Re: My letter to: JEAN from Pennsylvania about Dr. Redan....

From: Jean (creative@enter.net)
Sat Feb 24 23:50:28 2001


At Sat, 24 Feb 2001, Helen Dynda wrote: >
>Jean ( creative@enter.net ) from Pennsylvania said: "I asked my MD to write
>a referral paper for Dr. Redan cause even though I don't need referrals I
>read on here that it may help prevent insurance problems. He refused, since
>he never heard of them.
>
>~ ~ ~ ~
>
>Dear Jean, I am so sorry to hear that your doctor refused to give you a
>referral to Dr. Redan.
>
>You might ask your doctor if he has ever heard of Dr. Harry Reich. Dr.
>Reich is "the most talented laparoscopic surgeon in the world!!" Dr. Reich
>performs surgery at both Community Memorial Hospital ( CMC ) in Scranton, PA
>and at St. Vincents' Hospital in New York City. Since you are from
>Pennsylvania, surely your doctor has heard of Dr. Reich.
>
>In April 1999, Dr. Reich performed a successful adhesiolysis procedure for
>Deb. I saw Deb's video -- her abdominal and pelvic organs were completely
>covered with adhesions!!. It took Dr. Reich 10 hours to complete Deb's
>surgery!!! Deb is pain free today!!
>
>For a long time Dr. Reich realized that postsurgical adhesions have been
>causing so many people problems with chronic pain, infertility, bowel
>obstructions, etc. Since he had been experiencing success with his
>adhesiolysis procedures, Dr. Reich made a decision to specialize in
>performing adhesiolysis procedures. Since Dr. Reich's specialty is Ob/Gyn,
>he needed to find a General Surgeon to be his surgical partner. It was then
>that Dr. Reich personally chose Dr. Jay Redan to be his surgical partner.
>Dr. Redan is a very skilled and experienced laparoscopic surgeon too.
>
>On May 1, 2000 these two surgeons opened the very first Adhesions Unit in
>the United States at CMC. Since then Dr. Reich has been working very
>closely with Dr. Redan -- at both CMC and St. Vincents Hospital --
>specializing in adhesiolysis procedures.
>
>When adhesion involvement is very severe, such as in Deb's case, it is
>extremely important that the surgeon is very meticulous as well as extremely
>cautious as he lyses adhesions...for the safety of the patient and to give
>the patient the very best chance to become pain free. The surgeon must be
>sure that there is NO blood or other debris ( such as talc from the
>surgeon's gloves, lint from sponges, etc.) left in the abdominal cavity. He
>must also be very careful so that he does not traumatize internal organs.
>All of this takes time...a lot of time, if the lysis of adhesions is going
>to be a success!!
>
>When a surgeon tries to complete an adhesiolysis procedure in a maximum of
>1-2 hours, the surgeon's decision -- to complete the adhesiolysis procedure
>within this time frame -- does NOT show consideration for the safety and
>well-being of the patient. Chances are the surgeon is "rushing" the
>adhesiolysis procedure simply because he knows that an adhesiolysis
>procedure is the "most underpaid" surgical procedure that Medicare and other
>insurance companies reimburse the surgeon for.!!!!!!!

Helen, Thanks for your response to my post. I think I also mentioned Dr. Reich to my MD, but not sure. I will ask the general surgeon when I go, if I am lucky maybe he will know one of them.

I know exactly what you mean about the rushing etc. I do believe what you say about Dr. Reich. I definitely prefer someone who cares and is gentle!!

I am just hoping since there aren't procedure codes (as I have heard from some people) for the operation that my insurance doesn't refuse to pay anything. I definitely can't afford to pay the entire doctor bill AND the hospital. I would go out of network and don't know if they would definitely be required to pay?!? When I asked for codes Sue couldn't give me any so I could check with my insurance. The insurance said I need diagnosis codes and procedure codes to see if it qualifies and for how much.

I do already have a problem going on right now with the insurance refusing to pay for my nursing home care of 6 weeks (big time money). The nursing home has appealed it about 6 times now in 7 months time. The insurance company was the one who said they would only pay for my 4 weeks of intravenous "if I was in a nursing home", but not as an out-patient with a visiting nurse coming in to start & stop it twice a day so I had no choice. The nursing home "is a participating facility" so it is in-network. These HMO's are something else!!! I know they definitely are not in business to do anyone any favors and will do whatever it takes to get out of paying if possible.

I also never got my money back ($900) from that doctor who double-billed (me & the insurance) even after I got a lawyer. He couldn't believe it either....my kind of luck!

Hope you are still feeling good. JEAN

--
Jean (from PA)

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