In November, I sent the below letter to Dr. Richard Liebowitz, president of New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. I had the opportunity to stay in his hospital after I lost consciousness and hit my head at the library in July. I informed him that I would be posting this letter on December 5th in the event that I did not receive a reply. That is today. Enjoy!
Dear Dr. Liebowitz:
I now live every day in fear that I’m going to get another bill for my hospital visit during which I waited three hours for a single 10-minute consultation. The care was lackluster—near the end, I sat for thirty minutes holding a cup of my own urine, because nobody came to take it from me—but the zealousness of the various billing departments from which I have now received four bills totaling $1,500 is certainly commendable.
I am thirty and self-employed, and I am paying these bills out of pocket. I am happy to pay for care I actually received, but these bills do not seem to be associated with any real service. I have spent hours on the phone with various billing departments asking for a simple rundown of for what I am paying, and none could provide me with any reasonable explanations. One billing associate even told me, ”I have no idea what this is for.”
I have paid the fourth of these bills hoping desperately that it is the last. I hope that more than I hope to never faint and hit my head in public again, because lord knows I’m just walking home and refusing all treatment if that happens—I know that I will receive neither a diagnosis nor satisfactory treatment and will then be slammed with hospital bills for what feels like infinity, so I’ll just wait it out alone and hope I don’t die.
It is also important to note that this fourth bill came from the office of [NAME REDACTED], to whom I was referred for a follow-up during my visit. I find it extremely concerning that this physician presumably consulted on my case, although I never met him, and then suggested a follow-up appointment to reread the same chart, provide me with the same opinion, and charge me for a second visit. (I did not schedule a follow-up.)
I am writing this letter to inform you of how patently absurd, upsetting, and irresponsible your hospital and my experience with it have been. I would appreciate it if you would review the bills associated with my visit on July 25, 2018, and inform me as to whether you believe the care I received is of commensurate value to the amount of money that, again, I am paying out of my own savings account. In the case of your lack of response by December 5, 2018, I will be posting this letter, including the name of the hospital, to my social media accounts and blog.
I look forward to your prompt reply.
Addendum:
I recently had the opportunity to consult the medical record from my visit and noticed several errors. The most glaring of these is that no medications are listed under my history or home medications. I don’t recall anyone asking me about my prescriptions, but if she had, I certainly would have told her that I do, in fact, take a medication regularly.
I find this lack of attention to the detail extremely concerning. Once again, I look forward to your prompt reply regarding this matter.
I hope this goes viral!
Dear Ms. Berlinsky-Schine,
I just awakened and read your letter to Dr. Liebowitz and was outraged. Personally and frankly, I would suggest not paying any bills until you receive adequate explanation. Fainting and falling are dangerous things and should be treated as such. I wish your letter had contained a more complete description of what happened that day! (Just my own curiosity) Medical care in this country is highly inadequate and your example points that out perfectly. In short, you were overcharged for care you never received by careless, indifferent, probably overworked people in a truly messed-up system! You are right to expect better and to make your complaint public! Please count me among your supporters!!
Thank you, Ross! It was the second time it happened in a month and a half, the people who observed it thought it was a seizure. That’s why I didn’t refuse the ambulance. I understand triage, but I don’t think it’s fair to charge me $1,500 for essentially lying there for three hours, vaguely telling me it was probably fainting or something like that, and suggesting that I spend even more of my money following up with a cardiologist who supposedly already consulted on my case (didn’t know that he had consulted until I received the bill, since I never met the man, but apparently his initials on my chart are valued at $300). I didn’t do it because I’m a freelancer with a $7,500 deductible and was already anxious about the cost.
Dear Laura, Thanks for the helpful reply and good luck with everything, especially your health! I think you and I met once upon a time when you were working a booth for a famous publisher whose name I can’t recall, and I recognized you as my friend Roberta Schine’s niece! I am a documentary filmmaker. (www.ageefilms.org) And I always enjoy reading your thoughts on the subway etc. I really do think you’re doing the right thing to publicize your encounter with the hospital, etc.. We badly need a better healthcare system in this country! And your story is one of the reasons why! I do hope we will stay in touch! Good luck; I hope you never faint again!
I remember! It was maybe three years ago in DC. Thank you for your kind thoughts.