In case of infections/faulty implant whats the financial risk?

[Captain1117]

Does anyone know what are the financial exposure should there be a revision required due to infection or device failure from Dr.Eid or Dr.Kramer for self paying patients.

As I understand there are three heads of expense:

1. The device cost.

In case of device failure I understand the manufacturer will replace it free but after it is sent to their office. Which means in interim the patient has to pay for second device and later manufacturer might repay device cost if they agree that it was device failure.

What happens in case of infection? Does patient pay for replacement device?

2. Surgeons fee.

In case of revision required due infection or device failure..whats Dr.Eid and Dr.Kramers policy?

3. Surgery center and anesthesia fee. This looks to be more clear. For every revision patient has to pay this cost.

Am I missing something.

Thank you for your inputs.

[OregonStrong]

No I think you've got it all. You bear the entire financial responsibility for a replacement. If it's infected, that is probably more gray area, insurance may pay for removal of an infected device, since it's medically necessary, you can't have infected stuff in your body or it would eventually cause you to get septic and die, but they wouldn't likely pay for the cost of a replacement in that situation, and I wonder if they would even pay for a semirigid implant used as a place holder in your corpora.

[newbie443]

Sorry re read. I do not know what either covers but last I knew Eid had some type of warranty for years and Kramer had one for a few months post op.

[Gt1956]

Sorry re read. I do not know what either covers but last I knew Eid had some type of warranty for years and Kramer had one for a few months post op.

I know a lady that did a self pay lap band surgery many years ago. She paid a fee to someone. Maybe the surgeon or the hospital for it's removal if there was a problem. Sure enough, it migrated into her stomach & had to be removed. I do believe that there was a very modest co-pay that had to be paid.

[newbie443]

That sounds like SURGEO. They have self pay plans for a lot of surgeries including IPP. And they have a 25K insurance plan included. Eid nor Kramer are on it but a few that I recognize from this site are Hakky, Blick, Kansas, and Brandt

[SW0110]

I hate to be a downer but I would bet you are pretty much on your own for problems. The surgeon might comp his fee but the facility and all related charges are going to want to be paid, anesthesiologists, nurses, tylenol, drugs etc.If device is bad the company might comp that but I would work that out before I went under as to who pays what when.

As for removal. That is separate from install and coded differently. My revision was coded as removal then installation. A lot more expensive. My titan stopped working so it was a removal of titan. Install lgx. Insurance covered almost all.

[TANGERINE]

The best course of action for you is to ask the front desk office personnel, or the surgeon directly, "what is my financial responsibility if this thing gets infected and I need extra procedures"

Likely, the surgeon will give you big discounts for the re-do operation, and the implant company likely will throw the new inplant in for free if it was due to mechanical problem (ie, not if it is infection).

But, yes, you are rolling the dice financially if you need repeat surgery since their is a real chance you will need to pony up significant added cash (the hospitals never waive their fees for added surgery).

Bottom line, penile implant is not for the faint of heart. There are complications which could cause you some pain and suffering. Those complications also likely will dent your wallet.

You have to really want to have the implant badly to justify those risks. If it works great, then you life and confidence and women will be enormously augmented. If it goes badly, then it will be a struggle (both healthwise and financially).

but, remember, "great things happen only when you go for it"