On Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 1pm, I visited the North County Health Center (a clinic) to treat a bacterial infection in my lungs. An old man with a beard and glasses, (Dr Joseph Walsh) sat me down in an examination room, and then asked an odd question. How would I pay my bill? “With a credit card, ” I replied, never thinking of what was to come.
He didn’t check my breathing with a stethoscope, but connected my arm to a clunky old machine. After turning it on for 5 seconds, he switched it off. When I asked how he expected to check my vitals with the machine shut off, he replied, “I have all I need.”
He dashed out and disappeared for over 12 minutes.
Then he dashed in, waving a narrow strip of chart paper about 18 inches long, (not the wide stuff he should be using). Emphatically stating that the single line inked on it with a small spike near the end indicated that I had a heart condition; he claimed I could die before reaching a hospital.
He then refused to treat me until I went by ambulance to Sarasota Memorial Hospital (about 3 miles away).
Well, I was a little groggy from my fever, so I didn’t catch on right away. But on the drive over to SMH, I photographed the strip. You see, what he didn’t know was that:
1) As a repair technician, I’ve worked with and on medical equipment, including those old style chart recorders.
2) (In exhibit {a} of this very clear image), the line is not only too thick (like a Sharpie extra fine), that ink also bleeds a little.(I’m familiar with this writing instrument because I just bought a dozen for my friend who says she prefers writing in green.)
3) If it actually wasn’t hand drawn, (and I’d be amazed if it wasn’t), it’s typical of those old machines to produce a spike when switched off. But 12 minutes?
4) Having lived up north, I’m familiar with this type of scam, (from an editorial in the Daily News)
5) Years ago, my paperwork vanished from a hospital, and they were paid trice.
6) My friend who has Medicare) says that every doctor she’s referred to “loses” her paperwork; and so, she is constantly being retested.

Wait, it gets better.

So, I drove there in my own car. At SMH, I informed their personnel that I had to get the amount of medical care that I could afford ($50-100), which is why I went to a clinic. They said that was fine with them.

So they hooked me up to a big machine and after 2 hours a man came in (A doctor?) and said, "I don't know why you're here, your heart's better than mine!"

So I explained about the lung problems I'd had since last August, then what Dr Walsh said at NCHC. "It could be cancer", the doctor implied.

Three boring hours later, a woman (a doctor?) took some blood. Later she took more blood, commenting that they may have found a CRP (I looked it up) that the heart produces when there's some kind of problem.

Dr. A saw me about 8:30 pm and made me promise to get a stress test, as I wouldn't stay in the hospital overnight. Finally, at my continued insistence, he prescribed an antibiotic for my lungs.

I never did get a stress test. On, Friday just as the antibiotic ran out, I dropped a plate on the countertop. A shard entered my wrist in the worst possible place. I had to glue the wound to make it stop. Then spend a harrowing night wondering if I'd bleed to death in my sleep.

Fortunately for my finances I stayed at home.

On May 20, 2009, I received a bill from SMH Radiology Associates for $ 26, which I paid promptly.
Two weeks later another arrived from SMH for $1, 893.06. It alleged that “I was responsible”, without explaining how or why.
So that day I went back to the clinic. But the manager (a woman) refused to talk about it.
Do think that’s suspicious?
Two weeks later, another bill came from Dr Avila (SMA) for $746. That's $11, 936 per hour for the 3m 45s we actually conversed.
That's 55 times what you make! That $2665 is more than the total I've paid for care in my entire life!

To date, I've received 2 copies of each bill and a validity letter from Gulf Coast Collection Bureau. However, though they claim I’m "responsible", they haven’t sent any documentation to explain why. No Law 101 or Uniform Commercial Code for them.
I'd never received any "menu" of expected services. Imagine doing that in a restaurant or any or other business. Nor any contract as required to be tended before the time of service.

Yet, abruptly all sorts of companies have approached me for health services, though none will grant me medical insurance at any reasonable sum, because of my “medical condition”.

In 8 months, I've received no anthology of services rendered. Most importantly, I'd really like to know If I'm dying of cancer! Or was that just an off the cuff remark?

Their robot phone system (see # above), provides no information. As soon as I speak my name it hangs up!

My friend in law enforcement explains it this way. They use a
“Pitcher” to provide marks. A “Catcher”, conceals the mark’s paperwork from hospital administration. And sometimes a staff doctor is involved.

If the bill is paid, they destroy the paperwork and split the money. If it isn’t paid, they send the documentation out for collection, as if it’s a legitimate transaction.

Now I guess if I’d had insurance, or throwaway money, or your predecessor’s inflationary dictates hadn’t reduced my income to subsistence levels, I would’ve just paid the bill.
And though when on 1 of the 3 occasions that I tried to inquire (I actually got a person) about absent documentation, (and still haven’t received any) they did mention that I could apply for a hardship reduction. However, that implies that a legitimate transaction has occurred!
Now my dentists do it somewhat differently. I have 2 different payment reduction plans with 2 different dentists. My first uses Dental plans.com, Lately, she’s been urging I switch from my Protective 200 Plan to Aetna, because then, I’d need to pay her $253 more than the $380 Protective says they should charge for a bicuspid root canal I needed. When I didn’t change my plan her assistant said their office didn’t do root canals and wanted to refer me to another dentist that charged $800!
So, I switched to Gentle Dental. Their plan, the Carrington 500 says the 8-minute procedure should cost me $304. But Gentle’s dentist, Dr B insisted upon referring me to his pal, Dr. D, who was supposedly on the Carrington plan, but charged me $716. Then back at his office for a consultation, he charged me another $88 to check the work.

On PBS some months back, a physician exclaimed with disdain, that English law forbade him to bill his government more than L200, 000 (Pounds) for medical services he rendered. I think that perhaps 98% of the world's population could live quite well on that amount.

Forty years ago P. Schuyler Miller said, “Law destroys the civilization that creates it, by replacing morality and conscience with empty words that no one listens to.”

I submit that in the last 8 years, some in the medical profession may have lost their consciences and morality. Perhaps the Hippocratic Oath should be renamed, “License To steal”.

These professionals seem to use “referrals” in the same fashion as organized crime uses kickbacks. (Which, I must admit, are really popular) If I’d done anything like this, even once in my 30-year career to one of them, I’m sure I’d ‘ve spent much time walking the exercise yard. Yet doctors especially sneer at law. After all, they can deny service at any time, thus legally murdering you. It’s like that saying, “Your money or your life.”