In principle, Uber can die in a fire. However, in London, and this may not be typical or transferable, my last two experiences of private hire cabs have been appalling beyond parody, whereas Uber has been fast and efficient. This puts me in a quandary; I'm not always in a position to hail a black cab, which would be my first choice. Do I risk another guy whose satnav is offline and who looks for St Pauls around Marble Arch, or do I use the bastards who are properly equipped?
Are you an endodontist in the Boston area?
I don't know about the reporting thing.
Obviously, whether you report or not, you give the cell phone number to a bunch of telemarketers and such.
I get that you don't want to sue, but I'd mention in the letter you write that he seems to have committed pretty obvious malpractice, just in case that greases the skids in terms of getting what you need from him in terms of a refund and clearing up the insurance situation.
As for reporting, I would do it as a public service, like Heebie says. I don't know anything about how common a mistake like this is in a basically competent practitioner, but his licensing board should.
Do you have a lawyer who is a friend who can write a threatening letter on law firm letterhead? I would do that. I mean, if I were in your shoes I would do that, I probably shouldn't write the letter for you since I am far from the Noth-east.
Our regular dentist told him not to charge. In the letter I've drafted I said that he had not only not done the work but caused harm. I didn't use the word malpractice.
Thought about enclosing a pubmed article about checklists for endodontists.
5: will calling it malpractice grease the skids or get his back up?
Doctors that grease the skids are called protologists.
Those that get you back up, urologists.
I really wanted the endodontist to say "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."
I mean, part of me would love to sue, but a lawyer would cost more than the damage award.
Right. Only get a lawyer if you can do it ultra-cheaply and just anticipate sending the letter. Or find someone who would do it on contingency (except that no one remotely good will do this). But IME doctors are absolutely terrified of lawyers and malpractice premiums, and so even a mild threat of something serious should be enough to get you your money back here.
13: Do I use the words malpractice or negligence or just talk about harm in the letter?
Aren't there any hero lawyers like this guy in your parts?
Look at bus shelters and the back of the phone book.
I'm confused about what your objective is. If all you want is a refund of your copayment and a promise from the doctor not to submit the claim for payment, I don't think you need to do much, and if the facts are as you've stated then I would honestly be surprised if all of that didn't happen without any further action on your part. A simple phone call to his office stating that you don't expect to pay for a root canal on the wrong tooth, and want your copayment refunded, should be enough to confirm that's what everyone understands will happen. Or a simple letter to that effect if you are more comfortable with that. I would save any sort of threat for the scenario where he balks at refunding your copayment, or indicates that he intends to charge you despite the fact that he operated on the wrong tooth. (Again, I view that sort of resistance as very unlikely on the facts presented.)
If you are looking for further compensation of some sort, then things become more complicated.
IANAPIL, so I don't know what the threshold is for the guy having to report a possible claim to his carrier -- if it's a filed lawsuit that's one thing, and if it's assertion of malpractice that's another. Armed with ignorance, I'm with 17.
Do I use the words malpractice or negligence or just talk about harm in the letter?
The technical legal term is "loss of consortium".
Not to be a downer, but a specialist who performs a surgical procedure in the wrong location, then makes excuses and runs out of the room, smacks* a bit of the ol' drug-and/or-alcohol abuse.
Accordingly, I lean towards recommending that, over and above getting a refund or stopping a claim from being filed (and I'd wager pretty heavily that the endodontist hasn't stopped the claim, out of shame, embarrassment, laziness or the normal human desire to pretend that bad things vanish if ignored), making a report to the state licensing board. You may prevent greater harm to somebody else in the future by starting (or adding to) a file now.
* Good one, Flip.
Half empty nitrous oxide canisters in the employee break room are another sign to watch out for.
20: According to the insurer no claim was filed. He called our dentist straight away. She wanted to hear our side of the story first before calling him back. Then she took X rays which caught the half-done tooth too and said she would call to tell him not to bill and that we were nervous about returning.
My husband almost wants to go back, because he wants the half-done tooth finished and is afraid of the crappy endodontist a out there, but I said "no."
Yeah, I plan to file a report once we get out money back. We will probably need a couple thousand dollars of work over the lifetime of the tooth. Wouldn't mind if he paid that but, of course, he won't.
Anyway, ugh.
21: Legitimate uses, Moby. Don't be a killjoy.
22.3: Ok, but that's what I was getting at in 17. If you want those costs covered, I would not assume up front that he will not pay them. Or even that he will resist paying them. He might resist, he might not. Asking him to cover your actual medical expenses that will be incurred as a result of his mistake is not a significant ask, especially since they're *only* likely to be a few thousand. If you think you can reasonably estimate what those costs will be now (perhaps after consultation with a different specialist), I wouldn't hesitate to ask for a check in that amount. Your initial communication could state that you expect him not to bill for the service and to pay for your out-of-pocket expenses in correcting the mistake.
If you were asking for a significantly larger sum to compensate for pain and suffering etc., you could expect to meet resistance. But if you're willing to sign something releasing any further claims, his insurer would probably be quite willing to pay your fairly modest out of pocket costs. I strongly suspect they would cut that check fairly enthusiastically in exchange for the release.
Of course, it should go without saying that I'm not your lawyer and probably not licensed to practice law in your state and this is not legal advice.
UPDATE: We just got a letter from the endodontist offering to pay us our money back "if we chose not to come back". I mean, if we were to go back, he should give us our money back and do the whole thing for free.
I think a big part of the problem wasn't that he was using substances but it sounds like the front desk staff were going in all the time to talk to him about his schedule.
28: If his work is technically strong, and he will do the correct procedure for free, I'd be tempted to go back. You know he will be VERY CAREFUL next time.
29: He also said "out of the hudreds of dentists he had ever worked with, our dentist was among the very best." I find thta odd. I don't think he was promising to do the work for free - just not to charge use more money. Under the circumstances, I'd think that he ought to refund us the money, not bill the insurance and do the 1.5 remaining teeth for free.
It would be hard for us to report him to the dental board if we went back.
13: Or find someone who would do it on contingency (except that no one remotely good will do this).
Are things different on the coasts? Around here, personal injury cases are almost always on a contingency, and there are some very good plaintiff's lawyers. Or are you just saying that no one would be interested in taking on the work for 30% of a small award?
32: I think he's saying the latter. I mean, it doesn't need a crown. It will need sealant every now and again over the next 40 years. The damages are maybe $5k. $1.5k is hardly worth his time.
Couldn't you sue for alienation of affection or something like that? IANAL.
There really aren't many places you can go where you risk that joke already having been made.
All your cock jokes are belong to Unfogged.
Fucking autocorrect kept wanting to change "jokes" to "holes."
That's a disturbing autocorrect you've got there.
And a weirdly appropriate one in this case.
This may be the first sign of the computer AI uprising. We all expected it from supercomputers or cellphone apps or something - but autocorrect programs are the true silent killer.
I'm not worried about autocorrect as long as it allows comments like 41 to go through.
That was from a laptop. I don't have a phone that could post or read anything here. Because of how prescient I am.
OT: The men's room at the Omaha airport is really fancy. The hand dryer even projects "dry" onto your hand.
Don't use those Dyson's Moby, they're gross. (Just landed back in Arrakis myself).
Are they any grosser than the traditional design of hot air hand dryer?
47 You don't have to stick your hand in a narrow slit* where they'll touch the sides in order to use one so yes. It's like the gom jabbar in there.
*Low hanging fruit left as an exercise for the commenter.
The Dysons are secretly a test of manual dexterity. Over time I've gotten better at not touching the sides.
The Dysons do actually dry your hands, though. On the other hand, a couple of times they've blown water and stuff right into my eyes, which wasn't nice.
They aren't Dyson. There was soap, water, and hot air all in a row. They all looked pretty much the same.
The counter guy at the Wendy's in York spells my first name phonetically, I guess. Micle.
Every time my hands touch the sides I feel like I've got to wash my hands again.
Also there was this just a couple of weeks ago.