Please see that this gets to the proper authorities.

Hello to whoever this may pertain,

When we brought our daughter into Aultman Immediate Medical Care in June, she was not in much pain, but we still brought her in because we were concerned about Appendicitis. Yet at Aultman Immediate Medical Care they could not diagnose her as they felt they needed to, and told us to take her to the emergency room. I still wonder if it was necessary to immediately take her to the emergency room, and wonder if not rather we could have waited just a day or so to have her checked out. Her abdomen was not greatly sensitive or painful as some we were told about, who suffered from Appendicitis. One reason we took her to the emergency room as advised, was because we have heard of situations where parents got in trouble with the law for not giving the medical care as advised.

Our income is low enough that I believe we could get numerous Government aids, which we don't take. We rather save where ever we can, and try to live within our own income. We have no medical insurance, and so far have paid all our own doctor bills. In this situation we also wanted to keep things as basic and affordable as possible, and thus did not take numerous tests and a pain killer which would have been given our daughter, had we not spoken up. One reason I did not want to give my daughter a pain killer was because I wanted her pain, which was not so great, to be a gauge of how she was doing. Yet at the emergency room they felt they needed to at least give her a Cat Scan which we agreed to. A doctor closely involved with your hospital recently had told us he thought Can Scans cost about $500.00. In this Cat Scan we did not want to add anything intravenous which they agreed to, and thought they could get a sufficient reading from the special liquid she had drank. Yet about 2 months after our visit we learned that two Can Scans were taken, and which cost close to 1000.00 each, even without the intravenous contrast substance.

After the Cat Scan was taken a doctor came to our room and said the Scan revealed it was not Appendicitis and rather some inflammation of the colon. Yet this doctor said our daughter still needs to be admitted to the hospital and there be given intravenous antibiotics. He also spoke about other tests that might need done, and made it sound very serious. I think he even spoke about surgery. I told this doctor that our daughter was not that sick when we brought her in and we were going to take her home and then decide what to do. I told him I would like to put her on oral antibiotics, and said God already did big things in my life, and I knew God can do big things even with little things. He said trying to cure her with oral antibiotics was like trying to cut down a tree with a butter knife. He also said we would need to sign an AMA (against medical advice) before leaving which I was willing to do. Yet just as we got done with this discussion, suddenly the doctor who had seen us first came in while the other left, and this doctor before we had time to say anything, said my daughter's condition was not that serious and said we could take her home and put her on oral antibiotics just like we hoped to do! It was amazing. This doctor said to save some cost we could get the antibiotics from a pharmacy rather than at the hospital which we did. Thank God our daughter got better fast. A few days later we were out picking raspberries. Sometimes I wonder if an old fashioned family doctor might have simply felt my daughters abdomen and said this does not seem like Appendicitis, and then given her the antibiotics she needed without these tests.

Now regarding my medical bill, I had paid two bills which totaled a little over 500.00 and thought I had paid the whole bill. I was very happy it was not more. But close to two months after the hospital visit, we suddenly received another surprise bill for over 2000.00 dollars. I hope that is all the bills. I now fear what the total bill might have been, if I taken all the normal tests, and my daughter been admitted as the first doctor said needed to be done. These kind of bills are making many people scared to even go to the doctor at all, and thus people that need basic and reasonable medical care do not get any at all. The sick and afflicted need practical and basic help, not excessive tests and robbed in exchange for getting the help they need. Jesus rebuked the doctors and lawyers while on earth, and what would he tell them in our day? In our day the personal care of the well known family doctor is disappearing, while rather you go to some medical center as a stranger, and then a stranger comes out to treat you, and when you come back another stranger might treat you. Is this good and progress?

It has impressed me that if the service station that serviced my vehicle operated as today's medical society I would get a bill from the service station that serviced my car, more bills from the mechanics, and even more bills from the technician that read the tests. Further the service station could not even tell me a total of the cost, because they would not know how what the mechanics might charge. Further this garage might take all kinds of tests on the car that really are not necessary, and then charge the government, or insurance company, or individual a shocking price for it. The end result of our medical society operating too much like this is that our government is going broke, businesses who provide health care have a tremendous additional costs, and cannot compete with foreign made goods, and personal health insurance is almost unaffordable for many.

Now back to my personal bill, I noticed two Cat Scans were taken which cost about 1000.00 dollars each, while I wonder if both were really needed. Considering that they cost close to 1000.00 could not just one have been taken and then if necessary the second? In conclusion my plans at this time are to pay for the reading of both Cat Scans, pay the doctors fee, pay the emergency room costs, pay the Medical Center that sent me on to the Emergency room (and this without any government aid), yet not to pay for the one Can Scan. If that payment is also demanded I likely will seek some aid from Uncle Sam, and help him go broke like many others are doing. Yet I really hope you will not demand it. When I consider that Uncle Sam might get me in trouble if I do not take the medical advice of the AMA (American Medical Association), I think he possibly should help me pay what it costs to take such advice. Yet I fear Uncle Sam is significantly controlled by some greedy people who want to force the people to take their expensive treatments, and who are helping bring the USA into bankruptcy.

Regarding getting aid from Uncle Sam, this money does not come from nowhere. If I when elderly, can't pay my medical bills, and my own children can't or don't want to help pay them, should I then expect Uncle Sam to freely pay them, as such in reality is nothing more than expecting my American neighbors to pay the medical bills that I and my children can't or don't want to pay. Yet it appears many elderly American people simply expect Uncle Sam to pay their medical bills, and while they might continue to live in significant luxury, and while people in other countries cannot afford even basic health care. Further our Medical Society seem to expect the same from Uncle Sam, and although they might charge and exorbitant price for their services. I am amazed the American system of charging absorbent bills to Uncle Sam has not collapsed already.

Further, is it moral for us Americans to spend large sums of money for medical treatments that have a quite slim chance to help, or on very elderly persons, and while many others in other parts of the world cannot afford basic medical treatments that are certain to do much good and for just a fraction of the money we Americans might spend on medical tests and treatments that have great uncertainties and limitations about them? Some might expect Uncle Sam to spend a quarter of a million dollars to care for a premature or deformed infant, possibly claiming it a moral duty to human life, and although that cost would cause many normal families great difficultly if they had to pay it themselves. Yet it is incredible that some who think such to be a moral obligation to an undeveloped infant, and expect Uncle Sam to take the cost, might then freely use contraceptives and might even expect Uncle Sam to sanction them when they kill an infant of the same development in the womb in the act of abortion. Thanks for reading and may God have mercy on us.

Note I did not deduct the 10 percent which I was told I could if I paid this soon.

Sincerely Yours

Amos Bender

Amos: Good letter and post!

That is a good anecdote from the patient side. Now, look at things through the doctor's eyes. He is in jeopardy of litigation every time he opens the examination room door. To be fair, research a day in a doctor's life and report on it.

That's true OS, and yet there were two doctors, one who apparently ordered expensive tests, medication and hospitalization to cover his tail, and another one who used reasonable good judgment and prescribed antibiotics and sent the girl home.

My son got busted up after playing on the 4 wheeler or something like that, so I took him in for xrays. He is 14, so I told him he had to pay for them. (which he later did)

anyway, my understanding, but do your own due diligence on this matter, there is a principle in law that requires that any required thing to not have to be signed for. If they insist you sign, it is not a right of the state to enforce but rather a privilege done enforced by consent. The doctors decided that my son was okay but needed more test in a week. I didn't mind taking him in if they wanted to pay for it, but he was just fine if we had to pay.

They called me up and told me I had to bring him in for further testing. Now
I asked them if the law required this, or if it was generally a good idea but not necessarily required? I told them that if he had to come in, I would bring him in, but I would not sign for it.

Had it been required, I would have brought him in, but on the forms I would have signed them "order of doctor so and so by my signature but not personally".

This puts him or the system in legal requirement to do the work and pay for it.

Without the contract, they cannot enforce payment, but they cannot turn down state required health care. If you put them on notice like this on any matter you disagree with them with, that will tell if they really need the work done!

Amos your trip to the ER could have gone like this.
On a thurs morn I got up feeling like I had a UTI, just didn't feel good. But since this day is the funeral of our friends only son, we are serving lunch and ushering. so off we go. the farther the day went, I just felt bad off and on and gradually worse. We stopped at my Dad's on the way home and then when we got home, I mowed the lawn and fixed us some supper. We got a really bad storm and LM was out in the shop working on a lockjob when I collapsed doubled up in pain and heaving my guts from the pain. I'm thinking : I have got to get ahold of him but there is no phone out there and How in the world am I going to crawl out there, its raining cats and dogs and lightning too. just as I remember that his cell phone now works at home. the phone rings and he walks in the door. I take a vicodin thinking that it may at least take the edge off the pain so I am not rolling. then inform him while he is still on the phone with his boss that he needs to tell him that he is on the way to the ER with his wife. about 20 minutes into the 30 minute trip, the vicodin kicks in, so my already high pain tolerance allows me to relax to a 2 instead of an 8. so I walk into ER and tell them, I either have a severe UTI or kidney stones and probably the stones.
What's your pain level?
a 2
So why do you think that you are having a kidney stone attack?
Cause its the only thing that makes me heave from the pain and it is going down the front of both of my legs and making the muscles cramp up.
So they do a urinalysis and bloodwork.
DR comes back. " there doesn't seem to be anything really wrong with you so there is no need for anything else. You probably have a pinched nerve in your back causing sciatica and that may do this to you."
Me," Look, I have had sciatica and I have had kidney stones and this is not sciatica."
Dr Reluctantly" Well I guess we could do a CT scan."
Me," You do that"
Go for CT.
Dr returns " well I guess you do have kidney stones. You have a 2.5 mm one, halfway between your kidney and bladder and a 5 mm in your left kidney and you have a 3 mm one on the right side."
He did not mention that that one was not in the kidney either. then he says to me. "We will give you a prescription for pain pills and you can call your Dr next week."
Nurse comes in with release papers, "Here is the instructions for your pain meds and here is the instructions for your nebulizer, you have used one of those before, haven't you?"
Me, "well, yah I have, but can you tell me what med you are putting in the nebulizer and what it will do in relation to my kidneys?"
Nurse, "Don't you have breathing problems or asthma?"
Me,"No, I'm here for kidney stones, I think that is a different part of the body"
Nurse runs from the room, comes back a couple minutes later. "Sorry that is a clerical error on the part of the DR" I still went home with 4 pages of directions for the nebulizer I didn't get, along with my release papers.
Fri morn 9am I am on the phone with urologist office. Told them I was in ER nite before and they need to call hosp to get results of tests. 20 minutes later I have an appt for 11:30 am that day, I have stones coming out of both kidneys at the same time, a rare condition.
Pass a stone that afternoon. 2mmx3mmx4mm
Mon am go to hosp for flat XR. then to Dr office with stone. He's excited cause he thinks due to the size I have passed the one on the right. the side he worries about because of the damage done 4 yrs ago. XR doesn't show any but the one in the kidney. So he asks, Do I want to sit around for awhile till the other one passes. I tell him I can, cause I am not on any pain meds since fri, but I am so fatigued by it that I cannot do anything. so he orders another CT to find out where we are now. come home and return to hosp for 5:30 CT. sit and wait for Dr to get results. He calls to talk to me. Says it is the one on the left so that means that the one on the right is larger than it shows in the CT. He says what do you think? I say "I can wait it out, but now that I think about it, I have been having an intermitent backache for a couple months and just attributing it to Mowing 2 acres with a push mower and tilling the garden." That was it.
DR "That means it could have been there for awhile and we can't take that chance on that side."
So Wed I had surgery to take it out, it was 4mmx4mmx7mm.
If you think that is small, look at your ruler and relate that to running thru a tub the size of a pencil lead.
The end result, I still have a stone in my left kidney. I spent the entire month of July flat on my back, am now doing about 1/4 of what I could do a few months ago. Have been diagnosed with Fibromylgia/chronic fatigue syndrome apparently tipped over by the severe body stress of the kidney stone attack and have been classed as disabled with a 25 lb load lift limit.
The bills so far have totaled approx $13,000. Fortunately I have insurance which leaves approx $2000 to pay.
My family DR has threatened to write on the front of my chart in big letters "THIS PATIENT'S BODY DOES NOT FOLLOW NORMAL PROTOCAL" and Urologist agrees.
All I can say is LM got jipped when He got me cause I cost about $15000-$45000 in med bills about every 2-5 yrs. But he told me again this am, he loves me. So I think that we should be good for another 30 yrs.
We are still alive and going, have work, food, a roof over our heads, can walk and talk, and hug our children and grand children. We may be taxed and billed to death but we are not being shot at or starving. And I have met some really neat people now that I am working with the disability office, while they are trying to find a job I can do and get me funds for hearing aids too. Yes the medical system seems to have a problem. But I am really glad for the ones that I have ended up with that actually listen to me and work with me to help me get fixed. And this time at least, I did not have the 24 hrs to live deadline that I have faced several times before. Yes it may take a bit to get the bill paid, but it sure beats that alternative that I would have had, if I had not been persistant and made sure that I got the care I needed. And I am glad for the priviledge of having a Christian Dr that actually listens when I tell him what is going on.
I know that I have to go with my instincts and insist on necesary care sometimes that costs more than we can afford, but often means the difference between life and death. Like for my son 2 yrs ago when He had appendicitis and they said, He is so thin that his appendix doesn't show up on the CT and I refused to take him home and 2 hours later someone put his CT in 3d, said he does have appendicitis and his appendix burst as they were taking it out. I personally prefer the alive and well version to the disaster one.