Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
Collection agency rights for disputed medical services
My pregnant uninsured wife was treated at an emergency room while traveling for severe pain, uterine contractions, and vaginal bleeding. The doctor only stood in the doorway, asked her a few questions about her history, and ordered expensive tests. To my shock he never came back and billed us over 1500$ for his diagnosis-- nothing wrong. We paid $500 and finished our trip to Kansas where a doctor immediately diagnosed and treated her bladder infection. We wrote explaining why we would not pay, but the physician sent his portion of the bill, $242 to a collection agency. What can they do to us if we refuse to pay?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Collection agency rights for disputed medical services
What you have is an implied-in-fact contract. You accepted his services and now you owe him a reasonable price for those services.
If you feel his services were not worthy of the price (especially since you feel he misdiagnosed her) you should write a letter explaining why. The best you can hope for is that he admits his services were not worth the amount charged and that he then takes the account out of collections.
You also have a right to post a statement to your own credit report, explaining your reason for not paying.
Ultimately, you could be sued for not paying. However, if the amount is only $242, it's not likely that anyone would sue you.
Best of luck,
Ben
Re: Collection agency rights for disputed medical services
They can remain adamant that the money is owed and sue you to recover it. It is not very likely, but you should defend against the action, should they actually bring one. You are in the right! They, further, can report the "unpaid debt" to a credit reporting agency and it will end up on your credit report. If it does, you can respond to it by letter, and give your side of the story, which the credit bureaus must include whenever then send out a report on you. It should clear it up.
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