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Angelo Romeo, celebrating his 91st birthday party with grandson John Urbaniak. Romeo died last month, and Urbaniak still wants answers from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital about his family's treatment.

(John Urbaniak)

NEW BRUNSWICK — Picture this: A phone call summons you to the hospital because your 93-year-old father has taken a sudden turn for the worse.

Yet a dispute with a hospital security guard prevents you from reaching his room before he dies – even though you pleaded through your tears that time was of the essence.

That’s what John Urbaniak, 33, claims happened to him and his mother at Robert Wood John University Hospital in New Brunswick. Disgusted by their treatment, the public relations professional has taken to Facebook and Twitter to vent.

"They just don’t treat people right," he said. "They really need to revise their security policies – and at least have some empathy and compassion." More than a week after the incident, the Piscataway family was still waiting to hear from the hospital’s Patient Advocacy personnel.

In a statement, the hospital promised an "exhaustive" review of the events to determine if it needs to make changes to its security policies. It will also determine if "enhanced training" is needed for the security staff.

Two days after John Urbaniak posted a lengthy complaint on Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital's Facebook page, the hospital responded with condolences and a request for more information.

"Any time an individual expresses a concern like this, it is a high priority for our hospital," the statement said. It also offered its sympathies to the family, and asked them – via Facebook – to contact Patient Advocacy.

Urbaniak called the statement, "pretty canned — but decent, I’ll give them that."

Angelo Romeo, a 93-year-old who lived next door to his daughter’s house, went to the hospital’s emergency room the night of Thursday, Nov. 21. He had a pacemaker installed the next day, and seemed to be recovering Saturday.

His daughter, Fran Urbaniak, along with her husband and son spent most of Saturday with him. At the end of the day, they said they decided to pop out for dinner. Romeo was sitting in a chair, in the company of his visiting caregiver, eating his dinner and laughing.

"He waved bye to me," said Fran Urbaniak. "He was happy."

They said they’d barely arrived at the restaurant when the caregiver called them, putting the nurse on the phone. Something was wrong: Her dad’s breathing was labored. They needed to come right back.

Fran Urbaniak’s husband dropped his wife and son at the emergency room, which they said they’d been using as an entrance because it’s directly below the Critical Care Unit. They checked in with the security guard, who buzzed them through a door to the closest elevator.

That’s when the trouble began, they said. A different security officer shouted from down a hall that they couldn’t use that elevator, they said. John Urbaniak said he was already in the elevator, with the doors closing, when the guard reached in to stop the doors. He was reaching out to hold the door for his mother. His said his hand bumped into the guard’s hand.

"I said, My grandfather’s dying! We just got a call.’ And she didn’t even care," he said. The guard said they’d have to go around to the regular entrance at the front of the hospital, so the two left, running up steps to the main lobby.

Once they reached the lobby, however, they said found three or four security guards had been summoned there to meet them. This time, John Urbaniak said he was accused of assault for having touched the security guard’s hand. ("He didn’t assault her," said Fran Urbaniak. "My son and I are not threatening-looking. We’re both little.")

When they said they explained they were simply trying to get to their loved one’s room as soon as possible – even offering up their wallets for ID — a head security official sat them down and gave them a lecture that lasted several minutes, about proper procedures. "This is not how you conduct yourself in a hospital," he told them, according to Urbaniak.

Three or four guards then escorted the Urbaniaks up the elevator, through the corridors back to the other side of the hospital to the CCU.

"The staff – the nurses and the doctor – were waiting for us, and they said, ‘We’re sorry. He just passed," said John Urbaniak. He then lashed out at the guards, saying, "You just took away the last couple of minutes I could’ve had with my grandfather."

The guard’s response, according to him: "This is not our fault. This is your fault."

"Not once did they say they were sorry for holding us, for treating us like that," he said.

The hospital declined a request to speak with the security guard who accused Urbaniak of assault.

John Urbaniak said he knows the hospital can’t respond to his complaint the way a regular merchant might handle an unhappy customer, by offering a refund, for example. "They can’t refund my grandfather," he said.

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