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Review content:
My wife and I have been bringing the kids to see them for several years. We were very happy until they moved.
My daughter had gotten very sick, and we were in between insurance coverage by two weeks. We didn't know that the new insurance had a delay until after we arrived and they tried to bill us. We were turned away. The next day, our son got sick, and his insurance was in place because he has it through medicaid because of his level of disability. They saw him, but then while we were in the room, our daughter started coughing so bad she could barely breathe. She turned red and was trying to get the nurse to pay attention to her. Keep in mind this is a 4 year old child at the time. The nurse turned to remind us that they would not be able to even look at our daughter because she had no insurance. We understood, but what made it worse is that every one that came into the room after, purposely avoided even looking at her. She even tugged on one nurse's scrubs, and the nurse acted like she didn't feel it. It was amazing to see the level of coldness. The office NAZI (because she is) told us straight up that no one would acknowledge our daughter because then they would have to charge us a full visit fee. She told me that if I had $125 right then and there, they would see her. Well, I didn't have $125 right then. I told them I would have it in two days, but not sooner. She then turned her back on me and said if it was bad enough I should consider taking her to the ER. I asked if they would bill us, because we had been patients for years, and they knew we would pay it, and she said NO. So, to sum it up, she basically advised us to go to the ER racking up a huge bill as opposed to seeing my daughter and billing us when she was already in the same room.
The next night, we had to rush our daughter to the ER. She had a bacterial strain of the FLU that was extremely bad. The doctor told us that if we had gotten her treated sooner, it wouldn't have been so bad. Not only did the ER doc get us a prescription for the whole family(it was very contagious and we were all starting to get it), but he said he was embarrassed that someone in the medical community would refuse to see a child that was that sick.
For anyone who wants to comment, it wasn't that we waited too long, we had no way of knowing it was bacterial. The next day after that, they saw my son again and confirmed he had the same thing. It was then that I told the office nazi what I thought. She basically told me to piss off and that was just business. I reminded her that we were long time patients and our little girl was also a human being. She then advised me to come back when my daughter's insurance kicked in, and it wouldn't be an issue. I got mad and asked her what her problem was, and she shrugged and stated that she was just doing her job. I asked to speak to the doctor, and she told me that she would deliver my message. The next day she calls me and says that the doctor says sorry, but that is the way it works.
It wouldn't have been a big deal, but for the fact that my daughter being hospitalized could have been avoided if they had just billed us. After being their patient since she was a baby, it was the least they could have done. I'm sorry. Because of the ER doctor, we all got medicine soon enough to where we didn't get it anywhere near as bad as her.
What's funny is that a week and a half later, the office manager called me and said that now that my daughter's insurance is starting again, do we want to come in for a follow up visit. I politely told her where to go. What an ass. We found a great doctor now. A better office staff too. One that remembers that they took the hippocratic oath for a reason bigger than the money.
A footnote. This was last fall. Maybe the office nazi has been replaced since? Doubt it. No one seemed bothered by her behavior. Our new doctor and the ER doctors did find it all disturbing though. It wasn't just us:)
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