My husband suffered a life threatening accident a year ago, permanently losing use of his right arm. We received info from both Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic on seeking a 2nd opinion. JHU asked for $1000 for the review so we went with Mayo. In March of this year, we began receiving incorrect bills from JHU for services I have since verified were never received. For months they continued to send bills, threatening collections for a bill we did not owe. As you can imagine, we were already swimming in legitimate medical bills, we were trying to fight for his arm, our son had a psychiatric break down - and they kept sending bills! After months of phone calls and emails (which I have documented well) I was finally able to get the physicians on the bill to talk to the billing department - and so far no more letters. We have had many crises to traverse and the bills from all of them still abound. We managed to survive and have been trying to save for our first home. The threats to even refer us to collections sent my anxiety through the roof. All the time spent communicating and feeling as though no one would listen to our (since confirmed) correct claims that this was fraudulent billing was overwhelming in light of our already tenuous situation. I would like to seek some type of recompense for the psychological toll of this process. Is small claims court the right place?
Frustration over incorrect billing haunts everybody at some time or other. Not likely you can do anything. you need to relax. If you could prove some kind of fraud maybe you could do something if you had medical testimony, but you are not likely to prove fraud and you probably don't have a doctor who will testify that the problem caused you mental problems.
Small claims is the place to go if you intend to go if you intend to sue without using an attorney. You are limited to a recovery of $7,500.00. If you want more, you might try to find an attorney to take the case. In my opinion, incorrect billing may be an insufficient grounds to sue for emotional distress.
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