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Patient Abandonment and Unprofessional Conduct

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pastelartist

Guest
On the day after Christmas, my daughter took the morning off work without pay, and arrived for an appointment with her doctor for removal of a possibly cancerous mole. Much to her surprise, she was turned away - refused treatment!

An employee in the doctor's office - the office
manager - told her that there was an outstanding balance on her account of $151. He said her insurance had not paid it and she had to pay it right then and there or she would NOT be treated. They had NOT said anything at the time of
accepting her for the appointment, nor at any time in between making the appointment and the actual day of the appointment (about a week). They also had not mentioned it when she had gone to the doctor in February for a complete physical.

Now, there WAS a balance showing on the account but it did not show up in the "late" category on the statement she received, just a current balance due (which was incorrect). In fact, we had just found out about this balance two weeks before when the statement was sent - to her parents address, not hers. I had already been in process of talking with the billing department and working it out with them (my daughter was insured through her employer and apparently the doctor's office had made a mistake and billed our former insurance company, not her current one). The bill in question was for an office visit of December 14,1999. A follow-up visit she made on December 20,1999 (6 days later) WAS paid, so it was obvious to us that the doctor's office had just made a mistake. Should have been simple to correct. The Managed Care Organization
billing office said they would re-bill it. The person in
the billing office was very nice and was trying to rectify the situation - she never said my daughter had to pay it or anything - she would just re-bill it correctly.

Note: Actually, we have since learned (throught the MCO billiing office) that, according to the insurance company, payment WAS actually made on the claim, back in
February, but for some reason it does not show up on my daughter's statement! They are still working on it.

But again, the doctor's office refused to listen to any explanation whatsoever and refused treatment. That seems wrong to me - unprofessional conduct at the least. But I am wondering if this constitutes "patient abandonment"? It certainly does not seem right that my daughter made an appointment and was refused treatment like that, with no notice - no way to do anything. Obviously she didn't come prepared to pay a bill she didn't know she would have to pay and should not have been responsible for anyway. So she was rejected for medical treatment that she needed.

This doctor had been my daughter's doctor since March of 1999. There had been NO notice whatsoever to my daughter of the doctor's intent not to treat her until the moment she showed up for the appointment - which she had made a week before. And remember, the alleged bill problem wasn't even her fault-it was apparently the fault of the doctor's office!

Oh, but there's even more to this story of unprofessionalism:

My daughter (age 22) tried to explain what she thought had happened and as I said, he refused to listen, just insisted on payment. So she left in tears, really frightened and worried about this mole situation (it had become painful
and red, swollen and turned color).

She called me on my cell phone - my husband and I were driving on I-75 north of Macon, GA, on the way to KY to visit our son. I asked her to go back into the office (she was already in her car, heading away) and let me talk to the guy, to explain what was going on with the billing department. So she did and I talked to the same man. I could NOT believe the way I was treated by this supposed
"professional". Here I was, simply trying to explain what had happened and he literally interrupted me three times, "overtalking" me (talking more loudly to be heard over what I was trying to say) and basically repeated his
original statement to me, over and over. My daughter, who was standing right there beside him, later told me that he had actually sighed, rolled his eyes, and held the cell phone up at arms length for a couple of minutes and then just put it back to his ear and started talking! She described his behavior as "very immature and unprofessional - like a rebellious teenager."

Since he would not listen to what I was trying to say, I asked to talk to the doctor. After several minutes, the doctor came to the phone and told me right away that our entire family should just find another doctor!

"What?????" I am thinking. This had now become totally bizarre. I asked her why we would do that, or be asked to do that - we've never had ANY problems with bills or anything else and this small problem was our daughter's (not ours) but was being worked out.

I could not believe what came next...

She then interrupted me and informed me that her "office manager" had told her that I had "cussed him out"!

This accusation was completely UNTRUE and I told her so. I suppose he just went back to her office and told her that to cover himself because he knew he had behaved so badly.

At any rate I absolutely DID NOT cuss him out - I would never do that. I don't use language like that at all. I did raise my voice to him after his third interruption, and asked him why he was interrupting me, why he was yelling at me and would he please just listen etc.

But I just couldn't believe this guy had accused me of cussing him out - an out-and-out LIE!!!

I told the doctor she not only had a problem with an office that had made a mistake in billing but that she had an even bigger problem - because she had an employee who had just flat-out lied to her.

I still do not understand why she would have believed such a thing from him. I have been her patient for two years
and have never even had a cross word with her or any of her staff. She had no reason to believe it. I guess it happens to them some - but she had no reason to believe that of me.

So - I would also like to know if I have any recourse
against this employee for falsely accusing me of this and prejudicing the doctor before I was even able to talk to her....

Anyway, she then said why didn't I just drive over and pay the $151 and she would treat my daughter that day? I reminded her that was impossible since I was in Georgia - 6 hours away. She then said, "Well, I really don't care WHO pays the bill just as long as it's paid" And she said she would NOT treat my daughter without it being paid.

Neither the doctor, nor the office manager would even take the time to look up the file and try to see if THEIR office might have made a mistake. They didn't even try.

A week later, after I got home, I received a registered letter from the doctor - her 30 day notice to "terminate the doctor-patient relationship" with my daughter, my husband, and me, including three release forms. That was fine with me, because I would have looked for another doctor anyway after that bizarre and unbelieveable behavior by her and her office manager. We couldn't possibly go back there.

But it does only add to the continuing emotional stress and physical problems we have all experienced because of this. Its very difficult to find a doctor here who is taking new patients. My daughter still has not been able to find one and get the mole removed and it may require a second visit with any new doctor to do it.

I want to at the very least report this entire incident to the appropriate medical board or professional ethics authority. I don't know exactly how to go about it, but I will find out. Maybe I should call our local TV news's consumer show as well. the public should be informed.

I really want to know if there is any legal recourse against the doctor and her office manager for this mess. I feel that my daughter and I have both been wronged, unfairly treated and I have been slandered and there ought to be some recourse for such things. I have never sued anybody in my life and I understand it would be expensive and lengthy, but this kind of treatment should not be tolerated. It was wrong and I believe it was illegal.


Any advice on what to do?

Thanks,
Debi - Palm Harbor, FL
 


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pastelartist

Guest
Slightly shorter version - Part I:

On December 26, 2000 my daughter arrived for an appointment with her regular doctor for removal of a possibly cancerous, painful mole which had changed color. Much to her surprise, she was turned away - refused treatment! An outstanding balance was showing on her account of $151 and she was told she had to pay it immediately or she would NOT be treated.

The office had NOT told her this at the time of accepting her for the appointment, nor at any time prior to the actual appointment(about a week).

The bill in question was for an office visit on December 14,1999. A follow-up visit on December 20,1999 (6 days later) WAS paid, so it was obvious that the doctor's office had just made a mistake. I had already been in process of talking with the billing department and working it out with them (my daughter was insured through her employer and apparently the doctor's office had made a mistake and billed the wrong insurance). Neither the doctor, nor the office manager would take the time to look up the file to see if THEIR office might have made a mistake.

* We have since learned from the insurance company that payment WAS made on the claim, in February 2000, but for some reason it does not show up on my daughter's statement! At any rate - it was not my daughter's fault at all.

My question: Does this constitute "patient abandonment"?

It doesn't seem right to make an appointment and then be refused treatment with no notice. Obviously you wouldn't come prepared to pay a bill you didn't know you would be asked to pay - and shouldn't have been asked to pay, because it was already paid.

Its very difficult to find a doctor here who is taking new patients. My daughter still has not been able to find a doctor and get the mole removed or even looked at.

Advice? Answers?
 
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pastelartist

Guest
How excited I was to see that someone had finally replied to my question - for a moment. Then I went to the thread and found that it was more bickering amongst you guys. It WAS a serious question. But you don't care. Simple as that.
 
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pastelartist

Guest
It is exactly as I thought all along, Compuwiz. My problem wasn't worth the bother. It must be just a forum for ambulance chasers.

Too bad for people who have real needs.

 
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compuwiz1703

Guest
pastelartist said:
It is exactly as I thought all along, Compuwiz. My problem wasn't worth the bother. It must be just a forum for ambulance chasers.

Too bad for people who have real needs.

Deb,
Its really a shame, This is the point that JKORCHIDS has been trying to get accross the last few days

Compuwiz
 
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PamSJS

Guest
Dear Debi;

It's not that no one cares.....it's because the post is so long. I have read your post and have been meaning to respond for some time. The reason I haven't is because extremely long posts usually require extremely long answers. I, like most of the others, work from my home and I dedicate a good deal of time to answering some of the questions on this board regarding medical malpractice issues. I also have two small children, including an autistic child, who has needs that must be addressed at some of the most inconvenient times.

So, as you can see....it's not that we don't care. We all have other priorities, besides responding to these boards, that sometimes take precedent over this part of our day. So, keep that in mind when you come to us for what is still a free service that we offer out of the goodness of our hearts....not because we are getting rich from it.

Pam

P.S. Perhaps tonight after I get my children to sleep, I will make an extra special effort to get back to this and answer your post....IF I am not suffering from exhaustion and pass out beforehand.
 

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