'I cost my surgeon her job': Heroic surgeon hooks it up for a desperate patient, committing insurance fraud to save their family $30,000

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Sep 8, 2023 7:00 AM EDT

Surgery is expensive in America. Sometimes insurance covers a little bit here and there, but if they don't, you could be looking at a hefty bill with a couple commas in the total balance. That's why, when u/lokkhart, a teenaged girl, was diagnosed with benign tumors in her breast, she wasn't jumping for joy like most people do when they find out they're cancer-free. Instead, she was terrified that her surgery wouldn't be covered by insurance– which it certainly was not. Fortunately, her good-hearted doctor was there to save her.

Doctor S, as Lokkhart fondly calls her now, was there for her and her mom when they were in their most desperate hour. After years of severe pain, the girl was diagnosed with benign tumors and her mother was faced with a $30,000 bill to cover her 'cosmetic' surgery. Apparently, the insurance company didn't recognize benign tumors as an emergency, so they were prepared to charge the full amount. 

In a display of unbelievable heroics, Doctor S fell on her sword and saved their whole family. 

Scroll for the full story on how a surgeon committed insurance fraud in order to save a teenaged girl and her family $30k in hospital bills. For more stories that'll restore your faith in humanity, check out this ferocious mother who wielded the full power of her car's handicap sticker after a stickler tried to force her wheelchair-bound son to roll himself a mile out of the way.

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  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/lokkhart 1 day ago I cost my surgeon her job.
    via lokkhart
  • 02
    Font - Before I begin, I know that it "wasn't my fault," and she "did it to herself." However, I'm still incredibly grateful for her and feel some kind of guilt.
    via lokkhart
  • 03
    Font - Some back story: A few years after I started puberty I began to develop lumps within my breast tissue. They were painful, and I was scared. I remember
    via lokkhart
  • 04
    Font - over the next few years I had been to a couple different doctors getting ultrasounds and recording changes. From middle school to high school, one lump became many, with
    via lokkhart
  • 05
    Font - two specifically large growths (one had grown around a blood vessel and raised a lot of concern), and numerous cysts. Eventually, I was referred to a specialist/surgeon (I'll call
    via lokkhart
  • 06
    Font - her Dr. S) to continue monitoring and discuss options. Dr. S eventually offered the option of surgery. My mom was concerned, as it was a $30k surgery and my insurance absolutely was not going to cover any of it
    via lokkhart
  • 07
    Font - as it was deemed non- cancerous and therefore a "cosmetic" surgery. Dr. S was empathetic (her daughter had previously been in my place) and in my case she had never seen
    via lokkhart
  • 08
    Font - someone as young as me with growths as large as I had. I was left in the room as Dr. S and my mother went to discuss options, and my mother came back thanking her profusely. My surgery would be scheduled out.
    via lokkhart
  • 09
    Font - I had my first surgery in 2014 as a junior in high school. I had two very large and painful fibroadenomas (benign breast tumors) removed, as well as some of the smaller ones that were "within reach" of the surgical site. After my
    via lokkhart
  • 10
    Font - follow-up visit, my surgeon let me and my mother know that she would be moving away soon, and that her assistant would be taking over her position for any of my future visits. She said I'd be in good hands. I was sad she was leaving, though still over the moon that she had helped me.
    via lokkhart
  • 11
    Font - I'm pretty sure the nurses at the front desk were confused about my being excited to schedule a surgery. I had happily explained that my surgeon had found a way to make my surgery affordable for my mum, though in not so many words. In 2022 I
    via lokkhart
  • 12
    Font - graduated with an associates degree in medical billing and coding. I was somber to learn that my surgery was free because my doctor had likely entered it as excision of cancerous growth, even
    via lokkhart
  • 13
    Font - though my condition was benign. She committed insurance fraud on my behalf, and she was likely fired or asked to resign after the fact.
    via lokkhart
  • 14
    Font - I think about it a lot ever since I learned the weight of the situation. I hope she's doing well. Unfortunately, her assistant was in fact NOT as lovely as her in the two appointments I had in the following years.
    via lokkhart
  • 15
    Font - Tl;dr: My mom was not charged for a surgery that should have cost us $30k or more. When I grew up and went to medical school, I learned that my surgeon committed insurance fraud in
    via lokkhart
  • 16
    Font - order to help me (physically) and my mother (financially), and it cost her job instead. I feel guilty because I feel like she would still have her job if I hadn't said anything to anyone about it.
    via lokkhart
  • 17
    Font - . Chris_the_Otter - 1 day ago Your surgeon did you a solid and you didn't cost them their job. The only bad guy here is the f ng insurance company that classified this procedure as 'cosmetic' even though you were in pain.
    via Chris_the_Otter
  • 18
    Font - chloedarlinggg. 20 hr. ago isn't it also possible that she just performed the surgery for free? perhaps she was moving onto a new job already and was going to be making a ton of money so she decided to do one last good deed at her old job?
    via chloedarlinggg
  • 19
    Gesture - tatersprout 18 hr. ago . This is an episode of Grey's Anatomy lol.
    via tatersprout
  • 20
    Gesture - 2punornot2pun. 17 hr. ago American health insurance is a scam.
    via 2punornot2pun
  • 21
    Font - NSW-2050 23 hr. ago Well, this is truly off your chest. I wouldn't geel guilty about it. She made the decision herself and it is likely she had another similar job real soon given the high demand of their work.
    via NSW-2050
  • 22
    Hand
    via u/canva

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hero Random Heroics insurance offmychest hospital doctor off my chest heroic america fraud Reddit surgery surgeon
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