Doctor John A. Barrick, DDS, LTD

Review: My husband and son missed their dentist appointment due to the fact that my mother-in-law was in the hospital dying. My husband spent the night at the hospital with his mom helping to turn her during the night to keep her comfortable since the pain medications were not easing the pain from her cancer. He got into his vehicle, exhausted, and called the doctor's office before they opened to let them know he couldn't make the appointment. Dr. Barrick immediately called him back and spoke negatively about my husband and his actions. I wrote Dr. Barrick two letters explaining why we shouldn't be billed the $130 cancellation fees without any response from him or his staff.

I certainly understand a policy for broken appointments, but in the years we have been going, we had never missed an appointment. And, my mother-in-law was dying. Certainly there is an exception in this policy for dying?Desired Settlement: Credit to my account for $130.

Business

Response:

We received a letter from you today regarding a complaint from a patient. The ID number is [redacted] In response to this complaint, I spoke personally to the patient the morning of his scheduled appointment. He only said that he could not make the appointment because he had to go to work and his son had to go to school. He never mentioned anything about his mom being sick or that he had been in the hospital with her. He was told then there would be a cancellation fee as we only had less than an hour till his appointment time. We would have waived the charge immediately if he had said his mom was dying and he needed to be with her. This account had a prior balance and has been sent to collections due to not receiving payments. If the patient can provide proof of his mom being in the hospital at that time, we will remove the broken appointment fee and he can continue to pay the remaining balance.

You may contact me with any other questions you may have.

Regards,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

How would the doctor's office suggest I provide proof that my mother-in-law was in the hospital?

She went home with hospice and here's the link to her obituary. [redacted]

Regards,

Business

Response:

The broken appointment fees will be dropped due to the death of Mr. [redacted] mother.

Regards,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,