Thread: Maybe this will flush Eki out- $143K Hospital Bill Shocks Snake Bite Victem

Originally Posted by Dr Giacomo Rappaccini

BTW I have a bottle of amatriptyline sitting in front of me right now. You know what it says here in the "home of the brave" Amitrptyline sub for Elavil
ssssssssssssssaaaaaanap for the win. Yes at the hospital they gave me E-L-A-V-I-L Yes I have always known the difference so please stop being so anal

Crossed wires again I suspect. I never said that you didn't get Elavil from your hospital. I said Elavil is now a generic drug. Sorry if you didn't understand my point that I repeated several times.... Third time lucky (or is it fourth?)

That charge cannot in any way reflect the hospital's costs. Does that make it fraud? Surely the insurance company could afford to take legal action.

The moral of the tale is to take out unlimited medical insurance if visiting the USA.

Originally Posted by Malbec

Crossed wires again I suspect. I never said that you didn't get Elavil from your hospital. I said Elavil is now a generic drug. Sorry if you didn't understand my point that I repeated several times.... Third time lucky (or is it fourth?)

WTF are you trying to say. I have always known that Amatriptyline is generic for Elavil It was when my osteopath prescribed it to me for the first time. What I said was in the hospital they gave me the branded name so my bill would be higher. Then you started crossing wires in a very anally retentive kind of way You are really impressive with your tight a$$ matter of fact empiricism. Please take it away junior, because I'm done beating a dead horse!

Originally Posted by D-Type

That charge cannot in any way reflect the hospital's costs. Does that make it fraud? Surely the insurance company could afford to take legal action.

The moral of the tale is to take out unlimited medical insurance if visiting the USA.

Rollo when you say does it reflect the hospitals cost are you saying that they marked it up too much, because I know you don't mean to imply that they are not in business to make money! That is the way the song goes here. My sister was the CFO of a company that secured blood from people with rare blood disease, and you know what? One guy who had an extremely rare blood disease would put them through so much grief, because he knew that he could almost get whatever price he wanted. Plus he was such a dick that he would not show up for appointments. So you have a large company having to barter with private citizens and you know what? Everybody that worked there drew a salary representative of corporate equivalents. So you can see how the price for getting the finished product to the hospitals where the Hematologist’s that use it (Who also) make some damn good money as well, get the price up very rapidly. A law suit would be a joke. Who do you sue first?

@ maybec check post #15 I made it clear what i was saying, you just wanted to be an authority, about all my freakin meds. You kept on trying to get me to maker a distinction that I made inpost #15 yes that is 1-5 But feel free to be so full of yourself to the point of humiliation.
It's cool with me

Originally Posted by Dr Giacomo Rappaccini

WTF are you trying to say. I have always known that Amatriptyline is generic for Elavil It was when my osteopath prescribed it to me for the first time. What I said was in the hospital they gave me the branded name so my bill would be higher. Then you started crossing wires in a very anally retentive kind of way You are really impressive with your tight a$$ matter of fact empiricism. Please take it away junior, because I'm done beating a dead horse!

Perhaps it would help if you write your posts in a more lucid consistent way.

Now you're claiming that the hospital gave you a branded version of amitryptiline when previously you claimed that they gave you Elavil, or at least that is how your post comes across.

I suspect what you are trying to say is that you were given Elavil but the hospital charged for amitryptiline because that attracts a higher fee despite the drugs being one and the same.

It might come across to you that I'm anally retentive. I'm a doctor so I do have some history in prescribing drugs and just a little understanding of the difference between drugs as well as the ins and outs of the pharm industry. Your posts as originally written make little sense, are highly confusing and often contradict each other so please think about how you come across before you criticise me.

Have a nice day!

Originally Posted by Dr Giacomo Rappaccini

@ maybec check post #15 I made it clear what i was saying, you just wanted to be an authority, about all my freakin meds. You kept on trying to get me to maker a distinction that I made inpost #15 yes that is 1-5 But feel free to be so full of yourself to the point of humiliation.
It's cool with me

I did read post 15, in fact I quoted it.

Its difficult to understand as its barely coherent English.

In post 15 you said that Elavil was not a generic then in post 24 you directly contradict that statement. You did that several times in this thread.

Also I don't know where you were going with the cocaine stuff, I merely explained that I find it odd that your doctors were using cocaine when standard practice even at that time was to use bupivacaine, and that cocaine for medical use is surprisingly cheap given what it costs on the street.

I apologise to you. From the tone of post 12 I thought that you were pissed off about certain aspects of your treatment and I explained to you the medical rationale behind some of what you described, and why some drugs were cheaper than others when you wouldn't expect them to be. I guess you didn't really want to know.

Originally Posted by Malbec

Perhaps it would help if you write your posts in a more lucid consistent way.

Now you're claiming that the hospital gave you a branded version of amitryptiline when previously you claimed that they gave you Elavil, or at least that is how your post comes across.
I suspect what you are trying to say is that you were given Elavil but the hospital charged for amitryptiline because that attracts a higher fee despite the drugs being one and the same.

It might come across to you that I'm anally retentive. I'm a doctor so I do have some history in prescribing drugs and just a little understanding of the difference between drugs as well as the ins and outs of the pharm industry. Your posts as originally written make little sense, are highly confusing and often contradict each other so please think about how you come across before you criticise me.

Have a nice day!

Tell you what Doc No. They gave me the branded Elavil and charged me for it.
Amatriptyline is the generic as you know they use the name of the chemical compound on generics. God-all-freakin-mighty you are a hard case. You can't be that dense.

Originally Posted by Dr Giacomo Rappaccini

Tell you what Doc No. They gave me the branded Elavil and charged me for it.
Amatriptyline is the generic as you know they use the name of the chemical compound on generics. God-all-freakin-mighty you are a hard case. You can't be that dense.

I think you misunderstand the meaning of the word generic in this case.

Amitryptiline is the pharmaceutical name, Elavil the marketing name.

Generic doesn't refer to this at all. A generic drug is one made out of patent, ie once the patent expires, and can be made by companies other than the one holding the patent. Generic does not refer to the name of the drug.

And you call me dense?

Dr. Malbec and dr Giacomo - I think the confusion here is over the definition of the word 'generic'. Over here, as i understand it, generic would be a bottle of, for example cough syrup, that might say Walmart. The brand name might be a similar bottle that says Bayer or Tylenol.

I don't know enough to know who had the original patent. So names like Tylenol are considered brand names, and names like Walmart are considered generic names.

Hope this helps. Now shake hands and move along.

oops - just saw Malbec's post above - looks like I'm a little late.

Originally Posted by Malbec

Perhaps it would help if you write your posts in a more lucid consistent way.

Now you're claiming that the hospital gave you a branded version of amitryptiline when previously you claimed that they gave you Elavil, or at least that is how your post comes across.

I suspect what you are trying to say is that you were given Elavil but the hospital charged for amitryptiline because that attracts a higher fee despite the drugs being one and the same.

It might come across to you that I'm anally retentive. I'm a doctor so I do have some history in prescribing drugs and just a little understanding of the difference between drugs as well as the ins and outs of the pharm industry. Your posts as originally written make little sense, are highly confusing and often contradict each other so please think about how you come across before you criticise me.

Have a nice day!

OK it is time for a truce. The comment I made about the Nurse was a form of comic relief. For all I know she could have been trying to wake me up in a more gentle manner and resorted to smacking me around. Yes my answer was what I said,
and no that is nowhere near my typical BP. So let us let it go if that is all right with you.
I come on here for fun, not cross examination.
BTW how is your bedside manner?

Originally Posted by Dave B

Wow. We had our baby in February and the hospital bill was a big fat zero at the point of delivery (no pun intended). I thought that's what tax was for.

Oh that's just the hospitalization for the wife. That's not the Obstetrician, the labs, the babies bill, the first examination by the pediatrician,etc,etc. We paid $7500 out of pocket which is the maximum calendar year for the individual. I have a fairly high deductible for lower overall premiums. Our family's medical bill was $11,500 out of pocket for the year including insurance premiums. Of course we pay less taxes than you do so it would be interesting to see how it all ended up overall.

PS Parking was free though

Originally Posted by Dr Giacomo Rappaccini

OK it is time for a truce. The comment I made about the Nurse was a form of comic relief. For all I know she could have been trying to wake me up in a more gentle manner and resorted to smacking me around. Yes my answer was what I said,
and no that is nowhere near my typical BP. So let us let it go if that is all right with you.

No problem.

I merely thought that you were pissed off with being woken up and didn't understand why she did what she did. Hence my explanation.

Originally Posted by Dr Giacomo Rappaccini

I come on here for fun, not cross examination.

So do I. Unfortunately with topics that directly involve my job its difficult to not be precise and anal. I'm if we were to talk about something in your field of expertise you would be the same.

I suspect if a real racing driver or engineer found his way onto the racing forums here he'd tear his hair out in frustration at our poor understanding of their day job.

Originally Posted by Dr Giacomo Rappaccini

BTW how is your bedside manner?

Good enough that patients comment on how good it is

The crossed wires and aggravation we had on this thread wouldn't have happened in a face to face meeting, we'd have been able to read each other a lot better!

Peace.

Originally Posted by Malbec

I think you misunderstand the meaning of the word generic in this case.

Amitryptiline is the pharmaceutical name, Elavil the marketing name.

Generic doesn't refer to this at all. A generic drug is one made out of patent, ie once the patent expires, and can be made by companies other than the one holding the patent. Generic does not refer to the name of the drug.

And you call me dense?

OK here we go splitting hairs for your inflated ego. Over in the good old USA it is common vernacular to "get the generic equivalent". I was using it loosely and you were dogging me. What an ego. Thanks for the info. If anyone else is interested, do a search with the words "Generic equivalent" and the distinction from a practical point of view, is abundantly clear. That is all I was saying and you have really impressed me with your store house of useless information G'day

Originally Posted by Malbec

I think thats a pretty good idea as most people don't know how much such things cost.

Way too much is the right answer. And I work very closely with the pharma industry so I know quite a few things people don't even dream about.

Originally Posted by henners88

Chill out guys, I'm only a youngster but I can see this is a pointless disagreement over a term for cheap drugs. Not worth a whole thread in itself IMO..

You're right. I have to admit I'm surprised by how personally this chap takes things, should have spotted that earlier and bowed out!

Originally Posted by ioan

Way too much is the right answer. And I work very closely with the pharma industry so I know quite a few things people don't even dream about.

In the old days yes I agree, the pharm companies charged way too much. These days though, I'm not so sure. I hope you only work WITH the pharm companies and not actually IN one, otherwise its time to bail out old chap.

Originally Posted by Dr Giacomo Rappaccini

She ejaculated: "why you blood pressure 85/45" to which I retorted "maybe because I'm sleeping"?

Back in the highschool when I was training regularly 6 times a week the school's nurse measure my blood pressure 3 times (and she measured it for others in between and those were all in 'normal' range) because it was only 90/40, and I was feeling perfectly, so having 85/45 while sleeping might be OK for some people.

Originally Posted by Malbec

In the old days yes I agree, the pharm companies charged way too much. These days though, I'm not so sure. I hope you only work WITH the pharm companies and not actually IN one, otherwise its time to bail out old chap.

I do not work for one of them, and I agree I am pretty lucky with that.