As a patient, this hospital is one of the better hospitals in New York City. The security is very tight with the NY Police Dept. 24/7 since Bellevue is a city hospital. Doctors and social workers are ONLY on duty Monday through Fridays from 9am to 6pm as only nurse and nurse technicians are 24/7 at 365 days a year. Personally, there are insufficient qualified attending doctors or certified social workers aboard as there are more patients than doctors/social workers. Attending doctors and social workers pry into patients' private lives by interrogating personal details as they claim to understand health status and history of patients? health. For patients, the facilities are decent with an in-house pharmacy for meds, activity room for arts/crafts with TV for movie night, and a common TV room. Thankfully, there is one public pay phone in each unit for patients enduring an involuntary locked-in stay as cellular phones are prohibited for human contact to the outside world. There is also a free public phone with very limited usage times in the common TV room in each unit. There are showers for patients locked-in to clean themselves during long-term stays. Patients admitted will be waiting an eternity for a bed and room available. There are specialty units for each treatment as well as devoted ethnic units. At Level II patients who are involuntary locked-in can enjoy a taste of freedom with supervised visits to Bellevue's roof top for fresh air. The rooftop consists of benches for patients to reflect their lives; a playground for children, and a basketball court. Patients once discharged unfortunately do not receive adequate notices of their bill. Bellevue does not send monthly receipts to patients or notify their balances. This hospital has extremely limited visiting hours, which visitors probably need to request a personal day or work half day to see their loved ones. Bellevue Hospital only permit two guests per patient with a valid guest pass.

Bellevue Hospital is the icon for New York miscommunication and crappy service.

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