about 3 weeks ago my son comes running up to my husband and i screaming and crying that his little sister swallowed a battery...a battery! she runs into the living room (they were playing back in his bedroom) and acts like shes got something in her throat but we couldn't see anything. so what would any concerned parent do? we take her to the emergency room to make sure she's ok. i know that battery acid can be fatal and she's just 2 years old, so we weren't about to wait overnight to see if something would happen (also this was around 8 at night so no doctors office was open where we live). so as we are driving to the hospital we're trying to calm our 5 yr old son down because he thinks the doctors are going to have to cut her open and also making sure our daughter is ok in the meantime. when we finally arrive she gets some x-rays done and the doctor comes in saying all it clear (wow what a relief!!). but recently we received her hospital bill and guess what??!! insurance didn't pay a penny!!!! i called and they told me that the doctor claimed that it wasn't an emergency...do you believe that? ok...did i not just say that battery acid can be fatal? let alone with a two year old! i'm fighting my insurance with this one and i also contacted the hospital and spoke with three different people...luckily the last woman i spoke with said if she were in my situation she would have done the same thing...finally someone on my side! she also does the medical coding and told me she'd send it in again to insurance...bless her heart.
so anyway i was wondering what you guys think and what you would have done in my situation. you know its crazy to think that people murder their children because they don't care and that some get away with it, but i think its beyond crazy that when someone does care about their kid...sometimes it just doesn't matter or pay in their favor in the end.
sorry for the long post, i'm just a little irritated right now.
thanks for listening everyone and have a great day!!!
What?!?! Even the suspicion that your child swallowed something poisonous like that is an emergent situation. Obviously, you should go to the emergency ward. If insurance companies aren't paying in situations like this, it's just not cost effective because then parents will wait until the child is having some kind of horrible symptom that confirms that something poisonous was indeed swallowed and then the cost of treatment will be far, far higher.
I'm sorry...you can't post to this thread because you're only a student!!
That's ridiculous. I'm sure the doc would think it's an emergency if it were his kid....I would have done the same. Fight this for all the good parents in the world.
thank you again for all of those with wonderful advice and support on my situation. i wanted to let everyone know that we finally won the insurance battle!!! they paid their part and it went towards our deductable...thank the good lord! it was a long battle, but finally put to rest. i just wanted you guys to know. thank you so much!
I too would call for medical attention immediately if I was in your scenario.
I recall during my 3rd year clinical placement, I was in Occupational Health setting.
I recall hearing this from my preceptor that insurance companies solely rely on a book of criterias of who gets insurance and who doesn't and the ppl at the insurance company don't really think outside of the box.
truern
2,016 Posts
I'm sorry...you can't post to this thread because you're only a student!! 