Going to sue OC. On what violations?

[luckyduck]

DH has medical bill from 1998. Bill is out of SOL, so no reason not to sue.

OC sent bill to collections in 1999. DH moved in 1999, and never got anything from CA. He thought insurance paid it, and never thought about it. CA is on credit report, reporting inaccurately, and ITS for CA with offer of settlement has already been prepared.

However, I'd like to send OC an ITS too. Here's the reason:

Total debt - around $230.

Asked for validation. OC sent copies of original medical bills. Ok, fair enough.

DH swears insurance paid this. He calls insurance, and sure enough insurance paid most of it, but he does still owe a little. Not paying anything though since it's out of SOL.

OC fails to provide any payment history. They are trying to collect money that insurance already paid on.

OC wouldn't be such a biggie deal except there are other claims that he never made for much bigger problems, and if this is the only way he can get anything back from them, then he needs to go after at least something.

Real story behind this medical OC. - they misdiagnosed medical condition, and because of misdiagnosis, he was treated for wrong problem, and true problem continued to ensue for about a year, creating complications when it was diagnosed correctly by someone else, causing four major operations, two of which were unsuccessful, because it wasn't caught in time (because it was misdiagnosed).

He couldn't sue for this mostly because he didn't try in time, and because he didn't have money to retain counsel.

I know that trying to collect on something that has already been paid by insurance has to be a violation of something. Just can't figure out exactly what. There are no FDCPA or FCRA violations, since this is the OC, and they aren't reporting. Is there a FCBA violation or something? We really want to go after this OC. They owe him body parts, and we'll take any little bit we can get from them for anything we can.

Thanks all for any help you can give.

[willingtocope]

I don't think there's anything in FCRA, HIPPA, or any of the other things that really covers this, but here's my thoughts.

I had a similiar problem...sort of. Back in 2000, I had a colonoscopy (sp?) on Wednesday, done at a local hospital. Their equipment wasn't working quite right and the air puffer didn't expand my colon correctly. The darn test HURT and it wasn't supposed to. Then on Friday of the same week, I had a minor heart attack...in the back of the heart, right over the large intestine. Any connection? Don't really know...but...triple bypass at another hospital.

Turns out first hospital got the bills all screwed up...insurance paid, but the hospital wanted more. After several dunning letters, I called their collections department and described the sequence of events. I closed the conversation with "gee, I don't know if there was any connection between the two, but if you say I still owe you money, maybe I'll have to have our lawyer look into it." Two days later, a got a "paid in full" invoice in the mail.

So...I'd suggest you send the hospital Adminstation offices a letter, including a copy of what the insurance company says they paid, stating the in a round about way. "Insurance paid, other procedures unrequired, clear our credit or we'll talk to our lawyer". You do need to be discrete...you don't want to come off as blackmailing them...but you should be able to get the point across.

[luckyduck]

Yeah, I don't really see any violations that I can actually go after on them. Just hoping someone could give me something to work with. I've already got the CA by the cahones. They are idiots, and over only $300 total in bills (they have three accounts altogether) all out of SOL. You'd think they'd just delete. They can't get the money anyway, and it's stupid for them to risk the lawsuit. Oh well, maybe my invoice for my services rendered, and listing of current violations, and my settlement offer will make them open their eyes. He He. I'm his authorized agent, and I GET PAID for my services. All in contract. I'll know in a couple of weeks I suppose. Might as well start looking for a lawyer. They are re-aging debts. Might be a nice class action.

Maybe taking away the business from him, me, and my constantly sick kids will help. It wasn't a hospital. It was an emergency clinic. Like an ER but not as busy, and not as expensive. After taking ex-rays, they diagnosed him with arthritis, when he actually had some degenerative bone disease in his hips. After a year of being improperly treated, he was properly diagnosed somewhere else, and went through two surgeries meant to save his hips, by taking portions of his shins (and 2 inches of his height). they didn't work because they didn't catch it in time. Then he had to have two complete hip replacements which worked great, but he's still shorter, and missing his shin bones, and full of scars both physically and emotionally. He talked to lawyers, but is sue shy (opposite of sue happy), and lacking funds, and never went anywhere with it. By now, he has no recourse, or I'd file suit over that. I just know it would make his day to get something out of this place even if it was over a silly little violation of anything. Isn't it amazing they can find the original bills, but can't find any mention of payments in their records. And he has the claim directly from his insurance company, so he knows what has and has not been paid. Anyway, like I said, it's out of SOL anyway, so they can't sue him. No reason not to make their lives hell anyway, after all they've put him through.

[willingtocope]

Sure sounds like a letter to the admin is in order. Might even mention that's it beyond SOL and for them to continue trying to collect (through their CA, right?) might force you to drag up the improper treatment at the trial.