Tia Chandler says she will not return to ConvenientMD after staff locked her inside the Keene, New Hampshire, clinic while she waited for asthma treatment.
Chandler, a regular patient at the urgent care center, arrived on Thursday, Sept. 24, seeking a steroid shot to combat an asthma attack. She was waiting in an exam room when employees finished their shifts and departed without checking whether anyone remained inside.
“I pop my head out and said, ‘Hello? Hello?’ And, then I got a little nervous,” Chandler told WCVB.
“So, I ran to the front, thinking that there was just a skeleton crew on and that they were, you know, cleaning the office,” she recalled. “And so, I went to the office. ‘Hello?’ And, looked around and there’s nobody there, and I kind of panicked a little and texted my husband, ‘They locked me in. Call 911.’ I’m, like, panicking.”
Her husband contacted emergency services while Chandler attempted to escape on her own. She tried opening a door, which triggered the facility’s alarm system. She then called police directly to report her predicament.
The experience left Chandler shaken and disillusioned with a health provider her family had used repeatedly. “Very shocking. Just like, I can’t believe this just happened to me, because literally when I was thinking in my head, sitting there at 8:10, ‘They would never lock me in there. That’s crazy talk,” she said.
“That only happens in movies or on a show, not in real life.”
When asked by WCVB whether she would consider returning to ConvenientMD, Chandler responded bluntly: “probably not,” She added, “And we’ve utilized them quite a bit in the past.”
ConvenientMD issued a statement expressing regret over the incident. “We sincerely regret the incident that occurred on Thursday, Sept. 24, at our urgent care clinic in Keene involving one of our valued patients,” the company said.
“Clearly, this should never have happened,” the statement continued. “We have taken steps to ensure this won’t happen again and we remain committed to providing the Keene area with the high-quality care we have been providing for more than a decade.”
Chandler’s ordeal began around 8:10 p.m., when she realized the building had emptied and she was trapped with no staff members present to assist her or grant her exit.