A surgeon has slammed UnitedHealthcare after the insurance giant allegedly disputed her patient’s care while she was on the operating table.
Dr Elisabeth Potter, a plastic surgeon in Texas, claims performing breast reconstructive surgery on a breast cancer survivor when she received a phone call in the operating room.
Mid-surgery, Dr Potter was allegedly told to contact UnitedHealthcare ‘right now’ about the patient on the operating table, forcing her to stop the surgery and take the call.
The insurance representative allegedly said he needed information about the patient’s diagnosis to determine ‘if her inpatient stay should be justified.’
Dr Potter said in a TikTok video this week: ‘I was like, “Do you understand that she’s asleep right now and she has breast cancer?” and the gentleman said, “I don’t actually. That’s a different department that would know that information.
‘I’ve never had this happen before,’ she said. ‘It’s out of control. Insurance is out of control. I have no other words.’
UnitedHealthcare told DailyMail.com that Dr Potter’s claims are unconfirmed and that the company would never ask a physician to step out of surgery.
A company spokesperson told DailyMail.com: ‘There are no insurance related circumstances that would require a physician to step out of surgery and it would create potential safety risks if they were to do so.
‘We did not ask nor would ever expect a physician to interrupt patient care to answer a call and we will be following up with the provider and hospital to understand why these unorthodox actions were taken.’
Dr Elisabeth Potter, a plastic surgeon in Texas (pictured here), claims was forced to stop surgery on a breast cancer patient after UnitedHealthcare allegedly asked if the patient’s care should be justified’
Stopping a surgery can increase the risk of infections, as the area outside the operating room is not sterile (stock image)
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Dr Potter claims she was performing a bilateral deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap procedure, which reconstructs breasts after a mastectomy.
Mastectomies, which remove one or both breasts, are performed in breast cancer patients to get remove diseased tissue.
According to data from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), around 100,000 breast reconstructive surgeries are performed every year, making it one of the most common procedures in the US.
Without insurance, the DIEP flap surgery costs anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000.
A 2020 study from ASPS found that between 2012 and 2017, 28 percent of patients were denied coverage for their breast reconstructive surgeries.
Dr Potter claims she had to leave the operating room to take the call, which could have increased the patient’s risk of infection since the area outside of the operating room is not sterile.
The patient would also have to be under anesthesia for a longer amount of time, making them more likely to suffer complications like nausea and blood clots.
UnitedHealthcare is the nation’s largest health insurance conglomerate.
The company expected to bring in revenues of $450 billion in 2025, with Thompson believed to earn a salary in the region of $10million a year.
UnitedHealthcare leadership is in the hot seat over a history of denying medically necessary treatments, an issue believed to have driven Luigi Mangione, 26, to allegedly assassinate one of the company’s top executives.
UnitedHealthcare has also been accused of using an AI program with a 90 percent error rate to deny claims.
UnitedHealthcare leadership has been under fire over denied claims after the assassination of CEO Brian Thompson, pictured here
In the weeks since Thompson’s assassination, patients and healthcare providers like Dr Potter shared their stories of denied claims.
One pediatric neurology nurse on Reddit said the company has allegedly denied anti-seizure medications for children with epilepsy.
The nurse wrote: ‘We have UHC deny seizure medications that we can definitively tell will benefit patients based on their EEG results because it’s not UHC’s preferred medication.
‘Patient has to fail the preferred medication first. And by fail, this means the patient has to have a s***load of seizures. So these kids have to seize their f****** brains out to get a medication that we know will control their seizures.’
Uncontrolled seizures can damage neurons and brain cells, leading to irreversible brain damage.
And a bombshell report released by ProPublica found UnitedHealthcare has allegedly working to cut therapies for more than 10,000 autistic children.
TikTok users responded to Dr Potter’s video with shock and disgust.
One user said: ‘So instead of calling the other department within United, they call a surgeon out of surgery?’
Another wrote: ‘That is outrageous! A doctor leaving a surgery to talk to their insurance. No.’
And one said: ‘That is literally INSANE.’
