lady alone
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Virginia
My spouse died on 9/19 in an emergency room. The death certificate was signed by his personal physician and not the attending ER physician. I thought this was rather peculiar, so I called the family physician and asked whether he had been called to the ER, but he said he had not been, just read the ER doc's notes and made a call as to cause of death.
Since I am trying to settle the bills, I called the hospital and asked where the bill was, since it had been a month. The billing clerk first said the bill had been sent to the insurance co, then retracted her statement and said the bill had not been "dropped." I asked why, and she said the attending ER doc had not submitted a final diagnosis. That threw me and I said the final dx was death and there was a dx given on the death certificate, so what was the problem?
Then I asked to speak to the risk manager, who said the ER doc was on paternity leave and would not be back for six weeks. She said he had 21 days from the date of death to dictate orders, but he must have been busy thinking about his child's impending birth and forgotten to dictate his charts.
Is this usual? Or is this odd? I also had to pay a 50.00 medical examiner fee, as part of the funeral bill. There was a bandage of some sort on my spouse's chest, which I could see under his shirt. His chest had not been cracked or anything in the ER, so I am guessing there was some sort of medical examination after death and before embalming, since embalming does not entail opening body cavities.
I guess I would just like to rest a little easier about this, but something isn't sitting right with me.
My spouse died on 9/19 in an emergency room. The death certificate was signed by his personal physician and not the attending ER physician. I thought this was rather peculiar, so I called the family physician and asked whether he had been called to the ER, but he said he had not been, just read the ER doc's notes and made a call as to cause of death.
Since I am trying to settle the bills, I called the hospital and asked where the bill was, since it had been a month. The billing clerk first said the bill had been sent to the insurance co, then retracted her statement and said the bill had not been "dropped." I asked why, and she said the attending ER doc had not submitted a final diagnosis. That threw me and I said the final dx was death and there was a dx given on the death certificate, so what was the problem?
Then I asked to speak to the risk manager, who said the ER doc was on paternity leave and would not be back for six weeks. She said he had 21 days from the date of death to dictate orders, but he must have been busy thinking about his child's impending birth and forgotten to dictate his charts.
Is this usual? Or is this odd? I also had to pay a 50.00 medical examiner fee, as part of the funeral bill. There was a bandage of some sort on my spouse's chest, which I could see under his shirt. His chest had not been cracked or anything in the ER, so I am guessing there was some sort of medical examination after death and before embalming, since embalming does not entail opening body cavities.
I guess I would just like to rest a little easier about this, but something isn't sitting right with me.