Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in California

I hope that you saved the bill stating that the patient responsibility was $0. If not, see if you can get a copy of it from the insurance company. The next action which I would suggest the patient to do is to send the Anesthesiologist a certified letter, keeping a copy of the letter for your records, indicating the following:

1. I request that you cease and desist all further telephone contact with me, both at home and at work. Calls at my work place are inconvenient, and my employer does not like me to receive personal calls while I am at work.

2. I dispute that I owe $160 or any amount to the Anesthesiologist.

3. Please provide me with a copy of all contracts entered into between me, as the patient, and you, as the Anesthesiologist.

4. Please provide me with a copy of all contracts entered into between you, as the Anesthesiologist, and my insurance carrier, which is ___________(fill in the name of your insurance provider).

I need you to provided me with all of the following so that I may seek legal advice from my own attorney. Please be advised that I will consider any adverse action taken prior to the provision of the foregoing to be nothing short of harassment, actionable under California's Rosenthal Act.

Very truly yours,

If the Anesthesiologist's office staff continues to call you, they have violated the Rosenthal Act. If a third party debt collector (includes attorneys) calls you, they have violated the Federal Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). If they start a small claims lawsuit without providing you the contracts requested in your letter, likewise, they have violated the Rosenthal Act/FDCPA. If they make a negative credit reference, and it turns out that you do not owe the money, you will need to dispute the negative credit reference.

They have 4 years within which to bring their lawsuit for your failure to pay their bills. That 4-year period starts when the last payment or charge was made on the account. After that 4-year period ends, they cannot bring the lawsuit because it would be said to be brought outside the statute of limitations. On the other hand, you only have 1 year from their violations of the Rosenthal Act/FDCPA within which to bring your claims for violations of such Acts, or your suit is outside the statute of limitations. If you have any questions, please call Aimee Morris at (619)991-0548.