pinkpurple
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maine
My son who was 6 came home from school with a fever, bad headache and neck stiffness. I called his pediatrician immediately thinking the worst...meningitis symptoms....I spoke to the triage nurse at the pediatricians office who gave me an office appointment for that afternoon and called me five minutes later saying she consulted the pediatrician and given the symptoms he would need to go to the emergency department instead of the office. I proceeded to bring my son to the emergency department at the local hospital. When we arrived we were checked in by a nurse who asked why we were there while a CNA obtained my son's vital signs. He still had a fever and was given a dose of children's Tylenol, which I assume is a standing order. We were then sent to the waiting room. We waited over 3 hours and we still had a good 20 people ahead of us. The place was mobbed and the waiting room was standing room only. I've never seen such chaos. Needless to say, after the first hour of our wait and the Tylenol kicked in my son started to feel much better, headache went away, neck pain subsided and fever went down. Seeing how meningitis symptoms would NOT be easily resolved by Tylenol, and we had already waited three hours with no end in sight, I made the decision to leave and take my son to an urgent care office where we could be seen sooner. Had we stayed at the ED where we arrived at 3PM, we could have easily been there all night and I was not about to put my 6 year old through that, especially where he was feeling better. So we left without being seen, left AMA, whatever you want to call it. I understand vitals were taken and a dose of Tylenol was given and have no problem paying a reasonable and customary amount for those services. When I got my bill of $466.00 I was floored. How could the five minutes of getting history and vitals and administering Tylenol come with a price tag of $466??????? I immediately called the hospital and was told that was their facility charge. I told the lady I spoke to I would need to speak to whomever the manager of the billing department was because that amount of money for what was actually done was highway robbery. I was refused and was told that a code review would need to be initiated which could "take a long time" and they would get back to me. Again I'm not arguing that I shouldn't be responsible for a small fee for what was provided to my child, I'm fine with paying a reasonable amount for what we received, but come on....$466?!?!?!?!?! That is just ridiculous. I don't know what will come of the coding review and I'm even more put out that I was denied access to a manager when I specifically requested one. Any advice on where I should go if the coding review does not come in my favor? And any snide remarks please keep to yourself. I want actual legit advice, not nasty remarks like I've seen on many of these posts. I don't need any more negativity, just solid sound advice. Thank you.
My son who was 6 came home from school with a fever, bad headache and neck stiffness. I called his pediatrician immediately thinking the worst...meningitis symptoms....I spoke to the triage nurse at the pediatricians office who gave me an office appointment for that afternoon and called me five minutes later saying she consulted the pediatrician and given the symptoms he would need to go to the emergency department instead of the office. I proceeded to bring my son to the emergency department at the local hospital. When we arrived we were checked in by a nurse who asked why we were there while a CNA obtained my son's vital signs. He still had a fever and was given a dose of children's Tylenol, which I assume is a standing order. We were then sent to the waiting room. We waited over 3 hours and we still had a good 20 people ahead of us. The place was mobbed and the waiting room was standing room only. I've never seen such chaos. Needless to say, after the first hour of our wait and the Tylenol kicked in my son started to feel much better, headache went away, neck pain subsided and fever went down. Seeing how meningitis symptoms would NOT be easily resolved by Tylenol, and we had already waited three hours with no end in sight, I made the decision to leave and take my son to an urgent care office where we could be seen sooner. Had we stayed at the ED where we arrived at 3PM, we could have easily been there all night and I was not about to put my 6 year old through that, especially where he was feeling better. So we left without being seen, left AMA, whatever you want to call it. I understand vitals were taken and a dose of Tylenol was given and have no problem paying a reasonable and customary amount for those services. When I got my bill of $466.00 I was floored. How could the five minutes of getting history and vitals and administering Tylenol come with a price tag of $466??????? I immediately called the hospital and was told that was their facility charge. I told the lady I spoke to I would need to speak to whomever the manager of the billing department was because that amount of money for what was actually done was highway robbery. I was refused and was told that a code review would need to be initiated which could "take a long time" and they would get back to me. Again I'm not arguing that I shouldn't be responsible for a small fee for what was provided to my child, I'm fine with paying a reasonable amount for what we received, but come on....$466?!?!?!?!?! That is just ridiculous. I don't know what will come of the coding review and I'm even more put out that I was denied access to a manager when I specifically requested one. Any advice on where I should go if the coding review does not come in my favor? And any snide remarks please keep to yourself. I want actual legit advice, not nasty remarks like I've seen on many of these posts. I don't need any more negativity, just solid sound advice. Thank you.
