I agree with this. It is certainly nothing new in the medical field that patients pay when they miss appointments (or can’t have a procedure done because they didn’t follow instructions), and it wasn’t the anesthesiologist’s fault that the surgery couldn’t be done.
I wouldn’t call it BS, but the claim that “Secondhand smoke is responsible for 50 percent of complications in patients who experience problems following surgery” seems unverifiable. It wouldn’t surprise me if it were true, though.
Just off the top of my head, one could verify it by studying the rate of complications in matched patients whose chief difference is exposure to secondhand smoke. If the complication rate in the exposed group is significantly higher, one could posit that the difference in the complication rate is due to the smoke exposure, and thus figure out overall what percentage of complications is caused by secondhand smoke.
I agree. However, if I as a patient show up for my surgery and the surgeon is unable to perform that day (emergency, illness, etc) shouldn’t I be reimbursed for time missed from work?
If that was a clause written into the contract you signed than probably, yes. It’s not however, typically in contract. Now I’m wondering what would happen if I had an elective surgery scheduled, and I had my lawyer draft in such a rider and insisted that the surgeon executed their copy too.
How much secondhand smoke counts as “exposure” to secondhand smoke? Do you have to be breathing it in deeply for a certain amount of time? Are you “exposed” if you just walk by somebody smoking on the street and get a whiff? What if you’re in a car and the driver’s smoking? What if you open the window?
Should these questions go in a separate thread?
I agree she clearly screwed up. No doubt she is at fault for not following instructions. I just thought the doctor’s office claim that if she does not reschedule the operation she will not get the 8K deposit (90% of surgery cost) was odd. I don’t see how they can keep her 8K when no procedure was done. The charge for the anesthesiologist seems high (3K) but I understand it–I don’t see where the doctor keeps the remaining 5K she has already paid though.
Except it sounds like costs were incurred if the anesthesiologist was an outside contractor (as opposed to someone onstaff).
Same reason as the anesthetist - they couldn’t schedule another surgery in there with no notice so the surgeon lost the opportunity to earn a living because your SiL couldn’t follow instructions.
You’ve probably noticed that respect in healthcare is a one-way street - we are to respect the healthcare workers and their time, but they make little effort to respect ours.
She’s paying for the surgery, they should have done it or refunded the money. In the unlikely event that a small amount of second-hand smoke could affect healing, she could sign a waiver if she tested positive for that. It’s a pure money-making scheme.
I’ll be off for a cigarette now.