I recently made a doctors appointment for my child to get a check up and a few tests done. They called me back and said that I owe money on a few past due bills from a hospital that they are affiliated with. As a result, they refused service for my child and said they can only see her if she is sick. While I would understand denial of service for myself (I currently have no insurance), I’m not sure if it is legal for them to refuse service for my child. My child has insurance and the past due bills from the hospital were for services granted to me, not my child. I understand that doctors need to make money, but they are not taking a risk in seeing my child because she has full coverage. Is there something fishy here, or is this common practice?
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Is It Legal For A Doctors Office To Refuse Service For My Child If I Owe Them Money?
Posted on June 22, 2011.
Yes it is legal, only the ER in a real emergency HAS to treat you.
Tell your kid to go rob a bank, he’ll get juvie health care.
All businesses have the right of refusal of service! I would suggest taking her to a free clinic if there is something you seriously need checked out or going to another doctor if you don’t like the way they operate!
Yes, it is legal.
I would think that is almost universal practice. The account is under your name, the child is yours. There is no law which requires any business (doctors are a business) to serve anyone. Doctors must treat illness to the point of stabilizing the patient, but they have no legal obligation for checkups or voluntary testing.
Its not common practice , but , absolutely legal . Your doctor sounds like a total jerk , you should get a new one asap .
Yes they can refuse your child service. They are a PRIVATE medical clinic. The only time you are guaranteed treatment is if you are in active labor or you have an immediate, life threatening emergency. Other than that they can refuse service. It is very common for them to do so.
If your child has medical insurance through the state you might want to contact them. Sometimes a stipulation is that they treat all children if they want to continue receiving money from the state. But that would be something that you would have to look into.
absolutely legal. I worked in a Drs office, and this was standard for the most overdue patients. Yours said they would see her if sick.. the one I worked for, would not see them even then. If an emergency, that is where they would be sent.
Drs have NO LEGAL obligation to continue seeing patients at all.
edit
just to clarify..the Dr. who I worked for, was regarded as the most considerate and ethical Dr in the community. Others were far harsher than he was.
Not only is it legal it is standard practice. A doctor is not providing a free service unless its a free clinic. The fact they would see you if your child was actually sick tells me your doctor is probably a very good one, most wouldn’t even have extended that service.
It is both legal and a very common practice. A doctor is only required to treat if the patient’s life is at stake.