Patients still stuck with bill for medical errors

Cybergal · Feb 29, 2008

Patients still stuck with bill for medical errors
2/29/08

When Kevin Baccam of Urbandale, Iowa, went in for hernia surgery in August 2005, he expected to come home with a scar on the right side of his groin.

But the 33-year-old school district controller actually wound up with two scars in the delicate region one on each side after the surgeon mistakenly operated on the left and had to start over.
Nearly as painful, Baccam said, was when he opened his mail a few weeks later and saw his health insurance had been billed for both operations.
Im not really a very litigious person, Baccam said. But thats when I got a little more angry.

Baccams going to court now, records show, suing Dr. Frederick S. Nuss and The Iowa Clinic, who declined to comment on the pending lawsuit. Its the principle of the thing, said Baccam, whos hoping for a settlement.
But if the mistake had occurred at a different time, or in a different state, Baccam might not have been billed at all.

INTERACTIVE

Does your state charge for medical errors?
Find out which states advise hospitals not to charge for serious, preventable errors.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23341360/
Click to expand...

25(2)+2 · Feb 29, 2008

Some people have no sense at all, and an educated idiot is still an idiot, even one with a MD.

bullhaulerswife · Feb 29, 2008

25(2)+2 said: ↑

Some people have no sense at all, and an educated idiot is still an idiot, even one with a MD.
Click to expand...

Sad part is, the Educated idiots, really don't see the bills going out the door. Its up to the worker bee's to catch this. BUT the doctor does do notes after the surgery, which go to medical records. He should have flagged the entire record somehow and made sure that there was NO CHARGE on either procedure.

dancnoone · Mar 1, 2008

My state is on the "NO" list of the interactive map.

But, I did have a flap with a hospital over billing. It was eventually turned over for collections, then it was flushed completely after my lawyer called them to ask when we were going to court. They had threatened to sue me over the bill.....bad mistake.

Patient - 1
Hospital - 0

25(2)+2 · Mar 1, 2008

bullhaulerswife said: ↑

Sad part is, the Educated idiots, really don't see the bills going out the door. Its up to the worker bee's to catch this. BUT the doctor does do notes after the surgery, which go to medical records. He should have flagged the entire record somehow and made sure that there was NO CHARGE on either procedure.
Click to expand...

Doctors don't necessarily keep records, they rely on others. I have found that out from a long life of various traumas and trying to figure out what happened later, when further treatment may have been possible but was denied. Doctors and insurance companies drive the medical establishment in this country, to the point where it's not up to the patient about what is really appropriate treatment. A patient can't see a Dr. or even talk to one on the phone without intervention from this establishment, at least, not in most cases.

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