crazy or just stubborn

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65swb45

65swb45

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So I went under the knife yesterday to have a cyst removed from my jawbone....for the second time! First time was 16 years ago.

After the surgery, while I'm still coming out from the effects of nitrous oxide, they hand me this form to sign. I'm coherent enough to see it's a consent form. The consent is to send the cyst out for pathology testing at an outside laboratory. I read the form from end to end and I don't see any $$ on it.

I ask for an estimate. They tell me that since it is an outside lab, they cannot give me one. Not even a guess. So I refused. It strikes me as wrong on principle that they would ask ANYONE to sign a 'blank check' to a third party agreeing to be bound to unspecified costs.

What say ye? Crazy or stubborn? Cheap? Maybe, but I don't think my attitude would change if I had a million bucks.

As a mechanic, I am often asked by customers to give a guess what another shop will charge for work that is not within my scope of repairs. Sometimes I call the shop, sometimes I just give an educated guess based on what customers tell me they have been charged for similar services. But I wouldn't think of asking them to sign a consent to have me sublet work without an estimate.

Apologies if this is too serious for you guys. But you ARE my family.

Best

Mark A.
 
No apologies needed on my behalf. You did the right thing. hospitals and some doctors office abuse the system since they know you can resist to some things.

one of our collectors had a heart surgery. He had 5 of them heart pipes cluged.

The guy is fine and released from the Dr, but they charge him $20.00 per sheet to fax record w/ his personal information to our health services in Omaha. This reports it's not only one sheet it more like a chapter of a book. he's does not have much of a choice because if he does not comply w/ Omaha and be release by our Dr, he can come back to work.

I hear you Mark.
 
Was there a chance the cyst was "problematic" (cancerous)? Would your insurance have covered the lab work? How much, if any, of your deductible would have carried over? What would have been your real risk of out-of-pocket expense?

Those are important questions I would have asked... although coming out of nitrous isn't the best time to expect someone to htink/speak coherently.

If the thing is in the bio-trash can it is of no matter now, but I think a few more pointed questions (not regarding cost) would have been in order to understand what the physical & financial risks were...
 
Thanks to those who replied. Like I said, semi-serious stuff here, so I understand it ain't gonna go as far as a thread with PUBIC in the title!;p

FWIW, though I spend nine grand on insurance for the family, this is NOT covered. It doesn't really make any difference though. I can handle stuff like this when it comes along. Like I said, it's about principle.

I suppose it also affected my decision that I have had almost a dozen cysts removed from other parts of my body, several of which have been tested and all of which were benign. And I don't take well to those who try to motivate my decisions with fear.

Any other thoughts?
 
What setting were you in when the cyst was removed, hospital or office? If in the hospital, then my question would be why can't the hospital lab and pathologist handle it without sending it out? If done in the office then I would not expect them to have a pathology lab or pathologist and they would have to send it out. If that is the case, then I would ask what kind of lab. Are they sending it to a regular lab locally or a referal lab possibly in some other state. If a referal lab then why? A regular local lab should be able to handle a simple cyst. Do they expect something different?

As for the cost, I suspect they cannot give you one because they do not yet know what tests they need to do. They probably would start with a frozen section. If negative then they stop. If they see something unusual or can't make a diagnosis, then they may need to do special stains. If still no answer then they may need to send it out to referal lab for immunohistochemical tests (big bucks).

Consents are rampant in medicine due to the malpractice risk. I suspect the consent is to send the specimen or document your refusal to send it, and they just lumped the consent for the cost in there with it. Basically a complex way of passing the buck (no pun intended).

If your insurance covered the procedure, then they probably would cover the pathology costs including a referal lab for special tests if needed, but there is no garauntee of that. Insurance companies have the same complex mumbo jumbo in there policies.

My last thought is that it would have been much better to present you with the consent for pathology testing BEFORE the procedure was ever started. Then you could have asked your questions and they could have given you their answers long before they had a specimen laying in there jar with everyone standing around wondering what to do with it. Had they presented you with the consent before hand, you could have checked with your insurance company before hand or even decided not to have it removed at that time.

Having you sign the consent after the procedure and after anesthesia is just sloppy and not very smart.

Hope this helps. PM me or post up here if you have more questions.
 
A while back my doc asked me about signing a consent form for something or other. I told him that if Blue Cross Blue Shield covered it, I would sign anything to speed the process. If BCBS doesn't cover it, then the voices in my head tell me to track down the person causing my unhealthy stress, and put that sum bitch in the ground.

He smiled and said I didn't need to bother with consent forms.

HTH
Hapy Trails! N
 
I would trust your gut instinct. I think if doctors were required to give "estimates" PRIOR to doing any work like we are here in Calif as an automobile repair facility then alot of the rising ins costs would be a little more in control...

Having to stand there and explain why they want $20 to fax each sheet of paper is BS!

Tis the world we live in... :rolleyes:

Glad to hear your doing ok. Call me this weekend if you have a free minute...


Chris:cool:
 
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