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Labcorp Mishap

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robertrk

Member
What is the name of your state? Delaware

I recently went to LabCorp on July 10, 2004 to have extensive blood work and urinalysis(s) completed for my doctor. The extensive lab tests were to do a thorough check of all my various levels due to having two major surgeries performed in the last year. (6/9/03 and 9/2/03). The morning I arrived to have my lab work done, I signed in, awaited to be called up to give my health insurance information and such. Then I was asked to be seated again until they call my name. So after about 15 or 20 minutes, a lady called my name. I walked back and she seated me in the lab chair. She asked me which arm was better for me. I told her the left. She tied the rubber turniket on my arm and proceeded to draw one (1) tube of blood. She then removed the turniket and told me I was done. I then asked her if she was sure because I told her my doctor ordered extensive blood work and also a urine specimen. At this point, the lady asked, "how do you pronounce your first name?" I told her. She then asked, "how do you pronounce your last name.?" Again, I told her. By the way, both my first and last name are very, very common. She then said, "No, blank blank just left here a few minutes ago." I told her I didn't know if she had two of us there with the same name but that I was who I said I was. I showed her my license. She then said, "Oh this is great! It has been a very chaotic morning and this is about the 3rd time this has happened!" Then she told me to wait in the chair for a few minutes. She was talking to another tech and then someone out in the office. She then came back and said, "I will have to re-draw you." She said she would keep the one tube of blood she already drew from me and would place the correct label on it. She proceeded to draw two more tubes of blood from me. Then handed me a cup and told me to give a urine specimen and leave it on the counter outside the bathroom. I did such and then left. Well last week I called my doctor to see if my results came back. I also explained to my doctor what happened at Labcorp. My doctor said he would not want to make a diagnosis from the reports he received because they could actually be in error. I called Labcorp and asked to speak with the manager. The manager was not there but someone acting in the manager's absence was there. I told her what happened on July 10th. She said she was aware of this because she was actually there the morning of July 10th. She put me on hold. She came back and said the person that drew my blood said she believes she relabled my bloodwork. I said believing and knowing is two different things. I explained how important it is that I make sure I have the right lab work/results because of the last two surgeries and some other issues. This person put me back on hold, came back and said she spoke to her supervisor who advised they cannot just redraw me for my piece of mind. I again said, it is not a matter of my piece of mind. It is a matter of accuracy and receiving the correct results/diagnosis(s). She said she cannot redraw me unless she gets another lab slip from my doctor. I told her that would not be a problem because my doctor is doing this anyway. I also told her that she should not be charging my insurance again for this either since this is their mistake. She advised she has no control over that. So I called my insurance company and told them what happened. They have my account flagged in case LabCorp tries to bill twice. Later this day, I was conferring with my pharmacist who was reading my lab results. He noticed on the lab results that Labcorp had listed on the report: OCCBlood (Negative). This is really bad. The reason why is because I also showed my pharmacist a copy of the original lab slip my doctor ordered. Not anywhere on the doctor slip did he order a stool specimen. Now I can certainly tell you that I did not give them a stool specimen either. So therefore, this is just further proof that Labcorp has my lab results screwed up with someone else. Now I have to go back to them on Monday to be re-drawn. I am not very confident with them any longer. However, if they ask me for my insurance information again, my insurance company told me to leave and not allow them to do the testing again. So my question is: Do I have any recourse against LabCorp? Is there anything I can do? I realize mistakes happen. However, they are not being very cooperative about it. This could potentially be very bad for anyone else getting wrong results or a misdiagnosis as well. Would it be worth speaking or seeking legal advice or would I just be wasting my time? Can anyone please advise? Thanks so much in advance for any suggestions, help and support!
 


ellencee

Senior Member
robertrk
I wish I could offer you an error-proof method of having anything done but I can't. You can either go to LabCorp and give them your insurance information, watch them label the tubes of blood, verify the billing statement against the tests ordered, and let your insurance company handle any double billing charges, or you can ask your MD to allow you to go to the hospital's outpatient lab and have your tests done there--but, that leaves you with two lab bills (one from LabCorp and one from the hospital). Your insurance company should be the one to rectify this situation by not paying LabCorp and gaining LabCorp's 'no patient billing'. If you can't get the original billing at LabCorp resolved, you may have to take them to small claims court to recoup your money.

EC
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
Your doctor should have a copy of the original lab slip unless it was called in, that should be enough proof that the results sent to your doctor belonged to some one else since your doctor didn't order OCCBlood your insurance company should be able to resolve this so just go to another lab with your doctors orders.

In this post HIPPA world many labs assign numbers and call you by the number, verify with picture ID, birthdate and SSN, just so mixups with common names don't occur. Since you have a common name you might make a point of asking to be called by a number or something unique. You might want to suggest in writing administrative changes along with a complaint. It sounds like very sloppy lab practices. If this is a small lab, it may be more difficult, if it is a larger lab, the results should have a main number to call, call that and get the issue resolved, ask your doctor's office to call. Ask to speak the the head pathologist reguarding the "quality issue", they won't speak to you as a patient otherwise but once they hear those words, they will because they are responsible for the work performed in the lab under them and they are likely to resolve it more than someone tryig to save their own B___.

I once was double billed because they ran the same set of tests twice. I only knew this because I requested copies of the test results and there were pages and pages and the results didn't match. This happened because one of the tests required frozen sample and the other refridgerated, so they ran all of the tests twice, once with each method, producing a double bill and different test results some of which were abnormal. The matter was resolved very quickly, you at least have something showing an error. It is important to make copies of lab slips and also request copies of your lab results, sometime they will provide these upon request and or your doctor will.
 

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