Heart Attack Patient Forced to Pay $5 Co-Pay Before Going to E.R.
February 5, 2008 at 5:32 am (Breaks My Heart, News, Rant, Strangeness, Women)
Tags: heart attack patient forced to pay five dollars, barbara antonelli, five bucks, doctor's office, co-pay
The photo on the left is Barbara Antonelli. I wouldn’t want to mess with her, even if she was strapped down to a gurney and having a heart attack? I’m pretty sure she could beat me up. That is honestly one of the greatest facial expressions I’ve ever seen.
Photo Courtesy Oates for News
Imagine you’ve just had a heart attack. Luckily, you’re at the doctor’s office, so he calls 911 and an ambulance arrives. As you are being wheeled to the red and white vehicle, a receptionist refuses to allow the gurney to go any further…until she receives the $5 co-payment for your doctor’s office visit. It sounds like a wacky health insurance commercial, but unfortunately, this is just what happened to a 76 year-old Staten Island woman (full story).
Barbara Antonelli, fished through her purse for a 5-spot, with breathing tubes flopping out of her nose. Finally, the unnamed receptionist was paid and Antonelli was whisked away to the hospital for emergency medical treatment. I’m sure she rested much easier in the E.R. knowing that she didn’t neglect her doctor’s office bill.
According to office policy, Antonelli was supposed to have paid the co-pay before she saw the doctor. Somehow, that didn’t happen. And you know how these elderly people fake heart attacks to get out of forking over $5 to see a doctor! Naturally, the appropriate thing to do in this situation was chase down the poor ol’ lady and demand the five dollars. Heck, they probably gave her a Bayer aspirin–she wasn’t in immediate danger of dying, right?
Naturally, doctors at the office are calling the incident inappropriate and said the receptionist will be disciplined. Meanwhile, Barbara Antonelli is recovering nicely, and probably looking for a new doctor’s office. She may even be willing to go to one with a $10 co-pay.
When I read stories like this, I just shake my head. I mean, really, how could Antonelli be so irresponsible as to not pay her co-pay on the way in to see the doctor? Who cares if she was having a heart-attack? It would be such a bother to send a bill to her house, or I don’t know, get her to pay on her next visit. Or maybe even forget about the five bucks altogether. If I was the receptionist, I probably would’ve just pulled it out of my own purse.
But to stop a gurney headed to the E.R. for money?
To endanger a woman’s life for $5?
Unbelievable.
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Lois said,
February 5, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I’d be willing to bet that the receptionist has previously been disciplined for forgetting to get the $5 ahead of time and was probably trying to cover her butt.
But yeah, just like you, Amy, if that had been me, I’d have just coughed up the $5out of my own pocket and not said anything to anyone.