Dr. Jay Robert Bernstein, MD

This doctor told our family that he was checking my mother from head to toe the day she arrived in the ER following a fall down 13 steps. In reality he left her lay for over 5 hours with a shattered hip, broken shoulder AND, 17 rib fractures across 13 ribs, a punctured lung and internal bleeding. He did nothing for her pain, just kept putting the nurses off. Now here is the important part, he never did a chest exray at all, so the hospital kept her for six days with no knowledge of her broken ribs, punctured lung OR internal bleeding. The attendants kept commenting on how she needed to take deeper breaths because she was just being stubburn and did not want to feel any pain. The truth was that her chest cavity was filling up with blood from injuries that were not reported from this ER doctor. Mercy West Hospital released her after six days still not knowing a out her broken ribs, punctured lung or internal bleeding. What made this man decide that my mother was not worthy of pain… relief or a full exam after such a fall? Was it because she was 86 years old? He did not know how vibrant she was before her fall, or how precious she was to so many. I am reporting this to hopefully protect others from harm. My mother has never fully recovered from this. She cannot get through the day with out assistance and most likely never will again. The day of my mother's fall will remain in my memory for ever as it was the day that her life as she knew it ended. She is a sweet, caring, unselfish woman who deserved better care from this doctor. His diagnosis that her fall resulted in just a hip and shoulder fracture was far from accurate. If we had not taken her to a Tri-Health ER within 24 hours of her discharge from Mercy to find out why she could not come off oxygen we have been told she would have died.