Does Your Doctor Have the Right to Fire You?

I've posed this question before - about whether your doctor has a right to fire you.

I've written articles about doctors who blackball their patients, but most blackballing is based on the fact that a patient becomes so difficult that the doctor no longer wants to tolerate him or her.  It's called "denial of care." Some of you have even shared your stories about being denied care by your doctor.

However -- this question actually comes from a magazine that is subscribed to by physicians - not patients.  And the question the doctor posed was, Can I fire a patient who refuses to pay his bill?"

Turns out that most states have a specific process doctors must take to dismiss you as their patient, no matter what the reason.

But the reason I ask the question today is this:  Suppose you work hard all week and at the end of the week, your boss decides not to pay you.  Is that fair? That's the effect on a doctor when he or she doesn't get paid for appointments.  It's not fair.  And honestly, I find it sad that a doctor would even need the question about whether he or she can legally dismiss a patient who doesn't pay his or her bill.

Yes, there are reasons bills don't get paid -- I understand that.  Of course there are just as many people who can afford to pay them, but choose to use their money in some other way (not staples or shelter, but video games or cell phone bills perhaps)...  but it seems only fair that if we ask for service from a professional, we expect to pay for that service.

Although, of course, this problem is uniquely American.  In another country, we wouldn't even ask the question.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Learn more or join the conversation!

_{NEWSLETTER | FORUM | BIO | TWITTER}

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Photo © Arvind Balaraman - Fotolia.com