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The Sneaky Way Docs and Lawyers Leave Patients with Debt

THE SPINAL TAP

Letters function as liens that “protect” spine surgery clinics while patients could be left with inflated bills and unexpected health risks.

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By Fred Schulte | KHN

Jean Louis-Charles couldn’t afford spine surgery to ease nagging neck and back pain after a car crash. So he signed a document, promising to pay the bill with money he hoped to get from a lawsuit against the driver who caused the collision.

That never happened.

Louis-Charles, 68,...

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