Matthew Franklin

Review of Orthopaedic Surgery Center of ...

My wife shattered her ankle (trimalleolar fracture...

My wife shattered her ankle (trimalleolar fracture) and went to the ER at the local hospital. The on-call surgeon, Dr. Rickards, (who happens to work here) refused to come in at night and advised she take pain killers and then come see her the next day at her office. After waiting a day with a shattered ankle, the doctor then schedule surgery yet another day later at the Outpatient Surgery Center of La Jolla, where she also worked. As soon as it was scheduled, this place was calling demanding large pre-payments, and threatened to deny treatment unless we payed enough money (this is with insurance footing the bulk of the bill). We tapped our HSA and made a large payment so she could get care. Then to make it better, Dr. Rickards was over an hour late arriving for surgery and the staff indicated that this is not unusual for her.
Now after five months of consistent payments totaling ~$1300 of the $2000 bill due by us, they threaten us with collections less than 30 days after the last payment was made! Unless you are wealthy enough to pay cash up front, go to somewhere else and avoid Dr. Rickards.