Page 3 of 6
Re: Broken again?
Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2024 4:44 pm
by ready2go
Ronn1708 wrote:Also you should be able to negotiate that cost. When insurance pays it’s usually about 1/2 that price. One of my surgeries was billed at 78k. Insurance paid 22k.
good lord ! i paid 98,000 for my house in south florida in 2000.
78 grand for the surgery ? well its good ol usa $$$$
Re: Broken again?
Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2024 4:08 pm
by JohnHC
Well of course I'm screwed. My Drs office called, since insurance hasn't paid they are releasing his surgery costs, not really too bad but that makes his bill around $4500. So I'm off the schedule until it's paid off. Talking to her about the insurance, it appears the insurance told my Dr, the Hospital, and myself that everything was covered before the first surgery and again before the second surgery. Anyone know a good lawyer that would love to go after the insurance? But talking to the Drs office doing it self pay and with discounts his bill will drop to about $2000. I still owe anthesia about $400 and of course the hospital about $42000 right now.
Working with hospital about self pay and discounts and have to call them back Monday because the person I talked to wasn't in today so that amount I hope is going to change as well. Trying to get a $3000 loan from bank so I can at least payoff the Dr and anthesia and leave a little for the hospital, just so I can be put back on the schedule to get this fixed.
My wife isn't happy to say the least neither am I, she wants to go ahead and sue them all for loss of companionship plus damages..... Might be worth it to look into it at this point because if the loan doesn't go through I'm stuck with a broken device and non functioning penis until I get stuff paid off.... Really bummed out as can be expected.....
I'll try and update on Monday after I hear back....
Re: Broken again?
Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 9:00 am
by thedriver
JohnHC wrote:Well of course I'm screwed. My Drs office called, since insurance hasn't paid they are releasing his surgery costs, not really too bad but that makes his bill around $4500. So I'm off the schedule until it's paid off. Talking to her about the insurance, it appears the insurance told my Dr, the Hospital, and myself that everything was covered before the first surgery and again before the second surgery. Anyone know a good lawyer that would love to go after the insurance? But talking to the Drs office doing it self pay and with discounts his bill will drop to about $2000. I still owe anthesia about $400 and of course the hospital about $42000 right now.
Working with hospital about self pay and discounts and have to call them back Monday because the person I talked to wasn't in today so that amount I hope is going to change as well. Trying to get a $3000 loan from bank so I can at least payoff the Dr and anthesia and leave a little for the hospital, just so I can be put back on the schedule to get this fixed.
My wife isn't happy to say the least neither am I, she wants to go ahead and sue them all for loss of companionship plus damages..... Might be worth it to look into it at this point because if the loan doesn't go through I'm stuck with a broken device and non functioning penis until I get stuff paid off.... Really bummed out as can be expected.....
I'll try and update on Monday after I hear back....
That is a tough spot to be in, I went thru 5 surgeries in 4 years, alot of the same problems, couplers coming loose, pin holes, pumps, the surgeons team are not going to accept any responsiblity at all, they will find a leak, or defect to tell you about it in anyway they choose, but in the end your the one that pays in every way possible.
I finally just went with the malleable just 2 weeks ago when I had my 4th failure.
I'm more than happy with the results of it so far, and I couldn't stand to think about pumping up my IPP and knowing that (IT IS GOING TO FAIL AGAIN) one of these times.
Jus my thoughts, read my posts on implant nightmare, and my new malleable, pic's are included.
Good luck on whatever you choose
Re: Broken again?
Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 12:12 pm
by Tmansdorfer
I know how you feel about wanting to sue the dr, but unfortunately I called a lot of them after all of my failures and no one would take the case . They all told me that unless you could prove the dr deliberately did something to cause the failure there was no way to win the medical malpractice lawsuit. They told me there was a lot of upfront costs to get an expert and everything they would need and it would not be beneficial to them to take the case.
Re: Broken again?
Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 2:18 pm
by ED2013
Sorry to hear about your situation. I feel your frustration. Insurance telling you it’s covered then charging you is flat out wrong imo. I would definitely look into legal advice about it. That being said, AMS has a lifetime warranty. Your new device should be provided free of charge, with you responsible for the hospital, surgeon, anesthesia bills etc. I would honestly look into getting other opinions from different surgeons on cost of revision. You may look into both options, legal for insurance, and other surgeons opinions at the same time. That way you could be working on it in 2 ways and go from there. Whatever seems best for you as far as affordability and taken care of in a timely manner. Good luck
Re: Broken again?
Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2024 12:32 pm
by JohnHC
Well just an update. While I still haven't figured out how to pay the hospital I have settled with the Dr. He said I needed a EKG and surgical clearance from my Dr - this was end of Jan. I waited to see if I would hear back as to when surgery would be scheduled as the clearance is normally only good for 30 days. About two and a half weeks went by and since the EKG is good for 6 months I got that done and emailed my primary Dr about the surgical clearance expecting him to do what he has always done and just look at my chart and send it in. I just got an email today ( 3 weeks later ) that he wants me to come in to run labs. Now my primary is extremely difficult to contact by phone and they say to email any requests. But man three weeks later they are just then telling me to get labs run? If this had been a rush situation I would have been extremely pissed off to say the least. I have my normal bi yearly visit with him next week and he is going to get an earful. The only good thing is my uro has always taken a good 6 to 9 weeks getting the surgery scheduled, and I know they are waiting on him to send clearance to schedule it, I'm pretty sure that's why they just emailed me about it, probably because my uro reached out wondering where the clearance was.... Hoping I can get this done soon and hoping I don't have any other issues with the implant and that it'll last the 12+ years they tout.
Re: Broken again?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2024 8:47 am
by favalodo
I didn't realize all the cost and issues out there. I am 71 and just had mine done Coloplast Titan. Medicare and Insurance picked up 100%. I had difficulties with my surgery - 6 hrs. Mine was a placement issue and then when ready to close up, they tested and found a leak. My Dr said with all the difficulties with placement, he must have punctured it with needle. They had to remove all but pump and re do everything. Lots of healing. Feeling better after 4 weeks. I see Coloplast warrantee their units lifetime, not sure about AMS. Really sorry to hear about your issues. Hope hope I am not one of them. Coloplast advertizes like 15 years and a gazillion pumps before a failure. Of course they state, mechanical failures are possible. Good luck this time and keep us posted.
Re: Broken again?
Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2024 5:08 pm
by annoyed31
- Screenshot 2023-08-04 at 15.31.52.png (963.16 KiB) Viewed 596 times
JohnHC wrote:I had my original implant done last April, then a revision done due to a hole in one of the cylinders. After that everything was great, worked great etc.... now it worked perfectly a couple days ago, tonight I get the same issue - I pump it a few times and the bulb goes flat again and no amount of moving the pump around gets it to reinflate. I'm pretty much devastated right now with the thought of having to have another surgery to fix this yet again. Going to call my person at AMS tomorrow, then I guess my Dr to see what can be done, I might need to see if I can get in to see Dr Hakkey (sp?) And see if he can fix me proper I guess...... I mean geez first one didn't make it till the 2 week followup, and this one only about 6 months? Just my luck to get 2 defective units....
Re: Broken again?
Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 6:29 pm
by JohnHC
Well saw my primary Dr today ( normal routine visit ) it appears his office secretary dropped the ball and didn't tell him ( or even see / remember ) the email I sent on 2-16-24. He saw me and while looking through my file he said good thing about paper copies all I have to do is change the date and fax it over ( basically letting me know if he had seen that email or was told about it he would have sent over the clearance .) Not at all happy with his secretary right now because I just missed a call from my Uro which was to schedule the revision which I probably could have had scheduled, already done and part way through recovery if she hadn't forgot to show him the request almost a month ago. They tried to call me not even an hour after seeing my Primary so I know all they were waiting on was his clearance letter in order to schedule it... I'll post tomorrow when that will be as my Uro's office was closed by the time I saw the voicemail.... At least I know it's going to be scheduled.....
Re: Broken again?
Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 10:37 pm
by Gt1956
That just is crap. You do everything right & the pros fumble the ball.