One Saturday morning a cut my hand, and visited the St Davids Georgetown Hospital Emergency Room. I had stitches in both my hand and finger. The doctor told me to come back next Saturday to have the stitches removed. I told him I would remove them myself, which I had always done throughout my childhood and adult life. The doctor said "You might as well come on in, because removing the stitches is free". That next Saturday my wife and I discussed removing the stitches my self, but she insisted I go back to the St Davids Georgetown Hospital Emergency Room since the service was supposedly free. So I did.
Several weeks later I received a bill for the Emergency Room visit, to remove my stitches. We called the hospital billing department, and after a lengthy process, we were told that "Yes, removal of the stitches was free, but there was a $100.00 charge for the use of the exam room". This totally blew me away, since we were told that removal of the stitches was free... By the doctor.
We told the person on the phone that we would not pay the bill, and would fight it. They immediately, without hesitation said, "We will turn you into the Credit Bureau."
Well, for the next couple of weeks we would receive a call from the billing department demanding we pay the bill. We always re-iterate the statement from the doctor that the "service was free".
After several weeks of demands from the billing department, they turned the bill over to a collection agency.
I'm convinced they pull this scam quite often, and most people would rather pay $100.00 rather than deal with the calls, collection letters, etc.
0 comments