What would you do
I had to go to emergincy for gall stones. It was the 4th time in a month and I finally was seen by a surgeon for a referral to his office to get paper work done to go on a waiting list (aus)
Anyhoo, he told me it was $100 for the appointment as he has seen me at the hospital. Normally it would be $250, if I was referred by a gp. I went to the appointment, to be told he was away at reception. I had to see another dr. Once I was done, I was told $250. I asked for the invoice and said I'd pay online. When I had my op, it was the original surgeon and he was pissed at the paperwork for aftercare treatment. He refused to send me home the same day like his co-worker wanted.
I haven't paid. I spoke to them, and told them that I should have been called and given the option to rebook. I wasn't even given the option at the counter. It was just "oh he's in an emergincy operation so you can see so n so" thinking I'd be charger the $100. I wasn't told about any additional charges
So should I continue to not pay it and only pay the $100.
20 Replies
I don't understand why treatment is so different around Australia. I had my first gall stone attack and went to emergency (didn't know what it was), they didn't send me home, had gall bladder/stones removed the next day, no charge. I would only pay the 100 and would send a formal letter outlining why.
They do this thing called triaging and decide who needs it done now and who can wait. That's all over Australia. Sweet Lord.
She was in agony, just as I was, so why send her home and not me? Also mine was only the first attack.
Sweet lord, we were given very different treatment for the same thing, gall stones.
They aren't appendix, they can't explode.
Do you really think all gallstones are exactly the same?
Gall stone issues vary from mild to severe pain, so you won't have been exactly the same. Also, how things are treated depend on resources at the time. If the hospital has other patients that are higher need, they'll reschedule lower need patients like this. Finally, public holidays are state government funded, so that will impact on how they operate from state to state too. If hospitals were federal government funded it would be more consistent across Australia.
I'm rural. Limited beds. I had 3 over nights for pain managment but never sent for an emergincy operation as I wasn't in risk of rupture. I was placed on a waiting list. Most ppl go on a waiting list unless things ate bad.
I was not at risk of any complications, just a couple of gall stones, in pain, as most people are.
I was given a choice, go home or stay in and have op ASAP. I decided to stay and get it done
No complicated medical history.
Pain stopped that night.
I was kept in and operated on 2 days later, I remember now, I was actually rescheduled from the next day to the day after, as there was an emergency surgery.
Again, as I said, seems unfair that others have 3 attacks and are placed on long wait lists.
This was a public hospital.
Then you obviously went on a day they had capacity to make that offer.
I think you're lying, there's no way they did it straight away if there weren't complications. There's no hospital in Australia, especially not a public one, that would be like "Oh you don't really need major surgery but if you want it you can get it done tomorrow". You see how crazy that sounds? If they really had no wait list then I highly doubt they had the right staff in place to keep an operating theatre functioning every day, that would be cut right back and possibly cut that whole section down, and those staff moved to a bigger, needier hospital. So many holes in your story.
I swear to God it is true. I WAS NOT KEEN to have the surgery and he said, it will come back again. He said, after the pain subsided, it literally just stopped after the attack after midnight that night, if I could keep food down, that I could go home. I vomited twice during the attack but was able to eat breaky in the hospital the next morning. Again, he said, I could go home but he strongly advised staying in and getting it done. This was in regional QLD. I am a single mum, maybe that's why? This is dead set the honest truth. I have ZERO reason to lie, this is MY story. When I said okay, he immediately scheduled me in for the next day, but an unexpected emergency came in, so I was delayed a day. I also was kept in a few days after, honestly, it's all very hazy. I remember he game me docs cert for 1 week only because he wanted to make sure I followed up with GP in 7 days. He said if I needed more time, I could get another cert from GP. I couldn't lift anything for 6 weeks. I remember someone saying I had 2 stones, they also removed gall bladder.
Also, they said it was routine low risk surgery. It was keyhole and to a surgeon, it is a nothing operation, I think like appendix.
It was NOTHING compared to the operations my son has had, NOTHING.
What hospital is it? I will fly there to get my sons tonsils out.
Cairns Base hospital.
If he goes to emergency in extreme pain, you might get what you want.
I also remember there was a surgical list and they told me where I was on that list, but I was familiar with all this, due to my son.
They probably scrapped my surgery rather than the others, because I was staying in the hospital and no longer in pain, whereas the others on the list were probably from waitlists and had come to hospital, prepared/planned for their surgery.
Also a regional hospital where people often have to travel far for their surgeries, so those people were probably given priority over me. I got the general impression they "fit me in" to their surgical list. Anyways, that's all I can tell you, no idea why he wanted me to have the surgery so much, didn't know at the time that other ppl waited to have their gall bladder/stones removed, or I would have asked...
Why didn't you see a gp after the first time for a referral? Seems like you were wasting hospitals time and not taking a bit of responsibility for yourself. I would pay the $250. Specialists are expensive, I pay $100 just to see my GP and expect to pay more than that at a specialist. You're lucky its not costing a lot more my partner is about to pay $600 for his first ophthalmologist appointment.
I was hospitalised 3 times for my attacks. When it comes to the surgical forms, they can't be signed by a gp. Only a surgeon can fill out the forms. Im going to assume you have never had gall or kidney stones. I put the pain up there, with my breach birth
What I'm saying is, you didn't go to the GP to get a referral after the first attack? You waited until the surgeon came to see you and gave you a referral. Hospitals don't usually like giving referrals to specialists they will always send you to your GP first unless its an emergency. Your case obviously was not. You're just trying to get all of that treatment for $100. The other surgeon probably had to squeeze you in and push other people back to get your treatment plan done. Just be happy you saw someone and got it done.
If you don't pay it, it will end up at the debt collectors.