Today was my third visit with the Dr. Paul Reder office on Sunset Street in San Antonio. He has an excellent staff. But that's where the good news ends. I paid for a visit with the doctor in 2022. For my fee I received 12 minutes with the doctor. He talked the entire time, I was not allowed to explain my situation and expressed my concerns. Today I tried to receive a quote for a small office procedure called a Myringotomy, which is usually performed as an outpatient basis, in the doctor's office.
I had a dual ear Myringotomy procedure in 2015, by a downtown San Antonio ENT doctor. This resulted in perfect hearing, and no reoccurrence. The total time in the ENT office was 30 minutes, and the simple procedure was the application of a gel anesthetic on the eardrum, followed by a small pinhole in the eardrum, then a vacuum removal of the inner ear fluid. There were no complications, nor side effects, except perfect hearing. No tubes were inserted. My total bill for the office visit was $224 including new patient and procedures combined. I am a private pay patient. The doctor's bedside manner was perfect. He has since retired, sadly.
Back to today. Dr. Reder has an office in Boerne Texas which is about 30 miles away. I was informed that the doctor there could see me today. I was very excited. However, I found out that they wanted to perform this as an OR procedure in a hospital. The $200 to $300 expected charge, all of a sudden becomes more like $4000-$5000. All I see is that this group sees me as a meal ticket and dollar signs. I cannot recommend this practice at all. There's nothing like greed and pride to turn me off. What happened to the Hippocratic oath? read more