So, I initially thought I'd come here to express my surprise and gratitude for the care I received…read morewhen I first decided to come to Austin ER last October. I went to a different urgent care closer to UT campus on Red River, and when they were chock full of college kids, I decided an ER that wasn't attached to a hospital was worth it given the upper abdominal pain I was feeling.
APD was there when I arrived, as someone had smashed through a window, but despite the delay, they were nice and got me back to a room, an offsite ultrasound tech was called, and I was given Torodol and told I had a gallstone that may or may not cause me issues in the future. Happy to have answers, and ready to go home, I waited to be sent home.
So this is when in retrospect it all went downhill. Shifts had changed, someone else came to remove my IV. After "ripping the bandaid off" which was an IV in this case, and telling me they "couldn't let me go home with my insides on my outside", they wiped away the red chunks that came out with my IV and sent me home. No worries - I had answers and it was a nice cozy room and they had brought me a warm blanket.
Fast forward to a few days later, a red streak started to show up on my arm, and I started feeling a muscle pain that kept me from bending my arm. A few google searches and texts to my NP of a mother in law later, and I knew I should probably get it looked at. My partner and I were going to the Mueller HEB the following weekend, so I decided to stop by and ask if I should be concerned.
The front desk told me they saw that I had been in the previous weekend, and to have a seat and they'd get my arm checked out. The doctor told me the IV had cause a blood clot in my arm, I needed hot compresses, some motrin and an Ace Bandage. Thankful it wasn't something more serious, I walked to the front desk, and asked them if I owed anything - I was told "no". I was extra grateful they weren't going to charge me for follow up for something cause by my initial visit.
Fast forward, I get a bill for over $600 AFTER INSURANCE for an ace bandage and some motrin, for something that was a result of seeking care at this institution and being told I owed nothing.
Assuming it was some sort of mistake, I called the ER, was told to call billing, was told to call the ER back, that they would have to tag it as a follow up, and then I wouldn't be billed. Called back, was told it couldn't be a follow up if it was more than a day or two later, explained I was told I wouldn't be charged as it was because of the IV being ripped out of my arm that I came back in the first place.
Was told to call billing again, was told to call the ER again, have been told two or three times a lead would call me. At this point, I experienced pain in my arm for two months that kept me from being able to extend my arm, have called/been told multiple times someone would call me back, have not received one return call but have been sent multiple bills. The last time I was told a lead would contact me was last week... this started last October.
Honestly just looking to talk to someone who can make this right and feeling driving to the point of writing a review to get it sorted.
Avoid if possible.
