I met “S” in the emergency department of an Orange County hospital I no longer serve. She had been bitten on the lip by a large dog and incurred a fairly nasty wound. The dog bite repair here wound was a careful cleaning, trimming and closure by yours truly in the emergency department under local anesthesia. Unlike the majority of emergency patients with poor insurance coverage, this woman paid her bill slowly over about a year in payments.

She had a very nice outcome. It is too bad I can’t afford to do more of these, but they pay poorly even when insured and most patients are not as honorable as this one was. Good plastic surgery is not always cosmetic although cosmetic surgery pays most of our bills.

Best Regards,

John Di Saia MD

Originally posted 2011-09-23 07:30:34.