Doctors charge for social visits ??
By Kowgirl
@Kowgirl (3490)
United States
November 29, 2007 10:11am CST
When my husband was in the hospital there was a doctor from the same office, as the doctor that was taking care of him, that dropped in during his hospital rounds. He stopped just inside the door and said my husbands name. I answered with "Yes?"
He introduced himself and said Dr. Springer would be by later to check on him. Then he left. He didn't bother to ask how he was doing, nor did he even look at his chart or stay long enough for either one of us to say anything. About 5 minutes or less our doctor was there...We asked him if he had asked the other doctor to stop by and he said "no". So we just forgot about it. BUT I got a separate bill from him for $225 for a hospital visit. I took it to our doctor and asked if we had to pay this since we did not ask him to come by nor had our doctor. He said he would talk to him about the visit. We found out later that he had done the same thing to 5 other people in the hospital who was not his patients. Do you think this is right for another doctor to do just to make money? Should our insurance pay him just because these doctors share the same office?
BTW both names (doctors) are on the bill.
3 people like this
10 responses
@lillake (1630)
• United States
29 Nov 07
There are a lot of doctors who do that. When my second son was born, unfortunately in a hospital, a doctor there tried to send me a bill of $300 for the time she spent standing outside my room talking about me. Many doctors are in it to make mony first, treat people last.
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
30 Nov 07
No...that is wrong but i'm sure it happens all the time. When I was in the hospital years ago, the same thing happened to me with a few doctors. I was on heavy meds but I did remember a parade of doctors just "checking in". They did absolutely nothing but ask how I was feeling. I did not have insurance and so did pay close attention to the bill. I out and out refused to pay the fees for these visits. If I had insurance I may not have paid such close tabs under the circumstances.
@amirev777 (4117)
• India
30 Nov 07
Hi!
actually doctors profeesion is called a noble profession-but it is no longer a noble but only profession like any other profession-and aim of any profession is to make money-thats what the modern doctors are doing today-of course there are exceptions.
@smwilliams (647)
• United States
30 Nov 07
I worked in a hospital and what this doctor did to you is illegal. I cannot remember the correct expression for the term, but its a form of stealing... You need to first contact your insurance company and tell them what happened. Then you need to call your Actual doctor and go in and show him/her the bill you recieved. You need to make sure you tell them you are not paying for 5 minutes of that doctor not doing anything and neither is your insurance company. If they argue you can call the Better Business Bureau and they can direct you to the correct people to contact... I believe that pirating charges is a form of malpractice and if you dont do anything now then it will happen again to you and others.
@Tiredmama (21)
• United States
30 Nov 07
That seems unethical to me. I think you can only bill if they are doing something meaningful on the case. I would contact both the hospital and the physician about the charge. Also contact insurance and tell them that the claim is fraudulent. That DR should not be paid for this as being paid will only further this behavior.
@Grandmaof2 (7579)
• Canada
30 Nov 07
No absolutely No way the doctor should have been paid. No one asked him. This is a case of abusing the health care system and that's how it all gones to h&11. If more people put a stop to this kind of crap it would make a difference in my opinion. Take care my friend.
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
29 Nov 07
I think that is disgusting. I already made a comment about extras on hospital bills, but this is to me, an outright robbery...
@BayleighGray (4334)
• United States
29 Nov 07
Boy Kowgirl, you have the luck with those Doctor's! That's not right at all. How can he get away with that. I hope that you asking your Doctor about it has brought it to the attention of other people and it wont happen anymore.
That Doctors career will be short lived if he keeps this up, I would report him or somthing to the hospital or could this fall under malpractice in a way? lol It was in a sense, he didn't practice anything and charged for it.
Thanks for all these tips to look out closer at things like this. Many people just trust that their Doctor and the hospital are being honest, and from you own experience, they are not. Best of luck!
Bay Lay Gray xx
