The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Texas medical law help
Crayon
Sleeps in the wrong bed.TejasRegistered User regular
Sleeps in the wrong bed.TejasRegistered User regular
Ok, so basically I had an outstanding debt back in February with a local doctors office (well, I shouldn't even say that-he's a PA) that I had no clue I was behind on. As chance would have it for a potential job where I had to have a physical at his office. When I got into his office he told me, "that he should take me behind the building and kick my ass" for not paying the 70$. Now mind you this physical was paid for by my employer as opposed to me, on top of that I didn't know I had an outstanding debt with office.
Well, he decides to call my employer and tell them not to hire me due to the fact of my outstanding debt and my attitude, that I was irresponsible and rude.
Now to give a bit of backstory, back when I had the original appointment I had forgotten my checkbook and told them I would mail it. It slipped my mind and he kept calling my number demanding I pay it or he would sue me, all the while yelling at me and cussing at me on the phone, so I called him a "son of a bitch" on the phone and hung up. After this I had thought my mom sent in a check to him and she didn't. Which leads us to the present day in which my potential job may be in limbo because he decided to call my potential employer and tell them not to hire me based on outstanding debt and my personality.
Are there any grounds her for illegality?
I only know this because the company I was hired for called me today and told me they no longer wanted to employ me. I had to call the guy who hired me and explain my case to him. I will also be going by the PA's office to pay the 70$ off.
So not only did he call my place of employment, but he threatened me and released information that I think is illegal to release. He also accosted me on the phone and harassed me. To be honest, I am completely distraught by this considering I already quit my other job because I was hired at the new job, and it's essentially put my life is jeopardy.
Well, he decides to call my employer and tell them not to hire me due to the fact of my outstanding debt and my attitude, that I was irresponsible and rude.
Now to give a bit of backstory, back when I had the original appointment I had forgotten my checkbook and told them I would mail it. It slipped my mind and he kept calling my number demanding I pay it or he would sue me, all the while yelling at me and cussing at me on the phone, so I called him a "son of a bitch" on the phone and hung up. After this I had thought my mom sent in a check to him and she didn't. Which leads us to the present day in which my potential job may be in limbo because he decided to call my potential employer and tell them not to hire me based on outstanding debt and my personality.
Are there any grounds her for illegality?
I only know this because the company I was hired for called me today and told me they no longer wanted to employ me. I had to call the guy who hired me and explain my case to him. I will also be going by the PA's office to pay the 70$ off.
So not only did he call my place of employment, but he threatened me and released information that I think is illegal to release. He also accosted me on the phone and harassed me. To be honest, I am completely distraught by this considering I already quit my other job because I was hired at the new job, and it's essentially put my life is jeopardy.
Crayon on
0
Posts
What sort of job are we talking about here? I would honestly suggest talking to a lawyer, one willing to work on a contingency basis. You can probably at least sit down with one and see if you have a case for free. If it's not more than $5k (the legal limit for small claims court in Texas), take his ass to small claims court.
And if your former employer was supposed to pay the $70, why are you writing him a check? You tell him that if he wants his cash, he can talk to your former employer, that's not your responsibility.
And since you'd already quit your other job in order to work for these people who'd agreed to hire you, you probably have a case against them if they don't, too.
Call up the PA. Explain to him very calmly that what he's done is basically ruin your job prospects, which means that he's caused you damage. Tell him that if he could call back your potential employer and make things right, you're not going to be unemployed, and therefore not going to have the vast amount of time on your hands necessary to haul his ass into court. Don't yell, don't be rude, and explain this in a "I'd much rather not have to do this" way. Don't offer to pay the $70. If he agrees to do it if you'll pay the money, think about whether it's worth it to you or not.
Also, are you sure this is the whole story? You're not leaving anything out? I mean, usually doctors/PAs/whatever are smart enough not to put their foot in their mouth quite that hardcore, though I realize it's Texas, so maybe the standards are a bit lower. :P
It looks like the new employer was paying for the physical, and this $70 outstanding debt was from something else.
That said, go talk to a lawyer. At the very least there's probably some ethics rules involved, since he basically physically threatened you while you were a patient of his.
Otherwise, tell him it's a down payment on your imminent court victory.
And yes, that is the entire story. I even included the part about calling him a "son of a bitch."
On top of all that, he also stated while I was in his office, "how does it feel to have your job depend on my hands. I could fail your physical just for the hell of it. They call it serendipity I think."
I tried calling attorneys today to see if I had a case but they all seemed to be out of their offices. I'm going to attempt to call one tomorrow.
Good luck either way.
I'd probably just go with what Thin said though. Probably easier on you in the long run.
Just out of curiosity what statute are you thinking was violated? If the PA lied, there's certainly a slander argument, but if he told the truth (OP admits having an unpaid debt) that's sort of out, right? There's also an issue of things that were said that were factual and things that were said that were opinions. The OP states that the PA asserted:
The outstanding debt seems to be a statement of fact and seems also to be true. The attitude seems to be a case of opinion, and so it would be awfully hard to justify it as slander or defamation, especially if there's no hard record of exactly what was said.
Being an asshole is, for better or worse, not illegal yet...
However, if you don't get the truck driving job, Crayon, you almost certainly have a misrepresentation suit against them. They got you to quit your current job in order to go work for them, and then decided to bail on you, because somebody called them and said some not-nice things about you; that's not okay.
OK, fine, you assert it's not a crime, but it is a tort. What, exactly, is the tort here and what is the standard for finding it? It doesn't sit well with me that any 'malicious' action that can be shown to cause damage is actionable.
For example, I live in California and I create a website called www.somestoresucks.com about some store that I shopped at. On that site I post some factual information that is nonetheless unfavorable to SomeStore. I say "SomeStore overcharged me for this item, and here is a scan of the receipt" and I post it on the site. Then, I post "I felt a bad attitude from the employees of SomeStore and I urge all customers never to shop there again." Then, a third party posts on the site: "I was about to buy a $1700 TV from SomeStore, but since I saw your site I decided against it!"
Here, I haven't met the standard for libel, since my comments were either factual or opinion. But yet I clearly posted the site (maliciously?) to deter people from shopping at SomeStore, and there's clear evidence that they've lost a $1700 sale. Now, I might get a nice C&D from SomeStore's lawyers (have to earn that retainer somehow, right?), but what tort did I commit? Alternately, how is this different from OP's case?
Now, you seem to know the law far better than what I do, but it was not his place to call MY employer to discuss such an action. His job is simply to provide a physical and outside of that it's not his place, or his job, to speak to my employer about an unpaid debt/my personality. Now I know in the BUSINESS world this might not be illegal, but it seems there is something illegal about it in the MEDICAL field.
And on top of that he still threatened me, or due to the law is "should kick your ass" not the same thing.
This right here seems like a big violation of ethics. At the very minimum I'd contact the medical licensing board or whatever they are called and file a complaint. Probably won't amount to anything on its own, but if enough complaints build up...
I know you can sue previous employers for giving you a bad reference in California and New York, and you don't have to prove defamation; I don't see why the same rule wouldn't apply to someone who pulled shit like this. In any case, I don't know the law in Texas, but Crayon should definitely speak with a lawyer.
There's certainly a different qualitative standard courts use to evaluate torts against public figures vs. private citizens. However, as far as I can tell, those are all in the context of a tort like defamation/slander/libel. The legal standard on those is, as far as I know, intentional false communication. This is why I wanted to know specifically what tort and what legal standard made this actionable. Here, the communication was intentional, and perhaps malicious, but it seems to be true and opinion. It doesn't meet the legal standard.
According to the California State Bar, you at least have to show that false non-opinion-based statements were made about you. I mean, you can sue anybody you want for nearly anything, but if you want to win you have to meet the legal standard, which seems to apply only in the case of false fact-based statements. In Texas, it seems that truthful reports of problems with an employee are also immune.
This may well be true. An obvious one would be if disclosing your bad debt violated doctor-patient confidentiality. I could not find any information on whether billing records or financial disputes are considered part of the medical record. You can ask a lawyer, but I think you'll find that most of the laws that apply to the medical profession have to do with actual medical care and treatment. As far as I can tell, this is a business dispute, plain and simple.
The medical profession is largely self-regulating. This is much more likely to be a violation of some sort of code of ethics, but codes of ethics are not really legally binding. If you file a complaint, the AMA may impose sanctions of some sort.
These are pretty damning, aren't they? Problem is, he didn't actually kick your ass, and he didn't actually fail you on your physical. The issue here is one of raw practicality: you don't have any proof of this. He can deny it just as easy as you can assert it. In fact, he could just as easily assert that you threatened him. In a case where you're getting a subjective evaluation of the situation (such as in front of a judge or jury) these statements will be evaluated, at best, on perceived credibility.
But this is just an opinion and not entirely relevant to the preceeding legal discussions. The reason I wanted to post was to clarify one thing from a legal standpoint:
Unfortunately, here in Texas the laws regarding employment are pretty much aimed at protecting the employer. I've heard it called a "Fire At Will" state. Basically an employer can fire you for any reasone whatsoever as long as it's not discriminatory in nature (and in those cases you still have to be pretty blatant, my wife was fired for getting pregnant and our attorney told us that it didn't count in Texas.) Within the first 90 days of employment in Texas a person can be fired without listing a reason at all, just "it wasn't working out" and you're on your way...
God I hate living here...
They have asked me to type up a transcript of the events as they occurred.
If I were you, I would also find a new doctor. He's liable to give you a long, through rectal exam you'll never forget on your next visit.
EDIT: damnit, too slow....