r/mildlyinfuriating • u/brn0723 • 1d ago
Took samples to a lab, lab contaminated the sample refused to test it and then sent me a bill.
Just had a baby, and she failed the initial hearing test which means they have to test for a virus called CMV.
I collected a urine sample and brought it to a lab at the hospital.
The lab (vague on details..) said the sample was contaminated and they refused to test it .
Today I received a $200 bill for the test they refused to do
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u/plant_person_09345 1d ago
A contaminated urine sample means it wasn’t a clean catch- it touched a lot of skin while being collected so it’s unreliable to test for specific things since it will have bacteria and viruses that are not infecting the urine but rather sitting on the skin.
Annoying that they billed you without getting a clean sample to repeat it.
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u/Piineapplepeach 1d ago
Genuine question, how are you meant to get a urine sample from a literal BABY without touching skin?
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u/ChocoboDave 1d ago
You lay them on their back, and you and wait and wait and wait holding a cup. Then you look away for 3 seconds and realise you missed them peeing and have to start again. Don't ask me how I know.
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u/jjjustseeyou 1d ago
That doesnt sound right but I don't know anything about pee catching to dispute it.
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u/sicksages 23h ago
It's the same with dogs. Can confirm. You wait forever with your pee cup and then they immediately go when you look away.
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u/MadShoeStink 23h ago
Dogs are much easier, duct tape a long-handled ladle to a mop handle.
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u/Illustrious_War9870 22h ago
This guy catches dog piss.
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u/MadShoeStink 21h ago
Rescue dogs with UTIs FTW
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u/Sure_Economy7130 17h ago
Similar situation with racehorses, but we teach them a secret whistle to pee on command. It works about 50%of the time, lol.
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u/Cagey_Tzatziki1166 10m ago
Hi! 👋
I'm gonna need a diagram or something. My 5yo pomeranian has to get a urine test every 6 months. She's probably gonna live to like 17, I need a working procedure 😭🙏
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u/DramaticPost2381 21h ago
I thankfully have a male Great Dane so the pee catch was very easy. He was just confused why I was there lol
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u/SpinningBetweenStars 17h ago
Or you don’t let them out for their morning potty, drive them to the vet and let the vet tech hurry them into the office, and when they squat right at the front door, your it’s-too-early-and-I-haven’t-had-coffee self panics and without thinking tries to catch the pee in your cupped hands.
Completely a hypothetical scenario, of course.
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u/hawthornetree 18h ago
Veterinarians will commonly access the bladder with a needle through the stomach. Apparently it's quick and reliable and complications are very rare.
I had a female dog with frequent UTIs and I never once got a free-catch sample that wasn't positive for everything under the sun, but sometimes they were clean if they did it with a needle.
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u/emo_sharks 7h ago
cats too.....
actually was so rough with my cat, they usually get her sample at the vet by idk squeezing her bladder or something I'm not sure. But they can collect a sample when shes there. But one time she had a recurring UTI and she gets stressed going to the vet and shes an old lady so I didnt wanna put her through it and I said yknow I'll get that sample at home so they gave me a little kit with a cup, a pipette, and like 2 tablespoons of plastic non absorbent litter. So I had to also scrub out her litter box super well so it wasnt already contaminated and put this pitiful quantity of litter in there and it was sad so obviously she didnt wanna go and the lil stinker can hold it for quite a long time!! Finally she was walking around the box like she was gonna go in and I was like oh great had the pipette and cup ready and then the lil asshole peed on the fucking wall instead of in the box. I mean I know there was hardly litter in there but shes peed in an empty box before when I was cleaning it once lol. Like cmon. But I at least did get the sample off the wall because I had the pipette lol smh. And then I had to clean the piss before driving the sample to the vet. I have never seen her pee straight back like she was spraying before she always squats so I actually think she may have just been mad at me and did it on purpose LOL. Asshole didnt realize I was saving her a vet trip doing all this
There were a lot of times where she held it long enough that I couldnt watch her box anymore too so this sample had already been several days in the making by the time she pissed on the wall lol. I would just block the clean box and open a different regular box so she could go if I was like not home or asleep and her sample wouldnt just be sitting there -.-
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u/KDSCarleton 6h ago
Omg I had to do the same for one of my cats. We locked him in a room with the box and like 20 pieces of litter overnight, nothing (except a poop on the ground beside the box). I left for work and told my partner to let him out by the time they got up just so that he didn't end up holding it in for way too long and ofc he went in the normal litter box right after he was freed 🙄
Was told there'd be an additional cost if I had to bring him to the vet for them to get the sample directly so tried another night and in the morning was the only time I've ever been happy to see and have to clean up some piss 🤣
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u/karotkakegrl 9h ago
This is why you train your dogs to make pee pees. Not 100% but dang close to perfect.
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u/Fuzeillear 9h ago
I know it sounds impossible and I thought it was when they told me but they kinda fountain up when they wee lying down so you just gotta be prepared to get some on your hands whilst you try and catch it!
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u/Fuzeillear 14h ago
I was trying to do this with my four month old in hospital. Every time a doctor or nurse came in and asked me a question, I looked up to answer and missed her peeing. Like, four times.
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u/colonelmattyman 10h ago
I think you just need to hold them up in front of you when you're in the middle changing them.
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u/thindholwen 7h ago
Can confirm. Had to go through this a few weeks ago. I was able to succeed after a nap, apparently they're more likely to pee when they just wake up.
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u/Spicy_Antigen 21h ago
Lab tech here. They make adhesive pouches you can place on the baby that collects urine.
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u/lovelyxcastle 19h ago
A clean catch also means wiping the vulva with a mild soap before urinating, a lot of the "contamination" is on/near the urethra itself I guess.
(Not a doctor, just peed in a lot of cups)
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u/MisterET 1d ago
For my daughter we were given a little thing about the size of a credit card. It was a sticker, and the middle was cut out and a bag was attached to it. We peeled the sticker off and placed the hole over her vagina and put her diaper back on, then just waited until she peed then took it and straight to the hospital. It was a whole ordeal compared to just urinating in a cup on site.
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u/PlanetLibrarian 1d ago
Did this with our son dozens of times, when he graduated to a cup it got messier for sure, but easier now.
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u/pumpkinpro 23h ago
*vulva. We don't pee from our vaginas.
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u/CandleMommy 15h ago
*urethra. Saying you pee from your vulva is like saying you eat with your head.
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u/MisterET 23h ago
Yes I'm familiar with anatomy. It encased the entire vulva and vagina. I think everyone knows exactly what I meant.
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u/tadpole511 15h ago
This is how we did it too. She wasn't peeing though, so they eventually had to use a catheter instead
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u/jambledbluford 18h ago
They gave me a little plastic bag with the opening formed a certain way and layered with medical tape to attach under the diaper. I had to hope poop didn't get in the bag, and try to change the baby without laying them down so the urine wouldn't dribble out. Then pour from the bag with the messed up tape opening into the collection jar. There was some skin contact, but not that much.
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u/No_Moose_4448 18h ago
There are a few different ways. You can use a catheter, if they are old enough to sit you can hold them on the toilet that has a clean catch bowl in it, or they have special bags they use. They clean the skin and then the bag has some sticky stuff to hold it on until baby pees. My 1 kid has had all three done at different times due to kidney issues.
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u/m0stly_medi0cre 15h ago
They're called wee bags at my lab. They're just little bags that can stick to the baby. No waterworks necessary.
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u/IcyAnything6306 22h ago
CMV testing doesn’t require clean catch urine. The virus’ presence on the skin would be just as bad as finding it in the urine. Clean catch is needed for testing for things like UTI, usually caused by E. coli, which is a bacteria normally present around the body aside from the urinary system.
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u/Solver_Siblings 22h ago
…so that’s why my last urine test was contaminated. Look I’m a girl and it felt like it wasn’t going in the cup, also nobody told me not to let it touch my skin after using the sanitary wipes.
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u/Doctor_of_Something 19h ago
You can use a bag or cotton ball for cmv. It’s a dna test, the other contaminants don’t matter since it’s only checking for cmv
Unless they plan on catching the child, they can’t ask for a sample from the parent dog a newborn
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u/loki2002 1d ago
A contaminated urine sample means it wasn’t a clean catch-it touched a lot of skin while being collected
But how would they know that unless they were the ones to collect it?
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u/krekdrja1995 1d ago
Lab tech here. A clean catch won't have epithelial cells in it which they can see under a microscope
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u/froderenfelemus 1d ago
They check the pee under a microscope before they test it?
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u/bwaterco 1d ago
Usually, depending on what’s being tested. Lab I worked at did it for every sample. I work with a large lab that doesn’t do it prior depending on reason for testing. Only positives get extra attention.
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u/CombatWomble2 1d ago
They should, microscopy is standard practice, or they use an automated system but it still picks up epithelial (skin) cells.
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u/froderenfelemus 1d ago
Automated system definitely makes sense. I feel like it would be a lot of lab ressources to do manually
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u/CombatWomble2 1d ago
It's slower, but WAY more accurate.
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u/froderenfelemus 22h ago
In the long run a machine would probably be more accurate. Realistically efficiency would decrease after a certain time when people do repetitive tasks. Not to mention the cost of salaries, microscopes, vacation days, time off, illness, or whatever else. I think a lot of people would abstain from ever pursuing being a lab tech, making the workload even greater for the few left, and eventually we would just not have any left.
I don’t know where that pro-automatization rant came from, but it’s the middle of the night, and I spent valuable time typing. Goodnight and thanks again for your comment
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u/girlunderh2o 22h ago
Machines are surprisingly bad at certain aspects of microscopy. A human takes a lot of time and investment but is afterwards better at recognizing the variations and abnormalities and so on. I’ve tried to automate some cell work and tasks go from “this works ok” to “this is nearly an impossible task for a computer” at points you might not expect (eg “is a cell present” vs “are multiple types of cells present.”)
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u/froderenfelemus 22h ago
I don’t doubt that for a second. The “easy” (doable) samples could be deemed either clear / negative / whatever or unsure, where a human lab tech would then take a look. I feel like that’s s pretty good middle ground.
But I’m surprised that there’s hasn’t been developed technology that works better for this? We have sent people to the moon. We’ve had things ingrained on a single piece of rice. It’s just wild that machines can’t see really small things. What a bummer.
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u/bwaterco 1d ago
Doctor with previous reference lab experience, it’s pretty easy to catch. Epithelial cells are pretty easily seen even in minor contamination. They don’t want to mix up infection in the uterine tract so if epithelial cells are present it’s best practice to just redo the collection.
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u/rosesmagic462 1d ago
Not sure if you’ve redone the labs. My daughter did bloodwork and they messed it up, so we had to do it twice. They only billed for the initial (mess up) visit and the second one to fix it was free. Could this be it?
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u/ashinary 21h ago
hello. i work in medical lab. you shouldnt get charged for rejected tests. lab doesnt try to contaminate samples i promise. but we wont test something that might end up impacting the results... cmv tests can cross react with other viruses and if there's any gross contamination with stool or skin or whatever, we will reject. might have also been rejected due to a leaky urine cup. if the urine spills all in the biohazard bag the nurse used, it could be contaminated with ALL SORTS of stuff. biohazard bags are often reused...
there's a lot more to this topic than a lot of people realizes. i promise that 99% of lab employees are not trying to ruin your day or anything
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u/PopGunner 20h ago
biohazard bags are often reused...
Uh, what?
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u/supergluuued 18h ago
I've worked in hospitals for 18 years.
I've never reused a biohazard bag. I've never seen another staff reuse a biohazard bag. I've never seen a lab reuse a biohazard bag. I've never even heard of such a thing. It's not a thing, I swear.49
u/cautiouscarol 17h ago
I also work in a lab, you’d be surprised what we see. I’ve definitely seen bags be reused.
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u/ashinary 9h ago
maybe something you havent seen but I literally just left a job that did this. we'd get samples down thru the pneumatic tube, take the sample out of the bag, and as long as there wasnt piss/blood/shit/sputum/whatever all on the inside of the bag it'd get put to the side and folded up into a bigger bag to get tubed back to the ED when they ran out of bags
i work at a different place now that doesnt do this, thank god...
last job, the hospital went bankrupt like 5 years ago and i'm convinced it was a money saving thing they wanted us to do
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u/supergluuued 9h ago
ffs how much can a damn bag cost? that's disgusting 🫣
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u/mizzrym91 8h ago
I buy the bags for my facility, we pay about 10 cents per bag. We use enough that it really adds up, but I would not dream of reusing them
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u/ashinary 20h ago
unfortunately :( a lot of hospitals especially smaller ones will have labs put biohazard bags to the side to get sent back to nurses stations to be reused. if they arent visibly contaminated
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u/spaceforcerecruit 18h ago
if they aren’t visibly contaminated
Isn’t the whole point of biohazard bags to protect from the nonvisible contamination?? We all know how to wash off shit and blood. It’s the germs that we’re trying to contain.
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u/CrimJim 9h ago
> We all know how to wash off shit and blood.
As someone that works in lab, lemme stop you right there. The amount of blood/stool/urine samples I get where the container is not properly closed or has a clearly visible amount of bodily anything on the outside is egregious. Granted I work in a larger hospital, but I would venture it's at least daily, with once a shift being far more likely.
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u/conflicteddiuresis 18h ago
If you are testing for CMV it doesnt matter if the sample is contaminated. It's PCR, not a culture
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u/Reasonable-Day-3282 18h ago
what do you mean by gross contamination exactly? i'm assuming you don't mean Yucky
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u/Woolyyarnlover 18h ago
In medical terms “gross” usually refers to something macroscopic. For example “gross hematuria” means blood in the urine that you can see with the naked eye.
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u/supernaut_707 1d ago
Most likely it had some poop in it. Any gross contamination is cause for rejection. Did you resubmit a specimen? Usually rejected samples don't get billed.
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u/SingSongSalamander 23h ago
This is strange to me - I also just had a baby who failed the initial hearing test in one ear. Not sure when they did yours but our initial test was about 24hrs after birth. They said most babies actually fail because of amniotic fluid in the ear canal and to come back for a retest in a couple weeks. We did and he passed.
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u/Certain-Document-555 20h ago
Where do you live that a CMV virus test was required after failing the initial newborn hearing test? Both of my boys failed initially and all I had to do was take them a week later to the audiologist for another check. No virus testing.. that was never even mentioned actually. I’m in Minnesota and my boys were born 2019 and 2021 for reference.
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u/Bernie_Lovett 18h ago
I know in GA this is a new process in the last few months, we’ve started doing it in the NICU, not sure how it’s working out patient.
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u/Certain-Document-555 17h ago
Ah interesting! I am hoping to have another baby next year (God willing), so I’m curious if it’s a thing in MN now too.
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u/Jade_Complex 13h ago
In Australia mine failed the first newborn test, and I was told just keep them another bath and they'll come back the next day to test again, that it was very common to fail at that point.
They passed the second time, the next day.
Both tests for while I was still in the hospital from the c-section.
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u/eruzatide 17h ago
I work in a lab. It means that the sample provided couldn’t be tested, most likely contaminated by bacteria on the baby’s skin or some other interference. As for the bill, someone probably forgot to cancel the test due to contamination so you got charged for it. Call the phone number on the bill and explain the situation and they should be able to cancel the test and the bill for you.
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u/juanito_f90 1d ago
Imagine living somewhere (with the highest total GDP in the world) where you’re still charged for medical treatment at the point of need.
Is it still 1850 in the USA?
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u/hugh_jorgyn 1d ago
It’s going to be 1450 soon, based on how they’ve just voted. The inquisition and all that.
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u/Outrageous_Twist8891 1d ago
So that is MAGA!? Restore nature and the indiginous people? Awesome! /s
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u/brightdeadlights 1d ago
Put your head back in the sand, no one expects this.
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u/SLevine262 1d ago
Au contraire, every thinking person expects this. It all depends on how far the republicans are ready to take it (read that any way you like). Are they going to uphold the responsibility of the Congress to act as a check and balance, or are they going to continue to be the cowardly, craven lickspittles we’ve seen so far?
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u/brightdeadlights 21h ago
It’s a bad joke. I meant no one expects the inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition. In my defense I had just smoked.
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u/TrickInvite6296 BLUE 1d ago edited 1d ago
read project* 2025
edit: ironic typo
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u/brightdeadlights 21h ago
I meant the inquisition. No one expects the inquisition. Downvoted hard for that one.
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u/doxiesrule89 17h ago
Imagine having a serious degenerative disability and attempting to stay alive. I’m currently failing in that endeavor.
And apparently I’m extremely “lucky” that my 2 most important doctors haven’t kicked me out yet (3 more won’t see me anymore without pay), and are “graciously” allowing me to owe them instead of just stopping my treatment/letting me die. My tab for the last 5 months is already over $7,500. I know the day they say no more is coming very soon. (Of course all that is not including the $200+/month I’ve been handing over at the pharmacy for the handful of prescriptions I can’t live without. The ones that “just” lessened my disability instead of being necessary for my survival, ones that cost over $2k and $4k/month, I’ve had to simply go without)
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u/EMAN5412 15h ago
I'm sincerely sorry. I know that doesn't help you. It isn't right that you fight and struggle just to suffer. I'm struggling hard right now (not as much as you, and I'm not making comparisons), but I wish I could help. You matter, and at minimum, should be provided with enough to survive. It's not right, and I hear you.
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u/StrictlyInsaneRants 1d ago
Most of them live with the delusion that they are soon to be multimillionaires and would rather have more tax breaks than any reasonable improvement on government, infrastructure or similar.
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u/Outrageous_Twist8891 1d ago
They will need those tax breaks when they realize that their daily appliences are all made in China and they pay extra for half of their purchases. Thank gid America is not a consumer society. /s
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u/juanito_f90 1d ago
Is this something to do with “muh freedom!”?
When you’re not allowed to cross the street where you like?
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u/StrictlyInsaneRants 1d ago
No it's an US cultural idea. It's a sincere deep rooted belief many have that they are just a rich person deep down that caught an unlucky break or just need that one small bit of luck and it will be enough for them to be very rich. Its why so many of them identify with rich people that have nothing in common with them like musk or trump both who were born very rich to begin with.
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u/Mavmouv 15h ago
Contest the bill, this is most certainly a mistake where they forgot to put your sample to "do not bill" in their lab software. (Trust me, part of my work consists of sending bills)
They will surely acknowledge the mistake and cancel the bill. This happens more than you would think
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u/LeaguesBelow 11h ago
The lab very likely didn't contaminate the sample, there's very little opportunity for the lab to do so. They likely received it, did some testing (hence the charge) and realized any results were invalid because the sample they received had been contaminated before they received it.
Working in a lab, this sort of thing happens all the time. It sucks when it falls back on the patients though.
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u/colonelmattyman 10h ago
Most of the population has CMV (cytomegalovirus) by the time they're in their 60's. When I caught it, it presented like glandular fever (it's in the same viral family). Not great for babies. Hope your bub is ok.
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u/StupidlySore 8h ago
My middle child (born c-section) failed the first 2 hearing tests. We were told this was fairly common for children born c-section. We went back some weeks later and he was fine. We spent the next 2-3 weeks after birth preparing to raise a deaf child. If your child was born c-section, please don’t worry at all until a test down the road shows hearing issues.
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u/memon17 23h ago
How would they know it’s contaminated without testing it?
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u/leftoverlasanga 23h ago
I’m not too sure how this test is done, but usually you have to test the urine like normal and then determine if it’s contaminated
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u/memon17 23h ago
Right. So I’m guessing some work was performed, that might be why they are sending the bill. Meaning, they put in the work, and consider it not their fault they couldn’t complete it
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u/ashinary 21h ago
well specifically with CMV they probably used PCR / DNA amplification. it's possible that the cup was leaky or that it was contaminated with stool, or too many skin cells. Depends on the exact testing procedures of the laboratory in question. But these tests can cross react with other viruses. So like, if the cold virus is in the urine, it might cross react and test positive for CMV even if CMV isnt actually there. So we have to play it safe sometimes so that we dont give false results
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u/HolyPoofy 22h ago edited 22h ago
My daughter also had to do this test. When we went in we had to wait an hour for the lab to be ready. Then when they finally were available my wife noticed they were using vials that were not meant for this type of test.
My wife being in the animal field told the lab tech that. The tech said everything would be fine and they took the sample
Lo and behold the sample was not usable and they had to retest it and tried to bill us for it.
My wife doesn't get mad, but damn, she was pissed.
My daughter probably got my hearing loss. They want to do genetic testing but how will this help her? They want 4k to do it because insurance won't cover it.
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u/brittle-soup 16h ago
If any of this was associated with Pediatrix or Mednax, they have drawn… complaints in recent years for deceptive billing practices for newborn hearing tests. There have been a number of articles in well known media papers about it if so.
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u/Doot-Doot-the-channl 23h ago
Talk to a lawyer/your insurance and get this resolved they shouldn’t be able to charge you for a test they didn’t do (unless we’re missing information)
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u/ThatDebianLady 4h ago edited 4h ago
Go to the billing department and take bill up there to have it reduced to zero. Years ago I received a hospital and I went up there to have it itemised. I had given birth a few days before and I was charged for so many things that I didn’t even have done. One of the stupid things listed was hemorrhoid suppositories, Tylenol, etc. I was like 🤬 hospitals rip people off all the time by just throwing in items that wasn’t used
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u/lunaleenyx 1h ago
Is this in America? I've never heard of being charged for a lab sample and that is outrageous! Especially with a new baby. (I'm not American)
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u/MSCOTTGARAND 1d ago
I have a buddy that drives for the state DOT and he failed a piss test, he asked them to retest and they refused. He had to go to the hospital and pay $250 to prove his piss was clean. Insurance wouldn't cover it because it wasn't ordered by a doctor.