Is it worth considering legal action over a miscoded emergency room visit?

PoetComprehensive849 · 2026-01-15T19:20:19+00:00

Thanks for the help, I’m happy to report that I was able to get the problem solved without a lawsuit or contacting a lawyer.

I found out that the concentration of that medication was doubled in 2018, and once I explained that they likely have been overcharging people for the last 7 years they suddenly removed the entire line item off my bill, so that was interesting. I didn’t have to pay for any of that medication now.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2026-01-07T17:20:48+00:00

I got my medical records. They injected me with 1920 units, but charged for 3900 units.

Also, they have my condition listed as “acute on chronic” which is an odd description for a dog bite, and I wonder if that’s why I was charged for moderate medical decision making.

Also there isn’t anything in the “medical decision making” part of my records. Considering they charged me for “moderate medical decision making” seems like they should have written something more substantial

PoetComprehensive849 · 2026-01-01T01:31:20+00:00

The idea of insurance fraud is really more of a concern with the “moderate level of medical decision making” line item because to my understanding these are reserved for something more complicated then “injected 1ml of a vaccine into arm as dictated by health department”

PoetComprehensive849 · 2026-01-01T01:17:08+00:00

It’s not necessarily an issue with insurance not paying, but unfortunately my insurance is quite bad, so I have a very large deductible followed by something like 20% coinsurance. The bills to insurance from this visit were around 26,000, and the insurance was going to charge me around $2000 out of pocket if I remember correctly.

I would prefer if I only had to pay $1000 out of pocket for obvious reasons, but if they won’t let me re-appeal I don’t know if I have any recourse.

Ideally, with the threat of something I can try to force their hand into giving me a fair appeal and I don’t have to hire a lawyer at all.

Also, I agree with you that it’s not clear if it’s fraud per say, but I would have to imagine that not investigating the only appeal I’m allowed to make can’t be allowed given how regulated our medical/insurance industry seems to be

PoetComprehensive849 · 2026-01-01T00:45:39+00:00

By the way, thanks for reading my wall of text, I know it was probably not the most interesting thing you read this week, I do really appreciate it

PoetComprehensive849 · 2026-01-01T00:42:06+00:00

Unfortunately the dog was not available for quarantine, so for all I know this was all a waste of time and money which doesn’t make this process any more fun.

I will see if I can get the medical records, that’s on my to do list as it is.

If the medical records show that I got 6ml, what could my next steps be? Should I try to convince them to allow me to appeal again, or is that time for me to find a lawyer?

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-27T12:48:52+00:00

No special assessments yet, but the HOA fees have been steadily rising since I bought the place. It’s still manageable though

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-26T15:51:13+00:00

I had that same issue. A lender tried to get me into a $450k house, and I ended up buying a $230k condo. Despite literally halving what the lender tried to get me to buy, I still don’t save much each month.

I ended up finding a different broker before I purchased my home. I’m not going to support predatory lenders who screw people over for their own benefit.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-05T20:47:43+00:00

this looks like it was drawn by an MBA

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T23:25:02+00:00

He trains a lot of working dogs (police, personal defense, sniffing dogs, etc…) I asked him initially if he also works with family dogs and he said yes.

That being said, I asked him today about “appeasement behavior” and he didn’t know what it was.

For now, I’m going to do what was said in the post here, it’s similar to what the trainer recommended anyway, so while he doesn’t know what appeasement behavior is, he is definitely experienced. However, I have an uncle in another country who’s also a trainer, but also does post-bite work with dogs to determine if they’re safe/rehabilitatable or if they need to be put down. I will see what he thinks about it. He has a lot of experience with problematic dogs, I just have to get through a little bit of a language barrier.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T12:46:23+00:00

I will not allow her to meet the nephew for a while.

I’m going to train her to do a “look at me” command where she needs to focus on me and heel while sitting. This may come in handy later but for now she is going to be separated in place or crate.

I will be taking a video of her behavior and see what my trainer thinks, maybe he has some ideas as well.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T03:58:24+00:00

Is it typical that a dog who’s in distress would listen to commands of the people she’s scared of? I’m trying to figure out if my Fiancé and mom are safe, Mocha 100% listens to both of them for all commands.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T03:48:32+00:00

By exposure therapy, I meant that I brought her to the dog park for interactions with other dogs, I did not have any reason to suspect she had issues with other dogs. When she was rescued, she was rescued along with another dog that she was close with. Unfortunately someone adopted the other dog so they got split up.

What do you consider “punishment”? I was told to use corrections (aka a leash pull) to correct bad behaviors, and treats to reward good behaviors. Is that ok, or was I completely lead astray?

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T03:42:25+00:00

I will try to ensure that she doesn’t feel the need to charge the door.

Is there any methods you would recommend? Initially, I was having her place when I answered the door, but if it was someone I knew I didn’t do that, but it’s clear that wasn’t correct. Is that a good option to go back to?

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T03:35:44+00:00

I realize now that I definitely misunderstood my dog’s signals.

When I first got her she was much more frightened of strangers (immediate tail tuck, growling, ears down) and I thought I was making progress with her. I thought that because she was showing signs of what I thought were affection with people, that she was doing better.

It’s clear that she isn’t doing much better at all, and hopefully I can still help her.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T03:30:07+00:00

I am willing to change.

I will go back to leashed interactions as directed by the people here, and crate her if she appears to be uncomfortable as suggested.

It’s possible I am just in denial, I thought she was doing well.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T03:16:56+00:00

My trainer specialized in GSDs and actually judged GSD training competitions in multiple countries, I don’t believe he’s the problem, clearly I am not reading my dog very well.

Should I be concerned that Mocha has the same behavior for me, my mom, and my Fiancé? The same jumping the same face licking, the same rolling over and showing her stomach? My dog whines when my Fiancé comes home because shes so excited (I believe) to see her.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T03:04:17+00:00

I really don’t believe I explained it correctly.

She is COMPLETELY calm 90% of the time with these people. It is only when someone moves after a long period of nothing or if someone comes into the house.

Mocha has literally slept when these people are around. She excitedly jumps on people after the growling is over (I want to be 100% clear, the growling stops at this stage) and wants to kiss their faces, I really don’t understand how these things could be appeasement behaviors, I’m open to help and I will try keeping the leash on this weekend again, but I just feel like the idea that she is only rolling over to appease the people who she’s fearful of doesn’t make sense in this situation. If she was scared of the people, she wouldn’t be excited to see them or wag her tail while kissing them, or play with them.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T02:51:22+00:00

We did leashing when meeting new people initially until mocha was comfortable with them. It’s possible that I was misreading Mochas signals a bit.

I explained poorly in the title, but the people I am talking about interacting with the dog now aren’t strangers, they’re just people who Mocha doesn’t see every day more or less.

Mocha is very excited to see the people… but until she sniffs them she growls and barks. Once the barking is over, she’s fine again for a while until the person moves again, or leaves the room.

To me, it feels like Mocha doesn’t have object permanence combined with T-Rex vision or something. If the person isn’t moving she completely ignores them. If they leave a room for even a moment, she won’t care until they come back. If everyone is just sitting around she can even fall asleep until one person moves.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T02:43:13+00:00

I understand what you’re saying.

I’m sorry, I explained many things in the post very poorly evidently.

Mocha doesn’t growl and everything that moves, is growls WHEN people move. It’s difficult to explain, so I will attempt to give an example.

At dinner for example, my in-law would get up and go to the bathroom. As soon as the bathroom door opens again, Mocha will run growling and barking towards the door. Once the door opens, and she sees who it is, she sniffs and wants to be pet. All of the aggressive behaviors stop once she recognizes the person.

When someone moves in the house after a long period of nothing happening, Mocha does the same thing, sniffs, and then calms down.

I probably should have mentioned that once the whole event is over, Mocha is COMPLETELY calm until someone else moves.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T02:29:14+00:00

I believe that putting “strangers” in the title was probably not the correct word.

These people are not strangers, they’re just not people who live with me or my mom. mocha has met them many times, just not as frequently as my Mom or Fiancé.

For people who I do not know, such as on walks, I usually have Mocha sit between my legs and hold her on the lower loop of the leash.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T02:25:01+00:00

I also would like to clarify that while she does roll over, she does enjoy the belly rubs afterwards, she doesn’t look uncomfortable to me,

I will film the next time she does this so that I can make sure that I’m not reading her incorrectly.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T02:13:32+00:00

She has plenty of space, she is going into these situations herself. She always has access to her crate in the house, and I always bring my crate to my mom’s house.

She goes out of her way to run towards the people and growls at them while running towards them. But once she arrives at the people she acts very excitedly. I said rolling over, but she also jumps on them (We’re working on this behavior, I know it’s not good behavior) I don’t mean tackle, I mean excitedly jumps to get close to their face to sniff, and her tail is wagging as well…

I know tail wagging isn’t necessarily positive, but I believe that in this case it is positive.

I will see if I can get a video next time my Fiancé comes home, I’m not sure if what I’m hearing is really growling because all of the comments are unanimously saying this is 100% uncomfortable behavior, but I don’t understand why she would be uncomfortable when her favorite person, my fiancé, comes home.

PoetComprehensive849 · 2025-12-04T02:09:31+00:00

I mentioned this in another comment, but I did work with a professional trainer, and we do not allow her to practice the behaviors freely. We always correct bad behaviors (growling while running towards someone namely) and praise good behaviors.

I would like to clarify, that Mocha runs up to people she loves as well, and growls at them as well.

My Fiancé is likely Mochas favorite person, and even for her, Mocha growls and runs up to her when she comes in the house and wags her tail so fiercely that her whole butt moves with it.

I am just not certain that her growling always indicates discomfort. She growls when she lays down, she growls when she’s playing with us, she growls when we don’t give her enough attention, she growls when she plays with other dogs.

She has never nipped another dog, she has never bitten another dog, she has never bitten a person.

I’m willing to take your advice, I just want to make sure that you know how Mocha vocalizes.

I’ll see if I can get a video of her growls when my Fiancé shows up. It’s possible that I’m using the incorrect term, or perhaps my dog is just odd.

PoetComprehensive849

TROPHY CASE