{"id":8365,"date":"2017-04-22T12:40:37","date_gmt":"2017-04-22T16:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/?p=8365"},"modified":"2017-05-17T11:09:39","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T15:09:39","slug":"united-airlines-ran-doctors-office-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/united-airlines-ran-doctors-office-practice\/2017\/04\/22\/","title":{"rendered":"If United Airlines Ran Your Doctor’s Office Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Man Dragged from Doctor’s Office Exam Room; Investigation Ongoing<\/em><\/p>\n

April 22, 2016<\/em><\/p>\n

MIDDLETON, MINNESOTA —\u00a0<\/em>Mr. Thomas\u00a0Anderson\u00a0was scheduled to see Dr. Wilson Smith yesterday for evaluation of low back pain.<\/p>\n

He left his appointment with considerably more than that.<\/p>\n

In a bizarre series of events that Middleton law enforcement officials are still investigating, Anderson\u00a0sustained facial injuries and bleeding when he was\u00a0forcibly dragged out of Smith’s office by security guards when he refused to leave voluntarily.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, startled patients in the waiting room\u00a0filmed the disturbing event on their cell phones.\u00a0The videos were posted on Facebook and Twitter, quickly eliciting a chorus of outraged comments, all\u00a0supporting Anderson’s\u00a0right to stay.<\/p>\n

“I’d been waiting for this appointment for weeks,” said Mr. Anderson\u00a0from his hospital room, where he is being treated for facial\u00a0injuries and a concussion. “They had already put me in the exam room, collected my co-pay, and asked me to change into this skimpy gown. No way I was going to leave.”<\/p>\n

The problem began when Dr. Smith, who works for United All Life\u00a0(UAL<\/a>) Health Corporation, was contacted by the CEO of the company stating that four UAL\u00a0employees needed to be seen urgently. But when Dr. Smith checked his afternoon schedule, he\u00a0noted he was completely booked.<\/p>\n

Based on policies outlined in a 5,000 word document that UAL patients sign when agreeing to care, the company has the right to deny services based on overbooking — or, in the case involving Anderson, when UAL employees require care.<\/p>\n

The policy does say UAL must offer compensation to patients in exchange for being “bumped” from their scheduled visit. Three\u00a0of Dr. Smith’s other patients agreed to reschedule their medical appointment when told they would receive a $25 Amazon gift card and\u00a0a\u00a0$10 discount at Panera (provided they spend at least $20 on food or beverages).<\/p>\n

When Mr. Anderson\u00a0refused the same offer, UAL upped the compensation to include 2 matinee passes to see Smurfs: \u00a0The Lost Village.<\/em> “Those passes are good at any theater,” said Ms. Jenna Gormley, a spokesperson for UAL. “We take our company motto — ‘Get the Friendly Care of United’ — seriously.”<\/p>\n

But Mr. Anderson, who is 66, said he had little interest in seeing the latest Smurfs movie and still refused to leave. That’s when Dr. Smith called the\u00a0security guards, who made the term “bumped” literal.<\/p>\n

Middleton law enforcement is\u00a0now investigating the criteria UAL uses to choose which patients are to be “re-accommodated” under these circumstances.<\/p>\n

Most\u00a0of the other patients on Dr. Smith’s schedule that day had “Elite” status based on paying a higher fee at the time they booked\u00a0their appointments. This payment allowed them to bring one item (such as a purse or a backpack) and a coat with them to the doctor’s office without incurring extra charges.<\/p>\n

Elite patients\u00a0also had\u00a0access to more comfortable chairs in the waiting room. Mr. Anderson, who chose not to\u00a0pay this fee, says he was told by Dr. Smith’s receptionist that he had to sit on a hard stool in the corner, face the wall, and put on an embarrassing hat.<\/p>\n

When asked further about these policies, UAL’s Gormley responded, “At UAL, our first priority is always our patients’ safety.”<\/p>\n

She then was completely unable to explain\u00a0how this statement could possibly be true.<\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jqu7-XJEXVk&w=560&h=315]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Register<\/a><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Man Dragged from Doctor’s Office Exam Room; Investigation Ongoing April 22, 2016 MIDDLETON, MINNESOTA —\u00a0Mr. Thomas\u00a0Anderson\u00a0was scheduled to see Dr. Wilson Smith yesterday for evaluation of low back pain. He left his appointment with considerably more than that. In a bizarre series of events that Middleton law enforcement officials are still investigating, Anderson\u00a0sustained facial injuries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-care"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}