how do get out of paying a med bill for a sx i didn't need! no lawers will even listen to me.?
490550
They probably ARE listening to you. They are just not agreeing with you. They could not have removed your appendix without your express written approval. And they have it. If they didn't, they would be "listening" the way you want them to. That is why it is of immense importance to READ EVERYTHING before you sign it.\nYou will most likely recover no money nor  a bill reduction. Sorry.\n\nBTW...the ovaries and the appendix are not really THAT close to each other (I have had my appendix removed, so I know where the scar is.) In general, it would not be easy for him to just casually remove the appendix while "cleaning up" the cyst surgery. They are probably taking that into consideration, too.\nI wish you well.
1026323
Contact the manager of the lab and let that person know that you feel that the doctor should be liable for this bill because the doctor prevented you from the proper course of action and ask the manager to redirect the bill to the doctor.  It doesn't hurt to ask.  I have had similiar situations and because I was persistent ...they finally gave up.  But you may want to choose a different doctor.
1158206
it's easy go to the court house with the services rendered bill and any subsequent billing. it is then their problem to show they have paid or go to court and prove why they shouldn't. keep all communications on record.
63535
The above: wow.\n\nBut as to your question (which is really two questions....how to do it, and do you have a chance):\n\nI'd start with the ambulance company.  Call or write and ask if they have a procedure to dispute a charge.  If they don't, ask what they suggest you should do if you want to dispute the charge.\n\nDon't know what state you're in, but in my state, ambulance companies are licensed and/or regulated by someone...the city, the county, the state, or whoever.  Find out who that is, and contact them with the same questions.\n\nIf you can afford to do so, contact an attorney.\n\nI would wonder, however, did you ask about the cost of the ambulance?  Don't know why you would expect anyone to tell you if you didn't ask.\n\nDid you ask if you could have your spouse drive you?\n\nAnd finally, did you think this was going to be free?  I'm not trying to be a smart-a$$, and maybe there's a good reason you didn't ask these questions at the time, but if you could have asked before the ride, that certainly seems like it would have been a better time to ask than now.  Best of luck with it, though.
644911
The advice to call the FTC, or your Representative or Senator....please don't waste your time.  What a crappy bit of advice!\n\nNot sure what the insurance company is doing, start by calling them and get info.\n\nBut you did say you have proof the bill was paid, so lets go along that angle.  Paul M is correct, you simply need to read the Fair Debt Collections Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act.\n\nFollow my instructions....I've played this game before and it will work for you.\n\nSend a "demand to validate" letter to the collection agency.  Use the sample letter below.  By law, they have 30 days to send you proof that you owe this debt.  That includes contracts, bills, receipts, and everything used to calculate what they claim you owe.  Also include a cease and desist notation in the letter so they stop calling you and bothering you.\n\nSend a letter detailing your dispute to the credit reporting agencies that are listing this debt.  By law, they must investigate this.\n\nIf the collection agent does not validate this debt, send a copy of the VOD to the credit agency, along with another demand to remove the listing.  \n\nIf they still do not remove this listing, you have an excellent small claims suit against both of them for listing unvalidated debts on your credit report.  You can sue them for $1000 each, and you WILL win.  I've done it, it works!\n\nContact me if you need any help or advice.
678895
Is it allowable to get a court order?  You had better ask the court.  Nonetheless, I sure wouldn't want some doctor cutting on me when he didn't want to.  Maybe you need to find another doctor.  Maybe you need to listen to the one you have.
643984
Talk to the surgeon who is going to do your surgery. Some of them will finance if your insurance won't pay.
371807
It depends on the law in the state you're in.  A couple of things come into play.  \n\n1)Some states what's yours is his, and what's his is yours, meaning you both are responsible for the debt regardless of who signed for it.  \n2)Some states has long as you make a payment on a medical bill will prevent it from being reported (this is just a couple of states though).  \n3)Next try submitting the bill to your insurance for processing.  It doesn't have to be done by the hospital to be paid, you'll need an itemized statement from them, but then you can file and your insurance will either pay them directly or issue you a check.  Also if the hospital was "in-network" for the insurance they'll send an explanation of benefits showing what you truly owe.  For example the hospital billed $15 for a shot, well if you have no insurance then you pay $15, but if you have insurance and they are "in-network" that charge might become $5 and then you only owe your portion of the "contracted" charge.  This results in major savings since the $10 gets written off as a contractual adjustment, meaning they agreed to only charge $5 not $15.  \n4)Since you were served court papers and chose not to attend you effectivly "agreed" to any order before the judge.  Getting that fixed now will be a problem.  Again though go through your insurance and at least get the amount reduced to the contractual amount.
817757
Write out a timeline of everything that happened, attach any documentation you have supporting this information and send it with a letter of complaint to the state bar association.  Follow up on a weekly basis by phone & in person.  Eventually, if you make enough of an nuisance of yourself they may bring all the lawyers involved up on charges, either suspend them for a length of time or disbar them, and make them reimburse you the amount of money you lost.\n\nI went through this same type of thing in Louisiana with an attorney who barely got me divorced and never followed up on the property settlement or child support.  He ended up being suspended for two months and reimbursing me half of the $1000.00 I'd paid him.  It took me two years of being persistant with the Louisiana bar to finally get some satifisfaction in this situation but it worked.
317036
Here is a method I used once to get rid of a legitimate debt that I owed. You may be ablet to adapt this and use it for yourself. \n\nI owed a $485 bill to AT&T that I refused to pay until they took down a cell phone tower that had been illegally erected right next to someone's back yard. Of course they ignored me, so I ignored them right back and things went round and round for a few years like that. finally the debt was sold to a collection agency and then to another one and finally to one in Florida. Up to this point none of them had reported it to any of the credit bureaus. Suddenly one day, there it was! A festering puss-filled sore right in the middle of my credit report! I immediately wrote a letter to the collection agency saying that the debt was not mine, that this was an old debt (by now it was over five years) that was being shopped around until they could stick it on somebody. I told them this was very damaging to my credit, that I had no other late payments, and I demanded they remove it immediately. Also, I said, at the time this debt was incurred there had been two other people living in the same county as me with exactly the same name as me, and it must have belonged to one of them. Again I demanded that they remove this thing from my credit report. About two weeks later I got a very apologetic letter from them saying how sorry they were for the mistake and yes it would be removed from my credit report immediately. It was and I never heard from anyone about this again.\n\n"Hell no," said Tom. "I'm not paying this. You can take this bill and shove it!"
45082
This is horrible. I can't believe they did this to you. Holding a patient down has to be reviewed and has many checks and balances here. The patient has to be a danger to themselves/others. You obviously weren't.I would sue. I would speak with an attorney and see what records they can get and see what legal recourse there can be. First and foremost complain complain complain. Write a letter to the hospital administration explaining how upset you are. They will investigate extensively and will inform you of the results. Good luck and I am so sorry that this happened to you.
663018
Remember the doctor works for you!\n\nYou are not just his patient, you are his customer, you pay his bill, that means you pay his salary, that makes YOU his BOSS!\n\nIf he is not treating you right FIRE him! Find a new doctor!
18549
All hospitals are non profit meaning they have to treat you no matter your financial income. You should be able to call the hospital that you went to and talk to a financial counseler, and explain to them your hardship and moe than likely they will give you assistance and write the bill off. I had over $20,000 in bills and that is what I did and they wrote the entire bill off so I paid nothing. Try that and I hope that it works out for you.
1077352
the hospital should offer you a form. This is to apply for them to write this off and you don't pay. I think they call it a hardship application. not sure of your location. It is available to people who need it so do your best to get it.\nI am so sorry for your loss. Please keep in touch I really want to know how you are doing ok.
829591
I understand your frustration. This happened to me with a "trip" I didn't want.\nSome company charged a trip to my card and when I called to contest it they said they talked to me on the phone and I agreed to buy the trip. I said no, play the recording for me. They wouldn't. I called my credit card company and told them take it off I don't want it. I don't have any part of the "trip" in my posession. The card company took it off and two months later put it right back on. I was furious, felt like I had been robbed. I had a lawyer call them and threaten them with a law suit.\n\nSeems to me your cable company could have authorized a credit to your card instead of making you wait.  \n\nIn the future, tell them you are recording the conversation because I have had so many instances of failed promises and twisted statements I could barf. Get a recorder that hooks to the phone line and turns on when any voice is there. Radio shack has them. They take a standard cassette tape and you can pause it if it is just a friendly conversation.\n\nTry not to let this throw for a loop. It most likely was a mistake not an attempt to rip you off. They most likely process thousands of forms a day.  But imagine if your card was close to max and that put you over the limit. You would have a fee of anywhere from $19 to $29! \n\nI got fed up with the constantly increasing rates of cable and switched to satellite.\n\nGood luck ...............
357341
Many hospitals will work out a plan to pay money at reduced amounts. Contact the hospital and see if you can spread out the payments to a more affordable amount. You may have to talk to several people but try to be polite. Also some states may have a fund to help people in your situation. Go to your states website, or call up there infomration line to see if they can help.
1115702
Medical billing can be complicated.  Having an insurance co pay it can be even more complicated.  I would recommend contacting your insurance co and ask then to explain why the bill wasn't paid.  If what the rep is saying doesn't make sense, then call back and speak to someone else.  You may get someone who is more experienced and more helpful.  Get familiar with the terminology.  Contact the health care provider who is billing you and ask them what their response was from the insurance.\n\nIf you have specifics on the billing problem I may be able to help more.\nGood Luck!