Baylor Scott & White Surgicare reportedly billed an 18-year-old for an IV bag administered to him that anesthesiologist Raynaldo Ortiz Jr. had allegedly tainted, leading to a cardiac emergency during his procedure.
“My initial reaction is: this is putting salt on the wound,” said the teenage victim’s grandfather, Dr. Dan Wohlgelernter, speaking with Fox 4.
The family’s insurance company sent notice that it had received a bill for $12,903 from Baylor Scott & White Surgicare. However, the young man’s father was emailed by the North Dallas hospital on Tuesday afternoon, informing him that the bill had been waived in its entirety.
The family was nonetheless upset by the bill. “To have this heartless financial transaction that was blind to what happened here, it was painful, and I think irresponsible, to handle business as usual kind of attitude,” said Dr. Wohlgelernter.
He went on to explain that the teenager’s parents are still recovering psychologically from the incident.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Ortiz was recently indicted in federal court for allegedly spiking IV bags with nerve-blocking agents and other drugs at a Dallas surgical center owned by Baylor Scott & White. Authorities suspect Ortiz is criminally responsible for as many as 10 medical emergencies at the facility and one off-site death, that of his colleague, Dr. Melanie Kaspar.
Government prosecutor John de la Garza alleged in court that Ortiz was “nothing short of a medical terrorist” who planted “medical bombs” at the Baylor Scott & White facility he worked at in North Dallas, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Ortiz pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service awaiting trial.
“Aside from hurt and pain by this, I wish that Baylor were as efficient at assuring quality control with their patients as they are getting their bills out,” Dr. Wohlgelernter told Fox 4.
The Dallas Express reached out to Baylor Scott & White’s media relations team to confirm whether the hospital system plans on charging any of Ortiz’s other alleged victims, considering they may have been poisoned at one of its facilities by one of its employees. No one called back by press time.
The only thing I can think of for the parents of that poisoned 18-year old patient – is to sue the pants off Baylor Scott & White. Hospital are getting away with financial corruption in their billing practices and they need to pay for those errors. Patients should also, ALWAYS demand an itemized bill (whether they have insurance or not) because the more these insurance companies dole out the money, the more taxpayers are going to be gouged for out-of-control insurance coverage (whether it’s through the company the “victim” works for or whether they have their own private insurance coverage). The lousy governor of Texas (Greg Abbott should also be to blame for this), for not enacting legislation or working on getting it done, to make it mandatory for hospitals to provide an ITEMIZED bill (and not one that’s filled with a lot of medical terminology or hospital codes, but one that explains CLEARLY what the patient is being charged).
“Ditto”
The Governor has NOTHING to do with this at all. If you want legislation, the state legislature is the way to change things. It is apparent that you have severe leftist leanings and little understanding of legislative process. A governor can only veto or sign a law, not write one and impose it.
Also, it is unlawful for any medical practitioner to “pad” their billing. It would be fraud and a criminal offense. Whether you know it or not, medical kits used in operating theater are many times opened and made ready and then not used. They are billed because they were made ready in case of need. Time is of the essence in many instances and being ready saves lives.
In fact anyone in medical billing will explain much more to you regarding how this all works, Both Federal and State laws are already in effect.
I suggest you go back to High School civics and re-learn actual processes of government.
Well, I guess Abbott is trying to stop the influx of ILLEGALS coming into this state, which is the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S job btw. It’s just so easy for someone like you to blame him for a solitary issue like this. The man has a helluva lot more on his plate but you just sit around and cherry pick on something you think he should have looked into. I can list you innumerable things the dems are doing absolutely nothing about, such as crime, lowered morals and inflation, but you’re obviously too ignorant to acknowledge. Pelosi is leading us into a Pottersville.
This doesn’t seem like a news story. The invoice is automatically generated once the patient is admitted and is automatically issued when discharged. BSW realized the error and waived the invoice. Dumb.
Get over it Dr. Dan. We are the worlds suing champions. We sue for EVERY LITTLE THING!