If you are a devoted and loyal reader of this blog (and there must be hundreds, possibly thousands of you), you may have wondered if after the last post the story was over. You are confused, thinking surely there is more to come, you will hear from me again. But then you think, wow, a lot of time has passed, and nothing. And my silence makes you start to think there could be nothing more to say. Especially after so long a break, right? So you think maybe that's it, we're through, no more. Honestly, you would be fine if you don't hear from me. In fact, you might hope you never do.
In that way you are like me. And the following story tells why:
The bills started coming after my many office visits, a stay at St. Al's, and the procedure done by the good doctor himself. And like most people I could not pay them all off at once. I did make sure to pay the hospital, the anesthesiologist, and so forth, but deliberately was slow in paying Dr. Bester. The amount was large (to me) and as time passed and I could see no improvement in my breathing (and remembering that great day in his office getting the stents out), I resented paying him.
So I paid a little at a time until I owed $522.35. The next month I wrote him a check for $22.35 and said to myself that's it. No more. Keep sending me the statements, buddy. I owe you five hundred bucks but I won't be paying soon. I determined (that determination which it seems sometimes erodes once the bills go to collections) not to pay him.
And to my great surprise, it worked! I know what you are thinking. A few months? A year? Well, since that time, I have never gotten another statement from Dr. Bester. It has now been over five years since I had the surgery.
Do you think you know why? Perhaps Dr. Bester fears us, as we have first hand knowledge of his carrying on with his nurse. Or maybe his billing system got screwed up or he lost our records. He might have felt really awful after reading MLB's letter to him in which she kindly and politely described her frustration from seeing that not only had the procedure failed to help me breathe successfully through my nose, but that my snoring (which previously had happened only when I would sleep on my back) was louder and happened irrespective of my sleeping position. Oh, wait, she wrote that letter but never sent it.
Well, I think I know why. I nosed around the interweb and it seems my man has been suspended by the Gem State's board of medicine. Why, you ask? Oh, just the result of (perhaps among other things) "complaints from various patients and the Board's own investigation regarding Respondent's training and ability to perform cosmetic or plastic surgery procedures and other issues." I don't know if getting your septum undeviated or getting a "roto-rooter job" (his words) on your sinuses is cosmetic surgery, so I will gladly throw my experience in the pile of "other issues."
So is it the end? I doubt it. Once that suspension is lifted, I expect the statements to start coming in the mail again. Maybe he will write it off if I ask him to contribute to my blog.
3 comments:
I keep getting the bill from Dr. Pop's office for $5.50, however. They can't let that go. But then, I'm pretty sure Dr. Pop hasn't been suspended in any way.
Ann is right. They'll spend $500 sending bills. But . . .
There's always blackmail. I mean, you do know he was carrying on with his nurse. You also know about his suspension, and why should you pay a person who was publicly acknowledged to be a hack/quack? And tell MLB to keep that letter handy.
Hmm. There should be more to the story. What about the part where you use this experience to find a real doctor and let him fix everything? And manage your medication. And control the pain. That's not too much to ask. It's how this story should end. So says Dawn the nurse.
Dawn your friend was going to disagree, but changed her mind.
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