ethics q??

[dmd87]

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Would you offer free dental work to someone who couldn't pay for it? (the correct answer is ''no'')

why is it no? saw this in interview feedback.

 

[Vicviper]

Yeah, it's really ironic and hypocritical. We had an FBI agent come and talk to us, and apparently, if you take any type of insurance or medicare, it's illegal to give away your services at your own office. Personally, I would have said that if I saw a person was in real extreme need, and had no other options, I'd probably do it myself.

 

[angelnyc89]

Yeah, it's really ironic and hypocritical. We had an FBI agent come and talk to us, and apparently, if you take any type of insurance or medicare, it's illegal to give away your services at your own office. Personally, I would have said that if I saw a person was in real extreme need, and had no other options, I'd probably do it myself.

Why did you have an fbi agent tell you this? Did they tell you in D school? & why is the answer "no"? I would do it if the person was in those circumstances.

 

[Vicviper]

Why did you have an fbi agent tell you this? Did they tell you in D school? & why is the answer "no"? I would do it if the person was in those circumstances.

Haha, sorry for the confusion, he came as part of an "ethics roundtable" thing we were having. There's also no real "right" answer to that question, it depends on how you want to appear. Saying flat out No when asked that during an interview would make you look like a total jerk, but saying No, and that you'd direct them to places where they could find the services they seek, that would be a better answer. Like I said before, personally, I think I'd still say I would.

 

[m1817]

How about doing the work and leaving the payment date open-ended to when the patient can afford to pay?

 

[Vicviper]

How about doing the work and leaving the payment date open-ended to when the patient can afford to pay?

Haha, well, really I don't think it matters too much, the FBI agent said that they don't ever really bust anyone for not charging people who need help, and that when they do go after you for that, it's only as an additional charge if you've been doing other things that are illegal. And I'm sure you'd be able to work out any finance options that you'd like. I hear one way to do it is to just bill them, and then not go after them if they don't pay.

Though, and I've heard this a few times since I've started, don't expect to be able to give away free services at your office left and right when you start, as you won't be able to keep your head above water.

 

[zsmilez14]

oops. Now that I think about it, I think I answered my question completely wrong.

I said that I would give them the treatment but I never said I'd do it for free. For some reason I assumed the patient would have insurance coverage, so I kind of revolved my answer around working with the budget that an insurance offers for dental care, and also providing the patient with the least expensive treatment especially if their case was an emergency.

Gosh, did I answer this "correctly"? Now I'm getting nervous!!

P.S. the question I got wasn't as the OP stated it. My interviewer asked me "What if after setting up a treatment plan, your patient tells you they can't afford it?" So, unlike the OP's question, "free dental work" was never explicitly stated...

 

[subdoc]

To be honest, I highly doubt an interviewer expects a dental hopeful to answer this question correctly. This is a "test the water" question to determine your thought process, character and morals. I would not sweat about your answer - although this question does bring some great debate! (Thanks, Vic!)

Luckily, every school where I interviewed have either ethics seminars or classes for the dental students. These types of questions are AWESOME for brown-bag seminars for students over lunch or be brought up in a group situation with dental pros.

I would urge all dental students to bring up questions like this in seminars for a great debate!

(I had NOOOOO idea on the correct answer.)

 

[doc toothache]

Yeah, it's really ironic and hypocritical. We had an FBI agent come and talk to us, and apparently, if you take any type of insurance or medicare, it's illegal to give away your services at your own office. Personally, I would have said that if I saw a person was in real extreme need, and had no other options, I'd probably do it myself.

Perhaps something was lost in the translation. The legality must be news to the thousands of dentists throughout the country that do precisely that. Or maybe you can refer to a specific federal law dealing with this issue.

http://www.ada.org/public/topics/access.asp

 

[salem21]

And what about all the hospitals that treat people free of charge? How is helping someone out in your office different than donating time at a free clinic? I'm not out to rip off the government by accepting Medicaid or other programs and then treating others who don't have it for free. This is the problem with our country: everything needs to have government oversight.

 

[Vicviper]

And what about all the hospitals that treat people free of charge? How is helping someone out in your office different than donating time at a free clinic? I'm not out to rip off the government by accepting Medicaid or other programs and then treating others who don't have it for free. This is the problem with our country: everything needs to have government oversight.

Yeah, I'm not sure of the specific laws, but I straight out asked the guy (an FBI Special agent who specifically investigates Physicians, Dentists, and other health care providers) if he was literally saying that it was illegal to give away services at your own office for free to patients, and he said that it is, if you take insurance or medicare - if you took neither, you could charge as much or as little as you wanted. Though he said in any practical sense it's not, because they would never charge you for that alone - only as an additional charge if you had done something else illegal.

As the link that Doc suggested, and as the FBI agent said, it's legal to give your services for free if you're volunteering for a charity group.

And yes, I agree, these laws seem rather silly.