Fun_People Archive
2 Feb
house calls

Date: Wed,  2 Feb 94 22:58:37 PST
To: Fun_People
Subject: house calls

 From: <pep@research.att.com>
 From: nls (Norm Schryer)
 From: the NYTimes, Friday, Jan 25, Letters to the Editor:

We all know the old plumber joke: Woman calls the plumber.  Plumber charges
$200.  Woman says, "My husband is a doctor and doesn't charge that much for
a house call."  Plumber says, "I know. I used to be a doctor."

It happened to me.  I'm a gastroenterologist (Tufts University, Harvard
Medical School, Mount Sinai Hospital, Mayo Clinic - completed training at
33, president of my hospital's medical staff).  On a recent Sunday evening
the sewage drains in my house all backed up into my showers, and I had to
call a plumber.
Simultaneously, I had to go to the hospital emergency room to care for a
critically ill woman who had a bowell obstruction (which is a very similar
problem).
The plumber and I each spent 45 minutes doing our job.  He demanded a check
for $175.  Medicare and her coinsurance will reimburse me $125, if I am
lucky.  It is illegal for me to bill more.  What's wrong with this picture?
                        Robert S. Fishman, M.D.
                        Boca Raton, Fla., Jan. 16, 1994.

© 1994 Peter Langston