Hi! I'm curious about folk's general thoughts on an issue that arose when a friend of mine was hospitalized a while back.
He suffered a broken pelvis and was initially told by the ortho resident that he would need surgery. This happened in the evening, no attendings on site. The resident placed a traction pin through his femur and put him in traction with plans to go to the OR in a day or two. The next morning on rounds, the attending had decided that the fracture was stable and could be treated without surgery. (Good news for the patient). So they removed the traction pin, gave him some crutches and discharged him.
The issue that came up is this: he is being charged $1500 for placement of the traction pin that was essentially unnecessary. It seems like the resident placed it initially, and the next day the attending actually looked at the xrays and decided not to go to surgery. Do you think he should have to pay for this when the attending decided surgery was not needed? Any other thoughts regarding this situation?
He suffered a broken pelvis and was initially told by the ortho resident that he would need surgery. This happened in the evening, no attendings on site. The resident placed a traction pin through his femur and put him in traction with plans to go to the OR in a day or two. The next morning on rounds, the attending had decided that the fracture was stable and could be treated without surgery. (Good news for the patient). So they removed the traction pin, gave him some crutches and discharged him.
The issue that came up is this: he is being charged $1500 for placement of the traction pin that was essentially unnecessary. It seems like the resident placed it initially, and the next day the attending actually looked at the xrays and decided not to go to surgery. Do you think he should have to pay for this when the attending decided surgery was not needed? Any other thoughts regarding this situation?
