Patients face extra charge for anaesthetic

PATIENTS given an anaesthetic at the Bon Secours hospital in Cork are being charged additional fees by consultants on top of their private health insurance fees.

Anaesthetists at the private hospital have blamed the top-up or balance billing on rising levels of medical litigation which they claim pushes up their own medical indemnity costs.

In an information letter sent out by the anaesthetic department this month to patients with private health insurance, consultants warn reimbursement fees paid by VHI, Vivas and Quinn Healthcare are “unlikely to cover the full fee and you will be responsible for the shortfall”.