understand that there are complaints for every health system but I do have to say Mercy has been very good to my family. Our children have been born there, we have been to the ER and had wonderful experiences there. I am sorry to those of you who have not had the same but I support Mercy. They have always been there for us.

Yes, it does happen everywhere, Every single hospital in the united states level 3 or higher has had malpractice suits, has had disgruntled patients, some more than others that is a fact.
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If i were all you bashers out there looking for medical help i would stop looking at the name "Mercy" or "Dean" or "Aurora" or "Froedtert" and start looking at individual specialists for what you need treated. Mercy has some of the best doctors in the world, as does dean, as does aurora. Look at the credentials of your specialists instead of ignorantly passing up perhaps one of the best doctors around simply because you write the check to Mercy or dean or aurora. If its mercy you hate, i have news for you, MErcy hospital works with dean physicians daily.

The lawyers wouldn't take the case without the "funds" which we aren't able to supply, sadly. I can't seem to post on here but if you look on nov. 18 08 it should be there or try april 10 08 I believe it's there too. I'm sure I'll get some crap from the 'mercy lovers' out there, especially mr.beas' mini me miltonalum! I do want to add not ALL docs and nurses are bad, I happen to respect some lots, just seems more and more good ones leave because they can't stand to be around the disgust, I know a few of them. Most good docs are in ob or maternity and pediatricians.

worldlove - Could you post a link to the site where you found the numbers showing that half of Janesville goes out of town for healthcare please.

worldlove- Are you saying that a death was caused by patient abuse at Mercy in Janesville, and there isn't a lawyer anywhere that would take up a case like that?

chemical-6 said it, if anyone or business settles out of court it WON'T be in the records and mercy is very good at intimidating and sticking together so people can't make lawsuits or they just hide the truth. milton: Intern? no, doctors and nurses did this. Plus, I don't know about you but it takes money to make lawsuits and not everybody has it. I know death happens and no not all the time people like to blame others for death but when you see the mistreatment yes it's obvious this was NOT natural causes. About looking at numbers or records, like I said before over half of janesville gos out of town for medical treatment, and what I said about how they deal with the surveys completely TRUE. Look at THOSE records and come back with a response then.

armyof3, mercy didn't lay anyone off....read your own link. Program cuts involved transitioning employees to other open positions...what a novel idea.

Now, I've lived in many communities of similar size and economic demographic makeup to Janesville and I must say that while Mercy has plenty of issues, to have a hospital that offers that level of services is a rarity. Most places I've been, the hospital in the city (this size) was there solely as an entry point to send people elsewhere to a bigger city. I'm guessing thats the purpose of the new St. Mary's hospital (if it ever does get built). Look around at how many of your neighbors are employed by Mercy. Do you think the CEO of St. Mary's (based in St. Louis,MO) has ever even been to Janesville?

You don't think Dean has alot of complaints and lawsuits too. I worked at one of the health places for 25 yrs. I know. Both of these places is a business, its all about the money. The emergency rooms are so busy because people go there for non-emergency conditions. I went to Mercy for a head aneurysm and they were nothing but extremely kind to me and saved my life. Janesville should be very fortunate we don't have to go to Madison for anything big-some of us would rather stay here by family.

Ndburdick, what do you mean GM is not coming back? The local GM task force and Gov. Doyle said the door has been left open and there is still a chance they will come back. Don't you believe them?

I happen to work at St Mary's, and with all the complaints I read here, it is no wonder they are telling us that the new hospital will be a money maker. All the people that are unhappy with Mercy will have another option.

Miltonalum - No, it doesn't happen everywhere. You say that only twenty some odd people are against mercy, but believe me, that's probably just a portion of the people. Have you taken into account the amount of closed lawsuits against mercy?? Or the total amount of open and closed lawsuits to the population of Janesville? When you say that they are low compared to Nation averages, it doesn't say much to me. And you said if it happened to your dad you would be mad as hell but it hasn't happened to you... so I would love to hear your take on Mercy (or any hospital according to you) when it does.... I'm pretty sure you will start singing a different tune.

I do have compassion for people who have been hurt, injured, or even killed by misdiagnosis or an intern who moved a pillow, and i also believe that they should be fully compensated in a court of law. You along with everyone else whos views have been rightfully obscurred by a life changing incident have to realize that it happens at every single hospital nationwide and if you look at Mercy's statistics they are considerably under the nationwide average for malpractice suits. Your going to have people die in a hospital, everyone would like to blame someone for a death, fact is they are in that position because their life is already in danger. If my dad was killed by some nurse who gave him the wrong script Id be mad as hell and go to court but ya know what, it happens everywhere.

It is extremely unlikely that Dean will actually build the hospital in Janesville (They'd have to be stupid). General Motors is not coming back, all the other companies are either going bankrupt or leaving. Get out while you still can.

rep of 1 said it very nicely however I'm not gonna be THAT nice. OBVIOUSLY you haven't had a death close to you due to the caretakers NOT doing there job, a kid knows better than to flop pillows out from under a head of a patiant who JUST had neck surgery OR how about when they knocked their head in the wall more than once IN FRONT OF YOU. If thats how they were treated WITH witnesses how did they treat the patiant without witnesses? thats just ONE example I have another one is being persued in a multi million dollar court case and I will NOT talk about that although I think mercy lost that one. I have yet to run in to someone in this town who DOESN"T have a HORRIBLE story from mercy and I'm not talking about waiting for hours on end in the er. More than half of this city goes out of town for medical treatment, look it up numbers say it all WITHOUT the sad stories I have tell me that 20 of the same people complaining over again is simply stupid and uneducated. So you want to be an ignorant, not caring or have any kind of compassion towards people who are not getting the treatment they PAY for is so insensitive and I hope to god you NEVER have to be treated or mistreated in such a way mercy has for so many. Oh and boo hoo to you about mercy not paying medical schools, my 6 year old knows how to treat people with more care then most of these employees and Mercy doesn't look at the doctors they hire past records so if a doctor was in trouble in a different state it DOESN'T matter they'll still get hired here, mercys not the only hospital that does it but they do it. So say your opinions you have a right to it as everyone else BUT to make people feel like what happened to these people was the least bit okay or not a big deal is wrong and mean. PERIOD

miltonalum: be sure to tell that to my dead parent. Without going into all the details(because you don't me as I don't know you) forgive me if I tend to think Mercy has room for great improvement.
March a mile in another person shoes and maybe people aren't giving their opinion for no reason.

Additionally, all you people who believe that Dean has only put off the hospital plans for a year......I have a bridge for sale are you interested in that as well?

to all you mercy haters who can turn DEAN laying off 90 into a slam article on Mercy, This surely doesnt help your argument.
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Take your personal sob stories about waiting for 3 hours in the ER for a sore neck elsewhere, I have news for you it happens at Every single hospital nationwide, period. Misdiagnosis happens EVERYWHERE, Mistakes cause Deaths at EVERY single hospital nationwide. Doctors, in case you didnt know, are Humans, Mercy doesnt provide med school for these doctors, they come from across the nation and work at hospitals across the nation. the fact that its the same dozen people telling their stories about hating mercy over and over actually does good for Mercy, if 12 or 20 people is all who boast about hating mercy constantly in the city of janesville, thats pretty darn good....

Moral of the story people: IF you have to go there do your research before, during, and after, even with the meds they prescribe because majority of the time you'll catch an oops! on their part and it might cost you your life.

Besides the er waits, the rude doctors and nursees, there is many other reasons why mercy is hated. I know of atleast 7 devistating stories which 2 lead to death and it was not NATURAL circumstances. not ALL of the docs and nurses are bad but the majority YES, I without any medical training had to tell the nurses what to do it went to the point we filed a complaint before the death happened but nothing was done they all stick together. They don't allow the family to see the patiant at times even if requested, they bill you and your insurance company more than once for the same bill, supposedly they're profit free but in the last 5-7 years they've rebuilt places in the building over and over and no reason to do so either (need to put there "non profit" money somewhere) oh and might I ad when surveys were done mercy was the ONLY hospital that would not release the surveys the first quarter.WHY? before they sent out the surveys they called people at home to see how happy with the service and when patients told the truth they never recieved a survey, thats EXACTLY why ratings have gone up at mercy. People can argue with how I know this stuff but I will not tell you exactly how, I will say duh it's not rocket science. AND the whole taking so long to get a diagnoses, it's either waiting 6-12 hours for one OR them just telling you, you have an anurism that could kill you at any moment BUT not getting the test to prove it for 2 months then come to find out you DON'T even have it. That's why people don't like mercy and these people sticking up for them are the ones in kahoots with them and I could fight you on MOST every excuse you have for them if they havn't been fought already, but don't get me started with the stories I have HORRIBLE.

Mercy took 3 hours to tell me I had torn a neck muscle which I could see in the mirror it was torn pretty bad. 3 hours mind you to come up with a diagnosis. I waited with nothing for pain for three hours. I now drive to Beloit Memorial where I have never waited over an hour.

It seems to me that most of the complaints that have to do with Mercy, are about their disrespect to the patients, and the long waits in the ER. I have NEVER been in the ER at Mercy less than three hours. I have had some of the worst experiences at that ER and half of them were when I wasn’t even the patient. Some of the ER doctors there are the rudest people I have ever met, and I have even been reduced to completely spazzing out on one of them, mainly because it was three in the morning, and I had been there since nine pm the night before, wasn’t getting any answers and the doctor was talking to me like I was a complete moron. I have taken classes on anatomy, which I even told him when I was speaking to him earlier in the night but he still talked to me like a two year old. I haven’t had much problems with the nurses there but for the most part everytime I would try to go out and get someone to come in the room with whoever I was with at the ER, I see the doctors and nurses sitting in that main area in the ER, seemingly doing nothing, but laughing, eating, talking about nonsense, I even have seen one doing a crossword in a magazine!! I have to admit, I don’t enjoy going to the Mercy ER but unfortunately, some people don’t have a choice. I am glad I do, but I wish Dean Urgent care was open late so that I could utilize it more. Maybe if Dean had a 24 hour Urgent Care like the Mercy ER, people would see how disliked Mercy is in the community, because they would end up having nothing to do, as a lot of people would be next door. Then again, maybe that wouldn’t be such a difference for the ER staff at Mercy since they seem to take their sweet time with EVERYTHING….

Ok, so Mercy is being noble and moving their employees around instead of laying them off, how is that better than what Dean is doing? I understand that people are going to be out of work, but how does that help the economy overall? Mercy is going to have to raise their prices to make up for their nobleness which will put the already down on their luck people in even a bigger pickle. Mercy bashing won't stop until they improve their customer service. My experience with Mercy is not only the rude treatment while in the ER (and why does it take 5 hours for an ER visit anyways?), but also with their billing dept. I like getting collection notices before getting the actual bills, that makes me want to keep going back. (Yeah right)

of course, that's not including the snide attitude of his Dr... his ER nurses were more considerate than the immediate Dr. was....

StacyU2, I agree w/ you... it wasn't that long ago that my husband had to go to the ER because he had thought something was lodged in his throat (searing pain when he forced himself to swollow, and couldn't keep anything down)... it took the ER triage over an hour and a half to get him back to a room, he sat an additional hour or so just for an x-ray... he wanted me to call someone locally, which I needed help in doing so and was treated like crap by his Dr.... another 3 hours passed before we were able to get an endoscopy done... start to finish, we were there almost 6 1/2 hours....
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don't get me wrong, there are some really great Drs. in the Mercy system, but we're more than ready for St. Mary's to be built and plan on transferring, despite the staffing cuts...

So lets get this all straight. Mercy has opted to move employees rather than lay them off, but all mighty Dean is just laying them off. So who is more in touch with the community again? Yet now those same people who argued Mercy was so evil are stating that Dean has good business sense. Sounds like a double standard to me. Then there is the argument about all the new jobs being created by the new hospital that we needed so desperately. First off, Dean already announced they are putting that off a year. In addition, between the cutbacks at Mercy and the layoffs at Dean, that 330 person staffed hospital isn't going to add diddly even if it does get built. I recall Mercy officials questioning the need for another facility back when the new hospital was first announced, yet people insisted it would be put to use. Lets just ignore the empty beds at Mercy. Again, I feel sorry for those affected by this announcement. However, the Mercy bashing can officially stop as of today.

dizzii chici-you shouldnt be spreading rumors about who is losing their job, as none of us have found out yet, and i happen to be in the billing area!

Wow how does everything turn into Mercy bashing in this town???

From what I have been reading Mercy is retaining their employees even when they cut programs that are outdated for the times because of other providers can and do provide the same service. I haven’t read anywhere that anyone has been laid off at Mercy even with all the economic issues around Rock County at this time. They seem to be looking at the bigger picture and growing the services that are needed in this area while cutting back on duplicate services.

It’s also rumored that the non-patient care staff being let go at Dean are in Madison are from their Billing Department. Janesville should be fairly safe in that aspect as most of those old Riverview jobs were moved to the Madison office years ago.

I only use Mercy due to the "Protocols" set forth by the Emergency Services that my township uses.. I have to go to that Hospital only for that purpose.. I have cardiac and cancer issues, They end up sending me to Madison anyway... ( which IMO is better for me that anything they have here) The ER docs at Mercy are RUDE, Crude, and to me Lack the tactfulness that should be in every Hospital..) if it were not for my cell phone, My family would not know about my condition unless I called them, like one of the earlier post stated , they (the er Staff) would not or did not convey any progress report to my family in the waiting area,, nor did they let them back to see me until just before discharge or transfer to another facility.. And when I was an EMT (3 yrs ago and for over 13 yrs prior), and we transported someone to the ER at Mercy, They (the ER staff at Mercy be-little you like you have no clue what you are doing), When we transferred Patients to Dane County Hospitals, They at least listen to you and sometimes ask for your assistance with Procedures (That never happened at Mercy..) Now that they are to open St Mary's in Janesville and when that happens it will be my Only Option for treatment (for any of my issues because of the staff's and their history with PT's ) as for the Hospital being built... It will be St Mary's and the Clinics side will be Dean affiliation.. I Hope the other people have seen this different that I have, but I doubt it......

I apologize, my timeframes were off... it was last July that the announcement was made, followed by a numerous crowd opposing it... http://www.gazettextra.com/news/2008/jul...

Wow...where and when did society lose sight of the big picture? Everyone I am sure has complaints about every health care facility if you ask. (Including Madison) This article is about 90 families losing their income. I am sorry to you all.

Prevention.....I agree with you 100%.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those who are losing their jobs.
A little off the topic, but keep your eye on Lab Safety today and in the upcoming days. Job losses are expected there as well.

ignorance runs wild on this site, and to the mercy bashers, you just do not get it do you...people ripped on mercy when they cut programs that weren't profitable - the purpose of the cuts were to retain those employees and relocate them elsewhere in the system. they reduced the programs costing money many months ago to put the system in a position to retain its employees. you people who use these stories as an open bitch session are ridiculous. this story is not questioning anyone's ability to treat patients or provide service, it is highlighting one of mercy's competitors reducing jobs to save money - something mercy has yet to do because of the preventative steps taken before the economy really took a nosedive.

i cant believe that everyone is so involved with whether they like dean or mercy, when so many people are losing their jobs! we just got the email and now we all have to wait all day to see who will still have a job!

If mercy is so good why did they not find problems with my wife's relatives brain(cancer) and her aunts breast( cancer) before it spread and killed them same with my mom diagnosed with cancer and died 5 months later and yes they all had symptoms early on but they could not finger out what's wrong wife's relatives had to go to Madison when they found the real problems. my mom it was to late before they finger it out the cancer spread over 70 percent of her body. and for DEAN mother-in-law goes there not any better then mercy. my family goes to Madison the real hospitals are. if mercy is so good why did they not find a the problems

I personally prefer Dean the people who work there care about you. Mercy I have nothing good to say, I cannot understand the doctor and the nurse’s are not very nice.

I went in with chest pain and I was asked by the doctor what I would like him to do for me. I said give me a diagnosis if possible he said that he had other patients and I could go to the ER. I did in Fort Atkinson and guess what I had pneumonia not a heart attack but he could not be bothered. I will never go to Mercy again.

Oh yea, AND Mercy Health Systems supported Rod Blogojevich. How wonderful is that?

rosewood: I think you are right on. The frist comment I have seen in a long time that isn't negative. Dean is doing what it has to do to cut costs. Without cutting costs, prices will go up, thank you Dean for smart business policies.

Realistically speaking? Mercy is not all that wonderful.... waiting hours in the ER, doctors belittling you when you are in immense pain, talking to you like a child, not being aggressive with treatment. How wonderful is that? If I am on my death bed, I'm going to Beloit. In my first appointment with a new doctor at the clinic I used to go to, she ran bloodwork, sent me to speacialists, told me how it was, not what I wanted to hear. That's much more than any of the doctors have done for me in 3 years of using the high and mighty Janesville health care. Now I am back on the road to returning and staying health.

Mercy made no such announcement as far as I know.

My insurance company won't let me support my local hospital.

carlito: I agree w/ ya as far as Dean care... also, I thought that Mercy made an announcement within the last few months that it was also making budget cuts and laying off a percentage of its staff??

FYI mercy already downsized IMO so jovan could get his big bonus IMO IMO IMO

mercy is just a step away also IMO Dean is the best as to care and treatment.

I moved to Janesville 2 years ago and I think Dean Care is wonderful. They are quick and the staff is very friendly. They let you know when you are next to be seen by the doctor instead of waiting forever wondering when the doctor will be in. I just switched over to Dean care after not being allowed to see my husband in the ER when he asked for me to be there upon arrival. They wouldnt tell me his condition and wouldnt even let me go back and see him until 5 minutes before he was discharged. Talk about screwed up. I don't care how much Mercy improves their parking situation how about their attitudes? They could definitely use improvement on how they greet and treat their patients!!

And the beat goes on.....

Dean has about 5000 employees, and the layoffs are likely to be spread over its entire multi-county system, not just Riverview in Janesville. They've said they're still building the hospital.

at least they will not be so top heavy

To all the Mercy Bashers-I thought Dean was so wonderful. It just shows Janesville cannot support two hospitals. Mercy has the best technology, Doctors and they listen to the surveys. Parking has always been a problem and now they are trying to solve it with the big parking ramp. Support your Janesville Hospital instead of running to Madison.

YEA - Dean is bringing more jobs to Janesville.....or not.