"I was scheduled to have surgery at Lawrence on monday 10/20/08, went for pre-op interview and testing the thurs before, noone told me to do anything or call anywhere, but as part of my "patient package" gave me a list of "vendors" they use like radiology, pathology, anesthesia, etc. I took it upon myself to call anesthesia the next day to see if they are in network with my insurance. By 2pm friday noone called me back, so I called them again, at which point I was informed that they require a $2000 deposit (!!!) or they will cancel my case. I was outraged, called my ins. co., had them call the anesthesia place and explain to them that they will in fact process the claim as in network since no other alternative is available for me to use, and I didn't directly solicit their services but it was to be provided by the hospital. Anesthesia did not accept that answer, but only agreed to reduce my deposit to $1000. I then called the hospital to see if I could use a different anesthesiologist, was told that no, I had to use Westchester Anesthesiologists as they have an exclusive contract with Lawrence. By this time it was 3:30pm and the anesthesia office told me that if they don't have payment by 3:45pm, they won't be providing services come Monday. I then called my surgeon's office, they said they never heard of this before and it doesn't sound right, and went ahead and cancelled my surgery :((
so I now have to wait another few weeks to get a new date at a different hospital, but I plan on calling Lawrence's patient relations and filing a complaint about this type of extortion with an hour's notice! outrageous!"
