According to [link] in CA a doctor's office may charge up to 25¢ per page plus a "reasonable clerical fee". That half a c-note may or may not qualify as reasonable depending on how thick the file actually is. I'll leave it to someone who has more of a clue about the wages of front office staff in California to guess at that. GC, I'm sorry this is such a trying thing for you.

Shir, all the peace and health ~ma I can give for your sister and your dog.

How's my Monday? Well, having worked the overnight shift to cover for someone who quit, I now have the rest of the day to sleep and generally lolligag.

Sorry that your OB hired Tino, but I'm glad that DW is sorting it out. I hope it goes smoothly from here.

I'll leave it to someone who has more of a clue about the wages of front office staff in California to guess at that. Front desk staffers get paid crap to begin with and a file would have to be nearly a foot thick and full of tricky images to be worth $50 of their time, and I can practically guarantee they won't see a penny of that fee anyhow.

As someone with such a clue, I call gigantic fucking bullshit on half a C-note. (And, FWIW, to my knowledge nobody in my division charges even a minimal per-page fee; dunno about the rest of the hospital, but our general policy is that the records are about the patient so s/he has a right to them, any time, on demand, no questions asked and no charge.)

In summary: I am SO GLAD you're out of there and about to start with someone whom the pediatrician you love also loves, and I also want to crush all their heads for stressing you out with the pregnancy clock ticking down. The last few weeks turn you into a 24/7 stressball under the best of circumstances; I can't believe they're acting like that and not apologizing. I'm crushing all their heads until they pop like smelly pimples.

I ran into the charge for records once, and I immediately called the insurance company. I explained the situation, the insurance rep on the other side paused, then said, "That charge only applies to out of network patients. This is the fourth time they've done this. Don't worry about anything, ma'am, I'll call them as soon as you and I are done."

I spent the rest of the day beaming with righteous vindication as I imagined the insurance rep going toe-to-toe with scamming doctor's office.

GC, I'm sorry to hear about your day.

A quick update: sister's now sleep, and I'm in charge of keeping an eye on my traumatized dog. Both are fine, just need some rest and recovery. I need sleep, but I need to comfort the dog and keep an eye on him until he'll fall asleep. I let sleep take care of my sister, instead.

And I think it's the last time we're letting her make decision when she's been awake for 36 hours, after a week on which she slept only 20 hours, scattered. My poor things. My poor sleep. Thank God I can wake up around 7 tomorrow.

singing lullabyes for Shir's sister and the dog.

And it continues. I called my insurance co. to ensure that new OB is in network and they tell me, no, she is not. OB's office insists they are. Sorry, not taking any chances after what I just got out of. So had to call my high-risk OB for references and now have an appt. with yet another OB on Thursday morning. I am so stressed out. This is so ridiculous. Worst. Monday. Ever.

Gah. I'm sorry you have to deal with this, GC.

Oh, GC. I'm so sorry this is dragging on. I hope you click with the new OB you chose.

I wish everybody with pets had a Chuck And Don's Pet Food Outlet [link] to shop at. They offer the widest variety of better quality pet foods that I have ever seen. And the staff are so friendly and helpful - even when you make 'em work the special orders over and over. One of the staff there remembers me well enough to say, "Hey that company has corn in some of its foods, let's double check on this kind before we order it for Harvey". Plus their website has links to a zillion different pet food companies so it has really made it easy to comb through looking for foods for him, as his list of food intolerances and allergies grows. I just sent them an email saying all that to them. Huh. I hope they have some kind of incentive program for their sales associates, that rewards them when they get praised to the head office, since I referred to one by name.

From my understanding, Dr offices have to transfer records to each other free, but can charge if the patient wants a copy. Of course, when I found this out it was because I was pissed that my Dr/hosp wanted $10 from me to copy my records. $50 is crap. My inarticulate rage is with you, GC. Thank goodness the next time you see them will be in your metaphorical rearview. Much ~ma with the new OB.