Question:
Is there anything I can do?

I had an anchor cut ps with no muscle work except where my RNY Dr. fixed a hernia. I also had a fatty tumor under my right breast. It was quite big and it made me look lopsided.On the day of surgery I explained to the PS that this really bothered me and he said it would be gone and with the anchor cut I would be flat from my breasts down. Well when they took the dressing off I noticed that I still was lopsided, my first visit I complained. He told me to wait a few months and see how it looked. I went back and he said he would fix it for $2000! I can't pay that, my insurance covered the first surgery. I have contacted the insurance and told them what is happening. My daughter also had surgery done by him. Hers wasn't right either,but because she was a cash paying patient he is revising hers with no cost. I think he is just milking me because the insurance pays only a percent of the bill. Has anyone here ever had this happen and is there a way I can get him to fix this? I really don't have $2000 and if it was done like he told me, it wouldn't have needed fixed. I'm still lopsided and it show through my clothes.    — Brenda T. (posted on September 12, 2004)

September 12, 2004
Your surgeon does not get a percentage. He gets the amount he agreed to accept as payment from the insurance company. You need to see if he documented the presence of the fatty tumor anywhere in your records. Was there any reason he did not remove it?(I wonder if there was a possiblilty that there would be excessive bleeding - sometimes you don't know what is in there until you get into it.)Did you ask? Was the removal of this written on the surgical consent? You may not have too much recourse if there was no documentation of this problem. I have to ask - if your daughter's surgery "wasn't right' why did you go to this guy? You can file a complaint with the insurance company, and your daughter should probably do the same (even if she has a different insurance). I don't know if there is any way to get this guy to fix the problem, but you may check into seeing a different surgeon, then appeal to your insurance company to cover the surgery needed to correct the first surgeon's omission. Good luck!
   — koogy

September 12, 2004
My daughter went to him after I did. He is redoing hers today. She was self pay. There is no charge to have hers fixed. He told me that there was no way the insurance would cover me getting mine fixed so he would do it for $2000 more. I didn't mean the percentage the way it sounds. I meant that he gets more from the cash payers than he gets from the insurance. So maybe this is a way to get more money.
   — Brenda T.

September 13, 2004
Did your surgeon agree, and did you discuss cutting out the fatty tumor when you were discussing the surgery with him pre-op and if so, is that in writing? If the surgeon told you that it would be gone and that with the anchor cut you would be flat, then at a minimum, he is not a man of his word. Discuss this with the insurance company, the better business bureau (to lodge a complaint) and perhaps the American Medical Association, or whatever association plastic surgeons belong to. I wouldn't just allow this incompetence to stand without a fight.
   — Cindy R.