Can I ask for a refund/fee waived for a misdiagnoses at a hospital?
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Can I ask for a refund/fee waived for a misdiagnoses at a hospital?
I went to the hospital after an ATV accident and was told after X-rays that it was a sprain. After going to an orthopedic doctor to get X-rays and an MRI it was
confirmed that I tore my ACL, MCL and meniscus. I also had a fractured tibia. The hospital could have at least caught the fracture I paid the hospital fee of $1800 and am now being billed for the physician fee of $880. Do I have the means to ask for a refund and for them to waive the physician fee for a misdiagnosis?
Asked on October 15, 2018 under Malpractice Law, Colorado
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
You can always *ask* but there is no way to force them to grant you a refund (if they refuse to do so) unless you sue. In the lawsuit, you'd have to prove in a court of law that it was unreasonably careless, or negligent, to not catch the fracture. To do that, you'd have to hire a doctor of your own to testify in court that after examing you and looking at the X-rays, in his professional opinion, it was careless for the following reason(s). (You can't prove an expert's, like a doctor's, carelessness without expert testimony of your own.) The cost of your expert, which you have to bear yourself (you can't get if from the other side) could easily equal a large portion or percentage of the money you are hoping to get back--that's even before considering legal fees, were you to hire an attorney--and you are not guaranteed to win and so could spend the money to no purpose. (You are *never* guaranteed to win; don't believe any attorney who tell you that you are.) There may be no cost-effective way to seek this money.
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