For those who fear dentists, imagine one who will not allow you to leave. Dr. John Drew Laurusonis is accused with the false imprisonment of Frances Bales, 36, of Duluth after he suspected that she might not pay her bill. Charged with the good doctor is Leslie Ann York and Acquah Alexander from the Doctors Medical Center in Duluth.
This case builds on a trend today of dentists gone wild (or wicked), click here.
Bales was allegedly locked in an office on Oct. 4, 2007 after she stated an intention to pay cash for a treatment. Bales said that she was told that procedure would cost $98 but office rang up a bill for $755. She stated an intention to pay cash and that led to the doctor allegedly locking her up.
She was held for an hour until she called the police and was rescued from the dental detention. His daughter Anne Greer is suing the allegedly not-so-good doctor, here.
For the full story, click here.
Like I said earlier and it got deleted; I don’t know of any procedure other than teeth cleaning that is only $100. This sounds more like a Dentist realizing he was about to get ripped off for $700 in the age old scheme of get it done, then complain, then make accusations in the hopes the service provider finally just says get out.
I’m not sure what world view would lead some to prefer to believe that the victim of false imprisonment must necessarily be to blame for their situation.
Are rape victims to blame as well, for putting themselves in a situation other than remaining locked up in their house?
If the dentist is worried about “age old schemes” or being “ripped off”, he should be more open about his pricing and require payment means or substantial deposits up front. How about the “age old” scheme of false diagnoses designed to ring up larger sales and insurance claims?
Per the intent required for the intentional tort of false imprisonment…
What if the Dentist claims that he saw bill collection as being as fun as “pulling teeth.”
… sorry… couldn’t resist.
Go and actually ask your dentist for a full print out of a dental bill and see if you are able to leave with just $100.00 bill. I don’t think that half of the public really knows how much health care cost and if anyone thinks that an entire doctor/dental visit with out insurance is going to be under 100.00, you really need to wake up and open your eyes. Things are not cheap that is why MOST of the world works for what they want, and MOST responsible, honest people know and would have paid thier bill.