LETTERS: MEMPHIS CARE WAS LESS EXPENSIVE

To the editor:

After reading Mr. Bauman and Ms. Colo's letters concerning the cost of health care in Cape Girardeau, I feel compelled to share my experience.

After scheduling surgery with a physician here, I was informed by the physician's staff that I must pay $900 in advance, to cover my insurance deductible. Even after my insurance provider in St. Louis attempted to explain that all costs would be paid by the insurance company because I had contributed to a fund to prepay the deductible, no exceptions to the physician's policy were to be made.

Because I was ethically opposed to such a precedent being set by a physician, I went to Memphis for surgery. Even though this was not as convenient for me as having the surgery here, I felt that I might be helping future patients. There are those who cannot pay in advance, and there are those who are too ill to travel. Therefore, these patients must stay here and pay the price.

The story does have a happy ending. The fees charged by the physician in Memphis were several thousand dollars less than were to be charged here. Also, the hospital fees were surprisingly low.

There are doctors in Cape Girardeau who still practice by the ideals and principles of the Hippocratic Oath. There are too many here who need to be reminded of the ethical code by which they should practice medicine. Would a crash course in medical ethics, rather than stock-market analysis, help.

CAROLYN SIMPSON

Cape Girardeau