Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Milking

So I got the job at Mease Countryside Hospital that I've been waiting to open for a year. Everything has gone great with the hiring process. Yesterday I had the health screening (blood work, urine, etc.), and the nurse told me that a release will have to be signed by my orthopedic surgeon since I had my back surgery in 2009. No big deal. I told him that I would drop the release off to Dr. Pigeon on my way home and have him fax it back to her. I did that, and called to follow up with them today to ensure that they had faxed it only to find out that they won't fax it. They said that I have to go into the office to pick it up and pay a $35 fee for him signing the release. Are you kidding me!? This guy was paid $33,000 for my laminectomy and he can't put his signature on a piece of paper so that I can work? I've had releases signed in the past by other doctors and they didn't charge. It's a signature, and I'm not paying him $35 for it.

There are so many injustices in the U.S. healthcare system. It's a system that I will spend the rest of my life working in, but I hope that I can do my part to rid patients of these kinds of petty fees and inconveniences. It's such a shame.

2 comments:

Mom said...

Your right, that is so stupid for a doctor to charge for signing a paper. What an idiot. Also your right about all the petty stupid things a patient gets charged for and a lot of these people are on very low fixed incomes. This is now our country.....really sad isn't it. Love you.

Possibly any woman said...

So with no release signature, what does that mean? I applaud you for standing up against something outrageous.