St. Margaret Mercy in Hammond is HORRIBLE! How it is stil linked with the other Sisters of St. Francis hospitals is beyond me. I went into the ER of this hospital after weeks of low back pain. The doctor decided that it was due to my weight, and sent me for a CAT scan of my spine. I WAS NOT tested for pregnancy before taking the CAT scan, and actually had to question if that was normal. Evidently, I was just missed. My scan came back normal, there was no stress or strain on my spine. I was then told to loose weight and sent home with Naproxen. No other tests were done, and when I told the doctor that nothing had been accomplished I was again told it was my weight. A week later I went to St. Anthony's in Crown Point as an ER patient again. Where I was informed my kidneys were no longer functioning properly, and that I was in renal faliure. If a simple Blood Test or Urinalysis had been done at Margret Mercy this would have been noticed a week earlier, BEFORE I was given large doses of Naproxen (that processes through your kidneys and contributed to them failing faster) and literally sent home to die because I was fat and couldn't be given the time of day. I spent a week St. Anthony's fighting a serious infection that could have killed me. While there, I heard nothing but horror stories about St. Margaret Mercy in Hammond. I will NEVER use this hospital again of my own volition. I would not reccomend it to anyone I did not wish death upon.