Mercy Health Youngstown LLC D/b/a Mercy Howland Sleep Center

Nightmare experience – refused to follow doctor’s orders, forced unnecessary tests, endangered my health On August 14, 2025, I was explicitly told by staff at Mercy Health Howland Sleep Center to come in that same evening to have my CPAP machine settings adjusted. I was instructed to bring my own mask so they could complete the titration. I arrived as scheduled, only to be told they could NOT follow the doctor’s orders because I was a “new patient” to their lab and they required a full in-lab sleep study first. The technician insisted I do a split-night study (half without mask, half with). I explained multiple times that I stop breathing when lying down without a mask and that it was dangerous for me. She said “please try anyway.” I lay there for 6 hours unable to sleep, became severely dizzy, short of breath, and genuinely afraid I was having a cardiac event. At 2 a.m. I got up and told her I physically could not continue without the mask. She refused to put the mask on at that point and told me I could just leave. No one checked if I was safe to drive home in that condition. She then forced me to sign a form stating I was “not wanting to sleep” a complete misrepresentation of what actually happened. Because I could not complete their unnecessary no-mask portion, they refused to approve my new CPAP prescription (my current machine is old, outdated, and no longer effective). Instead they made me do TWO separate at-home sleep studies. The first one supposedly “malfunctioned” (their words), so I had to repeat it. Again, I cannot sleep safely without a mask and both nights were terrifying, chest pain, dizziness, fear of heart attack. After all of that, it took them OVER FIVE WEEKS to read the the third home study, only to tell me I now have to come back for yet another in-lab study. This has dragged on for months, left me without a working machine, and repeatedly put my health at risk. I believe they discrimination because was a white man (race), overweight I am 325 lbs today (perceived disability), or because of sleep apnea (disability) They did not care about me just cared about their test. I have never been treated with such disregard by any medical facility. They ignored the referring doctor’s orders, ignored my safety concerns, misrepresented what happened when I had to leave early, and keep inventing new hoops instead of simply helping me get the working equipment I desperately needed. Steer clear of Mercy Health Howland Sleep Center if you actually want to be heard and treated with basic respect and competence.

I had a sleep study done a month ago and still do not have the results. Will be looking at who to contact to file a complaint starting with the board of medicine or through their accreditation. It’s ridiculous that any doctor would be this negligent in getting results back to the patient. I trusted your center to give me answers, instead it’s been a month long headache!

Wanda was awesome!! She went above and beyond and made me feel comfortable she went above and beyond and with some help with having a tv and a fan and she gave me chap stick (I can’t go to sleep without it) and my sleep meds I was able to fall asleep fairly quickly and she said I have a good sample For the dr to read! Even though my problems I usually have don’t happen every night and I didn’t have the issues last night I hope they can still figure out my problems

The staff was very nice and were helpful in explaining how to do a home sleep study. However, took the equipment home on March 10. Called them a month later, since I had not heard anything from them. The receptionist told me the data was sent to a medical supply company to get equipment for me. Could not tell me my diagnosis, but I’m assuming I qualified for equipment. Very poor communication and have no clue what the results of the test was.

The staff was wonderful with explaining how to complete a home sleep study. Very kind and knowledgeable. But my goodness, I had the study done on December 2nd, today is the 21st and my test still hasn't been read? Ridiculous.