Doctor charges family $1,877 to pierce daughter’s ears
What this bizarre case says about the epidemic of unnecessary treatments
Just before her 5-year-old daughter went in for a simple surgery, the surgeon made Margaret O’Neill a strange offer: He’d also pierce the girl’s ears.
The Colorado resident was hesitant because her daughter was quite young, but she eventually relented when the surgeon told her it would be a nice surprise for the child. O’Neill told ProPublica she assumed the procedure would be free.
A few months later, O’Neill was the one surprised. She received a bill for $1,887.86, charged for ear piercing. Her insurance was unwilling to pay.
O’Neill never would have agreed if she’d known the cost. The procedure was completely unnecessary.
When she contacted the hospital to dispute the charge, the hospital threatened to send her to collections.
This type of unnecessary procedure in health care is known as overuse. An investigation by journalists at ProPublica finds surgical ear piercings are rare, but the practice of overuse is common.
An Institute of Medicine report estimated the United States wastes $750 billion a year on unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, fraud and other problems. This can include unnecessary lab tests that do more harm than good or Big Pharma making eye drops too large.
Ultimately, O’Neill was able to persuade the hospital to cancel the charge. She is an attorney who knows how to read fine print. However, the battle took countless calls and hours of her time. The hospital manager told ProPublica that the hospital hadn’t done anything wrong and the account was “correctly documented, coded, charged and billed according to industry standards.”
That ear piercing the surgeon performed? It was crooked and needed to be redone.
O’Neill took her daughter to the local mall. Total cost was $30.