Disappointed - hospital doesn't allow anyone to stay overnight

I am scheduled for davinci robotic surgery on July 2nd.

Called the hospital to find out about a private room and was told that it is "first come, first serve" and that even though I would only be staying overnight I would have to pay for 3 nights in advance and then if it wasn't used the extra money would be returned to me. I have never heard of anything like this before..

The private room costs $250.00 per night so I would have to fork over $750.00 right away and then hope that it doesn't take months to get the rest of the money back. In addition to that, they told me that they do not allow overnight visitors (even family) in a private room either.

The hospital is a private hospital and in an exclusive neighborhood - I wonder if that is the reason for the high charge. Unfortunately, I have to have the surgery there because even though there is another hospital that my gyn is associated with (she is doing the actual robotic surgery) the gyn/onco (who will be doing the lymph nodes, etc) only has privileges there. Both of these doctors are highly recommended and very experienced so I don't want to find another doctor at this late stage - besides I really like them and feel very confident in their abilities.

Needless to say, I will not take a private room since, aside from the money, my sister would not be able to spend the night there anyway.

Sorry for this long post and thank you for letting me vent.

Well that sucks and is atypical. The trend is "family centered care". But what can you do if you're locked in now. They might make exceptions but you can't count on it I guesS. Well, hope the rest of the experience is good.

Unbelievable! I hope that their food and sevice justifies the price.. Maybe it's better that your sister gets some rest during the night so she can be more able to help you out getting home!
Hope you get a great room with a wonderful partner (how many patients do you have in a room?)
You can vent as much as you like, and please don't feel the need to opoligize - that is what's great abouut this site!
hang in there,

Thanks for letting me vent!

I was told that I might "be lucky" and not have anyone in the room with me. Usually, there would be 2 patients in each room.

I'm just glad that I only have to be in the hospital overnight and not longer.

Since I'm sure I won't be eating that much - I should receive a discount on the food. lol.

Oh well, just have to "bite the bullet" and get this over with. Hopefully, my time in the hospital will go quickly!

I hope that if you do have roomies, you will get nice ones. From my experience with staying in hospitals, I usually had a lot of laughing with roomates...