When I was a “Mayo Clinic resident” I had asked Dr. Sanford J. Finck what had been the cause of my problems and he had told me that my stomach was in the wrong place and had been punctured accidentally.  Anyone can make a mistake, indeed, in my lifetime I've made few myself, including, many may say, believing the Mayo Clinic's advertising, so I told him I wasn’t going to sue or do anything about it and we had shaken hands on it.  And I kept my word.  Subsequently, I learned from the Iranian surgeon who was eventually able to correct the consequences of the Mayo Clinic's mistake that my stomach was in the normal place and that I had been misinformed by the Mayo Clinic surgeon Dr. Sanford J Finck.  Of course, it may be that the Mayo Clinic surgeon who punctured my stomach was so incompetent that he really did think it was in the wrong place.

When the bills to repair my abdomen started arriving it dawned on me that it was unfair that I should have to pay the cost (after insurance) of rectifying the Mayo Clinic’s mistake.  I paid the Mayo Clinic every penny I owed them (after insurance) except for the element I had to pay (after insurance) the other hospital for correcting the results of the Mayo Clinic’s mistake.  I contacted the Mayo Clinic asking them to forego the balance.  I found dealing with the administrative side of the Mayo Clinic to be an extremely tedious and frustrating process.  Variously their record of answering letters and returning telephone calls was haphazard.  Calling them was frustrating in that one seldom spoke to the same person twice which meant that with each new person one had to start over again.

Eventually the Mayo Clinic agreed to cancel the element of the expenditure I had incurred as a consequence of their error and sent me a letter together with a release (to see the Mayo Clinic’s letter, signed by Roseanna D. Arey, Patient Administrative Liaison, and the release, please click the link below*).  However, when the release arrived it included terms and conditions that had neither been discussed nor agreed. These included, inter-alia, a muzzle clause and a requirement that my wife sign it as well as me and that the signatures be notarized.  I remonstrated with the Mayo Clinic and they sent me another release but they only deleted the requirement that my wife sign it.

So I told the Mayo Clinic that as they had shifted the goal posts on me I also felt entitled to move them.  I said that since inserting drain tubes must be a common procedure following surgery, I would sign the release if they would give me an assurance that in future they would take precautions to ensure that what had happened to me wouldn’t happen to another poor wretch.  I noted that when inserting the second set of drain tubes the Mayo Clinic had guided them in by X-Ray so such precautions are feasible.  From then on, despite repeated attempts to get a response, I never heard another word from the Mayo Clinic.

In Florida a suit for medical malpractice has to be brought within two years.   No doubt, the Florida medical industry, during a vociferous campaign to frighten the Florida public and legislature about losing doctors due to the high cost of malpractice insurance, spent and contributed more than did the trial attorneys.  Then, wouldn’t you know, after the statute of limitations for bringing a medical malpractice suit had run out, I started getting demands for payment of the balance.  Then the Mayo Clinic started hawking the account around various debt collection agencies. I would write to the agencies with photographs and details of what the Mayo Clinic had done to me.  They would express their sympathy and drop the matter.  Indeed, one expressed outrage at the way the Mayo Clinic had treated me.

Then the Mayo Clinic happened upon a collection agency: Accelerated Receivables Management, Inc., (ARM) of  Jacksonville, Florida, who, apparently, are made of sterner stuff than were the others. Perhaps ARM wanted to ingratiate themselves with the Mayo Clinic or just needed the element of the commission or fee they'd collect from the Mayo Clinic more than the others did?  Anyway, they sued me.