A hospital in Colorado has demanded $ 1877 for ear piercing

Фото: Depositphotos

In 2015, Margaret O'Neill brought her 5-year-old daughter to the Children's Hospital of Colorado because the frenulum of her tongue (a strip of cloth that connects the tongue to the mouth) was too short. This condition is called "tied tongue", and because of it the girl could not pronounce the sound of teeth.

This is a common problem that can be corrected with a simple outpatient procedure—a small incision to lengthen the connective strip of tissue, he writes. NPR.

During the preoperative visit, the surgeon suggested piercing the girl's ears while she was under the influence of anesthesia.

At first, O'Neill thought her daughter was too young for this, and was also surprised by the doctor's offer because she did not consider this service a medical procedure - in the United States, you can get your ears pierced for free in many shopping centers with the purchase of a pair of earrings.

But the surgeon noted that due to anesthesia, this procedure will be more comfortable for the child and added that all the mother needs to do is bring a pair of earrings on the day of surgery.

O'Neal agreed, suggesting that the procedure would be free. After the operation, the girl came out with an operated tongue and small earrings in her ears.

Only a month later, her mother learned that the cost of additional work on ear piercing was 1 877,86 dollars, in the invoice it appeared that this amount had to be paid for “maintenance in the operating room” related to ear piercing, and the insurance company refused to cover these costs, because objectively there was no medical necessity in them.

At first, O'Neill suggested that the score was a mistake. Her daughter didn’t have to pierce her ears, and O'Neill would never have agreed to this procedure if she knew her value. She sent a complaint to the hospital by telephone and in writing.

But the medical institution insisted on its own: a woman is asked to pay or she will have to deal with collectors.

In addition, the surgeon issued a separate invoice for their services in the amount of $ 110, O'Neill paid the money, and decided to fight the hospital until the end.

After several months of phone calls and proceedings, it turned out that, according to the documents, O'Neal herself asked to puncture her daughter’s ears that there was no speech in the documents. The woman tried to prove that she did not even know that the surgeon could do this kind of service, and that their visit to the hospital was associated with a completely different problem.

O'Neal also attracted journalists to the case, and as a result, a few months after the procedure, she received a letter stating that $ 1877,86 should be considered as an “act of politeness”.

What was even more offensive was the fact that one of the girl’s ears had to be pierced again, since the surgeon had done poor quality work. This time, O'Neill did it at the mall for 30 dollars.

Surgical ear piercing is an extremely rare procedure in the United States, according to the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonprofit organization that maintains a database of commercial insurance policies. There are only a few cases throughout the country throughout the year. But this is not the only unnecessary procedure for which Americans are facing huge bills.

Experts estimate that the U.S. health care system spends $765 billion a year on unnecessary services and procedures—about a quarter of the medical industry's annual budget. According to a report by the National Academy of Medicine, in 2012, Americans spent about $210 billion on unnecessary health care services. In particular, doctors often do unnecessary tests just to increase their bills.

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