Health care rant! A 13 year old friend of my daughter has an

[coffeenap]

unusual brain disorder. She has a stint in place, has to have MRIs two or three times a year. The condition will worsen as she gets older, but there are treatments if the deterioration is found in time. She went for an MRI two weeks ago. I asked her how it went. She told me her family doesn't know because the physician group won't even TELL them the results until her mom pays $407 for the "copy fee"! They don't have $407 right now.

OMG! (I will try to get her mom to borrow the money, or take it, from whoever is willing, including me.)

[Bassic]

1. They will withhold important information like that?

Holy shit!

[coffeenap]

2. Exactly my reaction!

[LaurenG]

3. That is a violation of the Hippocratic oath among other things

If there are no changes to the MRI, it would be bad enough but if there are changes, that is a red flag waving malpractice case.

Suggest that your friend lodge a complaint with the AMA and find a new doctor. However, it could be that the billing office is doing this without the physicians knowledge. They should write a letter to him explaining the circumstances. Most doctors will agree to payments, even if they are small. This sounds wrong on so many levels.

[a kennedy]

4. That is just wrong....

check this out:

http://www.offshoremedicaldental.com/

Just heard about this place....on the Joe Madison show. Tons of Americans are going elsewhere for their health and dental services. Would be great if we could afford to go.

[realisticphish]

5. do they not have insurance?

I'm not attacking them or anything, I'm just wondering.

And if there ARE changes, then this is one huge malpractice situation

[TZ]

6. It could be a in-network out of network thing

For a recent colonoscopy I got, it turned out that the doctor was in-network, but the place where the procedure (out patient surgery basically) was OUT OF NETWORK. I was recently notified that I am going to be paying $700 for this procedure (where I would not pay a penny if it was in network) because of that. However, that didn't effect my results at all. I have never heard of any kind of medical results being withheld due to a pending bill. Thats really irresponsible.

[realisticphish]

8. ah, true

i went to my school med center, which for some moronic reason wasn't covered by my insurance. But that was for an ear infection; I would think that for something like an MRI, i'd find someone covered. But I don't know all the facts :shrug:

[mduffy31]

7. They can't refuse to tell them the results especially if there is a significant change

vs the last time she was in. There has to be some staute that covers this. If they recieve any kind of Medicare funding they have to treat people no matter the ability to pay. I would have your friend check into state statues regarding this. Especially because cancer is not a disease to mess with.

[lizerdbits]

9. I have NEVER had a delay in results being given

My insurance is really weird in that they never charge a copay when I'm there but I always get a bill for $25 a few weeks later. For blood work I often have a copy sent to me and insurance rarely covers all of it. I get my results within a week and later get a bill for what insurance doesn't cover. This is really disgusting to withhold results even if there's no immediate danger of the girl's health.

[Lars39]

10. She needs to get the state licensing board, a lawyer or somebody

on this...it sounds illegal.

[bleedingheart]

11. Tell her to call the American Medical Association and report the physician

and also ask if the doctor in question took the Hippocratic Oath...

[Tyrone Slothrop]

12. She needs to see a lawyer immediately

[coffeenap]

13. Thank you everyone--I am going to try to get to the bottom of

this with the mom today!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

15. Call the State Licensing Board for Physicians in your state.

That's the licensing agency. File a complaint against the doctor with them.

File a complaint against the insurance agency with the State Insurance Board in your state.

Then go to a plaintiff's lawyer.

The American Medical Association is totally voluntary; it is not a licensing agency.

[BlueIris]

16. Yeah, ASAP.

N-O-W.

[radfringe]

14. in the meantime - write a letter to the editor

mention how heartless the healthcare system is, money grubbing and all of that

I can toss a few dollars to help out, pm me with an address

[sir_captain]

17. Was this an MRI done at some private suite or at a hospital?

If so, it's probably their doing rather than the doc's, who could actually be just as helpless in terms of getting the results. Medical labs exist to make money, and from their point of view, they're not going to release information until the service has been paid for, particularly for something as expensive to perform as an MRI scan (brain scans cost thousands of dollars, and unlike most things in the medical field, that's actually how much it costs to run the machine.)

Of course, this is a perfect example of why healthcare shouldn't ever be allowed to be in a for-profit sphere. Your friend should obviously have immediate access to both the services and the results, as is her ethical right.

In any case, until you get the full story, I don't think we can give you very constructive advice.

As for the stuff posted already, it is true that the AMA is simply an organization of doctors who publish an important journal and don't have anything to do with this sort of thing. And legally speaking anyway, the Hippocratic oath doesn't have anything to do with this either though there are those of us who take it seriously.

If this is a hospital-based situation, which I'm guessing it probably isn't, and if it's really the physician who is refusing to release the results, my first suggestion would be to get in touch with the hospital's patient advocate.

If it is a tech refusing to release results, your friend's daughter's primary care physician might be the most effective intermediary, if they have a good relationship.

In any case, good luck.

[Bjornsdotter]

18. Check your email n/t