SEPTEMBER 4, 2015, 7:44 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2015, 11:02 PM
BY LINDY WASHBURN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
In a lawsuit that illustrates how inescapable surprise medical bills can be, a judge in Bergen County has sided with an anesthesiology practice that did not accept a patient’s insurance for emergency services at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood and sued the patient for payment.
The judge found that the bill was reasonable and that the doctor had no obligation to figure out — “at midnight” — whether the patient’s insurance would cover the anesthesia she needed to deliver her baby.
Brenda Cristiano, who lives in Franklin Lakes, chose the hospital and her obstetrician because they participated in her insurance plan, Cigna. But when she needed an emergency cesarean section to deliver GianLuca in October 2014, none of the anesthesiologists at the hospital accepted Cigna.
