In my 9 years as a spine patient advocate, there are two 'worst cases' that I remember:
There are two worst cases that I've seen.
- A woman from NJ who was desperate for help was told that she needed a discogram before surgery. Insurance wouldn’t cover it. The center that did the discogram demanded CASH BEFORE the procedure. She gave them over $15,000 for her discography.
I can get a lumbar discography with post-disco CT for about 2K. A more expensive center with all the whiz bang (and only marginally necessary) equipment might be 6K for everything, soup to nuts. (that includes surgery center and anesthesiologist) IMHO, the doctor who performed her procedure is a criminal.
- A man from central California had unrelenting lumbar pain following a car accident. His surgeon who did a very poor job in his 2-level fusion (misplaced screws into the spinal canal), did his surgery for a lien on his accident settlement. This surgery should be about 60 – 100k… very expensive might be 150K. The lien on his settlement for surgery costs (for the INVESTMENT they made, performing the surgery) was for $265,000.00. For him, that comes AFTER the 40% lawyer’s take. That means that the first $441,000 of his settlement went to cover a surgery that should have cost less than ½. IMHO, the doctor who performed the surgery is a criminal.