Yesterday I was indirectly informed by the Knightdale and WakeForest Pediatrics accounts receivables clerk, Diane, that these practices care more about money than they do about children. I will elaborate on how this information was derived but I want to focus specifically on one of Diane’s comments: “Care of the children is our primary concern but our physicians deserved to get paid”.  Now, through an account of factual events I will show exactly how much more hypocritical Diane’s comment was than it even appears on the surface.

Prologue: During a 24 hour period on Feb. 9th and 10th my 23 month old, Logan, had a Grandma seizure and two full seizures.  During this course of events we turned to Knightdale Pediatrics, our Pediatrician of record with our insurance company, and the practice denied treatment to Logan, stating financial reasons.  Fifteen minutes after Amy left their practice, ashamed and in tears, my son had his second seizure in the parking lot of the Carolina Urgent Care Center in Knightdale.  He is in the care of Wake Medical Center this morning as I write this.

Up until yesterday my sons had been patients at Knightdale Pediatrics and occasionally Wake Forest Pediatrics here in NC.  Through some service or treatment that is honestly unknown to me we ended up owing one of these practices approximately $400.00.  I do not know the actual amount because Amy had all of the conversations about this balance with Diane and to date I have not seen a hard copy of an invoice.

Apparently Amy set up payment arrangements with Diane for a monthly amount.  It is unclear if she signed anything authorizing payments in the form of automatic withdraws of my checking account.  Even if she did it’s not valid because her names not on the account and her signature would not authorize this.  That’s beside the point.  The dispute between Amy and Diane began when the practice tried to run my card for a monthly payment.  It wasn’t denied.  My card number had been changed by Bank of America fraud alert services because a company in Florida, the Xacti Corporation, was trying to fraudulently process transactions against my Visa check card.

So Diane called Amy for a payment last week that I think Amy committed to.  She called Amy’s cell number, the one everyone had ending in 4715.  Everyone that knows us personally and well knows that Amy washed that phone about two weeks ago and it hasn’t been replaced because she’s carrying the phone ending in 6029 now.   She could not check the old messages.   Regardless, at some point in the last two weeks Amy did commit to pay $60 to Diane and the practice but neglected to call Diane to make the payment last Thursday.

So after Logan had a Grandma seizure Saturday, a full seizure Monday night and a trip to the ER Amy called Tuesday morning to see if she could take Logan to Knightdale Pediatrics for follow up.  She had to call “Diane” for clearance because the practice wouldn’t see her until she said it was okay.  So much for caring about the children before money.

Amy asked Dianne if she could come Tuesday morning and make a payment to them on Thursday.  Note: we could pay the entire outstanding balance that very day but it would have been nice to wait until Thursday.  It was just a request.  Amy explained to Diane about the seizure.  Diane told Amy she could not bring Logan in unless she made a payment to her on the phone at that moment.  Amy got mad and cussed at Diane.  Amy just wanted Logan taken care of.  Eventually in the conversation Amy agreed to make the payment to Diane and went to okay it with me.  I was in the shower.

Amy didn’t want to make the payment without asking me.  She got back on the phone with Diane who told her Logan wouldn’t be seen without a $60 payment on the account and the co-payment of $20.   Amy got mad and cussed some more at Diane.

So I got out of the shower, gave Amy a wad of cash (she could have paid anything they asked for) and sent her to Knightdale Pediatrics.  Money was not an object and we are insured.  When she arrived the  receptionist would not admit Logan right away.  Amy told me the receptionist turned to speak to a doctor in their hallway (I’ll get his name from Amy later).  The receptionist returned and said “We have no responsibility to see your children anymore, we can give you the forms to release your records to another practice”.

So there stood my wife with my 23-month old who was shaking with fever in a medical practice that was refusing him treatment.  Amy told them she had their money and what “Diane” said about the $60 payment on the co-payment on the phone.   They refused to see Logan because apparently “Diane” calls the shots at this practice and if you don’t speak kindly to her the doctors will not like you and they will not treat your children.

Minutes later I met Amy at Carolina Urgent Care in Knightdale.  I was going to get back all the money I had given her and put it back in the bank on the way to work.  Amy got Logan out of the car and laid him in the front seat to change his diaper.  That’s when he had his second full seizure and I ran him into the Urgent Care.  Amy couldn’t help but speak about the whole ordeal at Knightdale Pediatrics.  The attending physician recommended we go to The Growing Child in Zebulon which Amy says she’s heard good things about.

I called Diane myself that morning.  I started the call by letting her know I would never, under any circumstances, return my children to their practice but I wanted to know where the breakdown was between her telling Amy to pay the $80 and when Logan was denied treatment in the office.  Her response was “ya, that was before she cussed me out”.  She then went on to elaborate to me about how she had never spoken to me about the account and said “I might still be able to work something out with you guys”.  I guess it was because I was being pleasant.  I responded “Okay, thanks, I understand now.  You tried to pressure account collections on  Amy, she got mad and cussed you out, you got pissed and decided to refuse my child treatment”.  I heard the beginning of her next sentence “No sir…”.  I hung up.

So there you have it.  Form your own opinion.  Apparently if a parent makes harsh remarks to an Accounts Receivables clerk at a medical practice they will refuse treatment.  Funny thing is, I can tell you from my own  conversation that Diane is not a pleasant person to talk to.  After all she’s an account receivables (i.e. collections) clerk.

Knightdale and Wake Forest Pediatrics biggest mistake was never discussing this with me before denying treatment to my child.  I will now spread this account of events in every public venue I can find.  These events are factual and not opinion.  Sure it’s up to their discretion who they treat and they were within their bounds to eliminate my children from their patient list.  I will provide them the publicity they asked for.

Now I will only pay the $400 as soon as I actually see a bill.  Then maybe the Doctors of Knightdale and Wake Forest Pediatrics can get their paychecks because their “care of the children is their primary concern but (they) deserve to be paid”.

All repercussions aside, this is a fight to me worth having and I’m taking it to the NC medical board.

I stood in line to pay $60 for the “hottest toy of the season”, Elmo Live.  I also went in search of the best price on a Playstation Portatble (PSP).  Then I bought the games, memory card and every other damn thing the sales kid told me I had to buy for it to work.  I argued for an item in a toy store…and won.  The smile on my face was quickly replaced with a blank stare as I realized my own mediocrity.

Some ultra-wealthy parents buy their kids cars, apartments, ponies or spa memberships.  And lots of ultra-granola parents buy their kids a tree to plant and a card memorializing the contribution made towards saving a gorilla in their name.  Not me.  I go straight for whatever I’m sold by the capitalist marketing machine.  Stir the economy stupid.  However there is one big difference in how I operated this year compared to the majority of American consumers: I paid cash.  There will not be one credit card debt in our household as a result of this holiday season.

So what if I bought my child portable attention deficit disorder (see PSP) when he didn’t even ask for it.  I know he will wear the paint off the buttons.  And if Logan only laughs at Elmo singing and dancing for 15 minutes well, that’s what I paid for.  And don’t get me started on what I spent on Amy.  She’s getting less gifts and for more money than either of the kids.  If it wasn’t made by a brand name designer or personalized she isn’t getting it.

Ya I’m a mediocre consumer drone and I don’t care.  I give the gifts people want without pretending that I’m giving them something they need and won’t give a damn about.  Christmas is about want, not need.  Don’t ask me what I “need”.  I’ll buy what I need.  You get me what I can’t or won’t buy for myself (my dad is pretty good about following this rule).  That’s the real spirit of Christmas, like it or not.  That is unless you are the purist of Christian and genuinely celebrate the season based on it’s original intent.  I don’t know too many of those people anymore.  That is, I really don’t know anyone who would display the same “spirit” of Christmas without giving or receiving gifts.  Do you?

Yes, it’s the saddest story I read today. Apparently CNN thought it necessary to reprint a Uwire sob story about the plight of auto industry children. They may have to find a way to actually pay for school. I couldn’t stop the tears. To think that retired auto workers may have to forgo lifetime salaries and free health care for themselves and their children… Well, I don’t know if I have the strength to hear any more of this tragic burden.

Oh wait, yes I do. Welcome to the world the rest of us live in. The world without pensions, free health care and other guaranteed retirement benefits thanks to a Union. Tell your sob story to my 62 year old mother who doesn’t plan to quit working any time soon. Your poor tear jerking article claims a school girls parents “logged more than 30 years for the auto giant”, GM. This school girl is 29 years old. Now that just makes me damned mad. My mothers been working for over 39 years non-stop often on night shifts for years at a time. Where’s her free health care? Where’s her lifetime salary at retirement? How come I didn’t get to go to college for free?

The F-150 is dead and gone, smoking transmission and all. Short sale to the rescue. Good riddance. Here’s something important to know: Gap insurance is useless unless you wreck your car. It doesn’t cover mechanical failures.

I’m not sorry to see the truck go. And I’m not certain we’re going to buy another car any time soon. We do live out in the middle of nowhere but so far it hasn’t been that much of an inconvenience. My sister is right down the street so if Amy is in a desperate situation she has transportation while I’m at work.

Part of this is a test. I got into a forum debate with some people on Digg last week regarding this very topic. I swore that some families need two cars and cited mine as an example. If we can do this anyone can. I’ll either save the money to pay cash for a car or we won’t buy another one. Since I’ve sworn off financing this my idea of practicing what I’m preaching. I won’t get a loan from a bank even though a dealer has pre-qualified me. At this very moment, in this economy I am one of the Treasury and banking systems enemy consumers. And I will not give in. It’s like my own little mini protest. The candle light vigil will be held at midnight.

Since I’m back on the subject of debt again, I now owe the movie gallery in Wendell and the one in Zebulon $35 each. Thanks to a lost copy of Spiderman 3 for Playstation and a Wall-E DVD that never made it home with Amy tonight I will pay them the equivalent of renting movies for 3 months. Add to this the $158 water bill I received for Oct. 22 to Nov. 22nd and you don’t need to think hard to understand why I’m not going to finance anything for a long time, if ever again.

When I opened this comically sinister water bill tonight I went under the house to see if we had a leak. No leaks but I did find the hose on the right side of the house watering the neighbors lawn for the last month. 498 gallons a day thanks to Connor and Jacob playing with the spicket. I think I set a Wake County consumption record.

You want to know the real irony of the DVD that Amy lost on the way home from the movie store. She went to get it with a free rental voucher.

Well it’s official now. I didn’t take the contract job at Steifel labs I was officially offered on Friday. I wrote my email declining the offer tonight. It was the second time I’ve written an email turning down this position.

I’ve declined lots of jobs and never said a word to anyone. This one was especially significant because for the first time the rate would have sent my annual salary above $110K a year. Sad but true. I decided to keep my position at Trimaco for reasons I won’t elaborate but for the first time in my IT career the decision had nothing to do with money.

Amy was supportive mostly because she understands the details why I didn’t take it. To sum it all up I can just say this: I didn’t get a good vibe. Add to it that I am really comfortable in my current position and I couldn’t jump. It’s almost that simple.

I’m having a hard time getting over that I didn’t take the money. This is not like me and certainly not something I would have done even three years ago. I must be getting old or something.  I suppose if there is any consolation it’s that I’m still employable in this economy.  Amazing.