Anonymous wrote:OP here

Seems like some are missing the point. While in the ER I felt that I was in a used car dealership. That is. I felt the "team" was trying to push me into having their PA do the stitches because my insurance will pay them for that. Had a Plastic Surgeon come in, s/he would have been paid instead. It really felt like a business and that they were not focused on the best treatment. I would have paid out of pocket for plastics -- spoiled/ high maintenance/ whatever -- not the point. I feel the more important issue is that the hospital is so concerned about the money. A plastic surgeon will be called to r someone without insurance because better the surgeon gets stiffed than the hospital. So basically the hospital is refusing to give care because they will not be paid, however technically they are "not refusing care" because they will call in their free labor to do it. Yuck!!

How is this news to you?

Anonymous wrote:OP here

Seems like some are missing the point. While in the ER I felt that I was in a used car dealership. That is. I felt the "team" was trying to push me into having their PA do the stitches because my insurance will pay them for that. Had a Plastic Surgeon come in, s/he would have been paid instead. It really felt like a business and that they were not focused on the best treatment. I would have paid out of pocket for plastics -- spoiled/ high maintenance/ whatever -- not the point. I feel the more important issue is that the hospital is so concerned about the money. A plastic surgeon will be called to r someone without insurance because better the surgeon gets stiffed than the hospital. So basically the hospital is refusing to give care because they will not be paid, however technically they are "not refusing care" because they will call in their free labor to do it. Yuck!!

I did respond earlier (grateful had a plastic surgeon called), and didn't miss your point. But didn't address it either.

I found it an interesting observation and wonder if this is how things will go more generally with other specialities that routinely get called in for ER consults in the future.

Don't know if this is helpful or not, but when I was in INOVA with bad facial lacerationsi I did insist on a plastic surgeon (I had insurance). He showed up and did my face. I did ask him if he could also sew up my scalp. He said that wasn't allowed. I probaby should have insisted but wasn't my best at that moment. Yes, there was a separate charge to my insurance of some $1200 for his work.

OP here

Seems like some are missing the point. While in the ER I felt that I was in a used car dealership. That is. I felt the "team" was trying to push me into having their PA do the stitches because my insurance will pay them for that. Had a Plastic Surgeon come in, s/he would have been paid instead. It really felt like a business and that they were not focused on the best treatment. I would have paid out of pocket for plastics -- spoiled/ high maintenance/ whatever -- not the point. I feel the more important issue is that the hospital is so concerned about the money. A plastic surgeon will be called to r someone without insurance because better the surgeon gets stiffed than the hospital. So basically the hospital is refusing to give care because they will not be paid, however technically they are "not refusing care" because they will call in their free labor to do it. Yuck!!

A number of years ago I took my 2 year old DD to Sibley with a deep cut on her chin. i waa shocked they called in a plastic surgeon, but today am grateful they did. She is the kind of kid who can get all out of sorts about an acne breakout.

Anonymous wrote:LOL this area is full of some fucked up parents

So true. I worry about the kinds of kids they are raising. I truly do. So thankful mine were raised in a more normal part of the country before we moved here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid needed a couple stitches and you expected the ER to call a plastic surgeon?? How out of touch are you?

+1 WTF it's not even the face

I've never said this on dcum and I know it is cliche, but I truly feel very sorry for this poor kid. I cannot imagine what her life will be like with a mom this hysterical.

Anonymous wrote:huh?

+1
verbal vomit

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would have done the same. I call for a plastic surgeon anytime my kids get injured on the face, including forehead. The plastic surgeon has much better skills. If you ask for a plastic surgeon and refuse treatment by the PA, the hospital must comply.

BTW, I would never let a PA (a physician's assistant) sew up anything on my DCs face. Their skills are nothing like a plastic surgeon's.

Dear Lord, what kind of activities do your kids participate in that facial lacerations are a repeated occurrence??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:urgent care certainly won't have plastics on call???

Maybe not on call, but they often have relationships with them as a consult.

I went to one in Rockville (name escapes me) when DD fell off her bike. Doc at the UCC sent pics of my DD's face to a plastic surgeon she dealt with, he called her and they discussed how the gash should be closed.

That would make me more nervous...

My mom years ago listened to the same nonsense regarding getting my head stitched. Thank god she got the plastic surgeon because I have seen people whose had their heads stitches by docs who didn't specialize in this. OP I would only have a plastic surgeon work on areas like forehead..no way would I let a PA stitch my child up anywhere on the face.

Anonymous wrote:urgent care certainly won't have plastics on call???

Maybe not on call, but they often have relationships with them as a consult.

I went to one in Rockville (name escapes me) when DD fell off her bike. Doc at the UCC sent pics of my DD's face to a plastic surgeon she dealt with, he called her and they discussed how the gash should be closed.

TL;DR version:

OP's kid needs to get her stitches done by someone who doesn't work on the poors.

I said med student at Georgetown but I think it was a resident.

My DS cut his finger several years ago and received stitches by the PA at Sibley who did such a good job that we can't remember which finger it was because we can't find the scar. These ER PAs do this all day and did a far, far better job than the time I took DS to Georgetown with a cut on his chin and the med student glued it, and the glue didn't stay. So I wouldn't put down the PAs.

Sure, plastic surgeons are preferable for the face but in my experience at Sibley, at least, there are ER physicians right there and they will call in specialists. They called in an extraordinary specialist for my mother and when my DD needed emergency surgery, they called in someone good.

Your conspiracy theory is nutso. You disagred with their call and maybe you were right and maybe you were wrong, but that doesn't mean you were the victim of Big Medical. The fact that you think urgent care would be better is the tell.