7/7/08

Drama at the Surgical Center

Sooooo, I'm sitting here at the surgical center with mi madre, waiting for her to get her alien pod removed from her back:

"Well, after 30 years of having a subcutaneous lipoma on
my back with no problems (if it aint broke don’t fix it), I am forced to
have it fixed ‘cause it started to discharge. Gross!!!Phase 1 was yesterday
when my dear general surgeon lanced the lipoma. No…you really don’t want to know what came out. Triple zillion gross!!!!! Phase 2 will be in three weeks when I
have outpatient surgery to remove the lining and core of the lipoma. And for
those expats out there, there will be no packing and unpacking of the surgical
site. For medical info and picture on this procedure, if you’re so inclined,
go to www.aafp.org/afp/20020301/901.html."
Why is it that people act a fool when it comes to paying their portion of their medical procedures. This woman proceeds to get loud about her bill:

Patient: I'M NOT PAYING YOU $1000 TODAY!!!!

BillingLady: Well, ma'am, that is the balance due on your account to meet your deductable and cover the rest of your portion after insurance.

Patient: I ALREADY TOLD YOU OVER THE PHONE THAT I WAS ONLY GIVING YOU $500 TODAY!!!

BillingLady: Okay, who did you speak to? Let me check with them.

Patient: CAN WE GO SOMEWHERE AND DISCUSS THIS PRIVATELY INSTEAD OF IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!!!!

(Thoughts from the TravelDiva: Well, if your azz would stop screaming at these people at the top of your lungs, perhaps it would have BEEN a private conversation)


Patient (talking to her husband): I told them I could only give them $500. It is not fair to the other bills that came in first to pay these people the whole $1000. I need to take care of the other bills in the order that they came in.

(Thoughts from the TravelDiva: Looks to me like there is gonna be a long line of people waiting to get paid. Humph!)
N.E.WAY - they come and take my mom back to get her gear on and fill out a gazillion pieces of paperwork. The surgeon comes in and asks, "So, what are we doing today? Show me where I will be working." Now, I've been through this before, but the way it comes out sounds like the surgeon is confused as to what he is supposed to be doing. I'm thinking, like WTF! YOU don't KNOW?!!!! They just want to make sure that my mother knows what is going on - is her cognitive function is working properly and can make informed consent - yeah, okay. It gets to be hilarious when the assisting surgeon as well as the OR nurse comes in and asks the same dang questions. Does ANYONE involved in this little procedure know what da hell is going on? Just crazy.

They said 30 minutes and she's otta here. Yeah, we will see. When they pop out that alien pod from her back and it metamorphs into some huge creature bent on world domination, we will see what they got to say then.


2 comments:

  1. Those $1000 deductables will get you every time.
    Hi, came over from Gonzo's blog.

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  2. Wishing Mama Sandy a speedy recovery. Thirty years is a long time - I hope she gave it a proper goodbye!

    ReplyDelete