Originally published at: Woman charged for crying during surgery | Boing Boing
…
11 Likes
So they cah charge extra if you scream about the bill?
20 Likes
I’d be back there and make that Doctor cry, bet on it.
34 Likes
Boy, when they say our medical care system is cruel and soul-less they really aren’t exaggerating. FFS America!
65 Likes
I had surgery earlier this year, and week in hospital to recover. I cried a lot when the pain was bad. But I wasn’t billed for any of it, and never paid a penny. The secret? I live in Canada.
Socialized medicine FTW.
51 Likes
Thanks for rubbing some salt in the wound; most Americans already know full well that our systems all suck.
37 Likes
Wouldn’t a display of crying, presumably from pain, be a signal that the medical team failed in their job to properly numb up the area?
24 Likes
It’s because they are liars and in the pockets of the medical industrial complex. But again, we’re fully aware of this - at least here on BB. I can’t speak for the low information populace that actually believe that socialized medicine is The Worst Thing Ever just because it’s not perfect but they typically don’t last long here.
18 Likes
“But think of all the precious freedom you’re missing out on!”
/s
Also, what Melizmatic said. Ouch.
4 Likes
They’re not even using that billing code properly. It’s supposed to be used for behavioral health assessment for specialist referral by the primary care physician.
37 Likes
Maybe they’re just billing her for the new Morrissey EP she picked up at the gift shop?
6 Likes
That’s actually a pretty good point. The ability to “consent” starts to fade when you’re under duress. “Proof of emotional distress” does not seem like something a doctor would want a lot of in their medical records.
5 Likes
Try walking a mile in this American’s shoes.
Quick personal anecdote:
Back in the before time, say November of 2019, the company I work for notified us that they would be increasing employee contributions for our already subpar health care benefits by a couple hundred dollars per paycheck.
Being working poor and just barely making ends meet already, that would have been detrimental for me - basically I’d have to decide each month which bill would go unpaid.
So I did what seemed like the ‘wise’ thing at the time; I kept my kid’s insurance and my dental/vision but cancelled the main policy - thinking I could go a year without health insurance… because after all, I’d done without before.
So what happens in January of 2020 just after my cancelled policy ended?
Fucking COVID 19 runs rampant throughout the whole world, and I get to spend the next year fucking terrified; because now if I get sick, I literally can’t afford treatment.
Luckily, I was able to work from home and avoid getting infected; even earning two pay raises, which I didn’t expect.
Needless to say, when the window to apply for health insurance came back around that next November, I jumped on that shit post haste, and now I have crappy subpar health insurance again.
I say all that to say this; you don’t know ‘annoyance’ like I do, not when it comes to the fuckery that is US “health care.”
And again, I’m one of the “lucky” ones…
51 Likes
But the taxes, man, the cruel, cruel process of squeezing you for every last dime. Plus the total lack of compassion in a socialised medical system! /s
26 Likes
One, thank you for talking about it and two: No, please, keep doing it. Perhaps some day it will actually stick and we can get enough people to actually demand that we get healthcare too…
18 Likes
Some 50+ years ago we put a man on the moon.
Here we are; 2021; our health care system runs like a carnival set in hell, doing near anything to make a buck.
No clue where stuff like this even origins, not to mention makes it’s way to a billing process. Kinda like a senior citizen staring at the price of a can of soup in 2021; I don’t want to even think about what this crap will be like in another five, ten, or twenty years.
Hospitals charging admission for families to visit? I’m sure that has been discussed at least once. 
7 Likes
Then people blame doctors for this kind of shit.
Key fact: if we get rid of health insurance companies we’d remove the single largest source of medical costs.
25 Likes
Actually there’s an extra charge if you want salt rubbed in the wound pre-op.
27 Likes
Gil Scott Heron got that way back
10 Likes
Man, I’ve been making that decision off and on for the past fifteen years. I totally feel you. Fortunately in NY, children are essentially guaranteed healthcare at amazing rates (basically Medicaid with income-tiered premiums no higher than about $50/mo). The gamble has been between my insurance coverage or the ability to put food on the table. Even when I have had coverage, it’s been absolute garbage. Mrs Peas has a decent plan, but a 3 hour ER visit for chest pain last year still ended up costing us $3000. The pandemic was actually super helpful to me in that way as NY State didn’t consider certain income and I fell below the threshold to receive Medicaid coverage. I saw a dentist for the first time in 22 years!
Me too. Isn’t that just sick?
24 Likes
