Feb 3, 2008 7:30 am US/Eastern
Grandmom Forced To Pay Before Getting In Ambulance
While Having Heart Attack, Woman Told To Cough Up Co-Pay
By Dave Carlin, CBS 2 HD News
STATEN ISLAND (CBS) ―
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Barbara Antonelli was asked to pay $5 before being treated for a heart attack.
CBS
A 76-year-old grandmother is accusing a Staten Island doctor's office of putting profits over people. She says she was asked for a $5 co-payment just as she was being put into an ambulance.
Barbara Antonelli is bouncing back from a recent heart attack -- one that came with something extra: a "$5 Fiasco."
"[Is] a lousy $5 more important than a human being?" Antonelli wondered.
Antonelli was inside her doctor's office on Grove Lane when the signs of a heart attack were detected and she needed to get to a hospital right away. An ambulance came and then it happened -- she says at the worst possible moment she was pressed for payment by a young receptionist.
While having an oxygen mask attached, being strapped to a gurney and in the midst of a medical crisis, "[The receptionist] said well I hate to bother you, but could you give me the $5 co-pay? I said I don't believe this. Luckily I had a $5 bill, and I gave it to her," Antonelli told CBS 2 HD.
She says she does not blame her doctor, whom she credits with helping save her life, and she considers the receptionist who asked for the $5 co-pay new to the job and untrained. She says the bosses are at fault.
Administrators with the Staten Island Physician Practice promise to investigate the incident. They told Antonelli proper procedure was not followed and she should have been billed later.
Administrators were unavailable Saturday. Antonelli plans to take follow up tests on her heart in a different facility. When she returns to her doctor's office she'll simply say bill me, but will have a $5 bill in her purse just in case.
Antonelli says she came forward with her story because she doesn't want anyone else to have to have to think about money while they are in the middle of a medical emergency.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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