Trustee Calling my Dr????

[insomniac]

OK -

I'd never heard of this before and wanted to see if this were a common practice. I have a heavy amount of recurring medical expense that we pay month to month. The trustee required proof of this, so we turned in all receipts, co-pays, etc...

A good friend of mine who also happens to be my Dr. gives me a call to let me know that my trustee's office just called to validate that the documents I have him were real. The Dr. said he'd never gotten a call like that. I then had to explain to my Dr. (friend) that I was going through bankruptcy, which I never wanted him to know.

So now the question is this - will the trustee be calling every single number on the receipts I've given him?? Is that common practice? I feel really violated now. Isn't proof of the receipts enough?

[optimistic1]

Thats sound pretty low, I cant believe they would do that.

[flower04]

This makes me wonder. I have a medical condition that (in a large part) led to us doing a bk and I was asked to provide similar documentation. I have a dr. appointment this week and would be embarassed if they knew about the bk. Hmmm. I understand why the trustee wants to know, but I would think that insurance, hospital, and doctor records/bills, would be enough. I would feel the same as you.

[woeisme]

I thought due to privacy laws that doctors aren't even allowed to confirm that someone is their patient, let alone what the cost of their treatments are. This sounds very weird to me.

[insomniac]

That's what I thought too. I spoke to my lawyer about this and he was baffled. He said that the Trustee has very definite limits, and this would be a violation of my rights. In general he said a trustee wouldn't waste their time calling on receipts - just that we need to show them as proof.

[StartingOver08]

It could be the Trustee's office was checking two things:
1) that the Dr's office was real
2) that the receipts/invoices were real...as in 'not manufactured'

I am not defending the Trustee in any way, shape or form! I would think that anything other than the above is too intrusive. The Trustee's office may have done this if the medical seemed out of line, because remember they look out for themselves and the creditors - not for us debtors.

[Flamingo]

The Trustee and his office are just doing their job. There must be a red flag raised in your matter as to your large number of medical bills requiring them to check on a few things but it is not a privacy violation for them to check to see if bills/receipts are real or as to the costs involved for your treatment. It would be if they asked for your medical chart/records and your doctor provided them. Some good folks suffer for what other people have done (i.e., fraud) so if something appears out of the ordinary or excessive to a Trustee, they will check. Just what the IRS does when something appears out of the ordinary on a filing - an audit is done. Same purpose.

Unfortunately, when you file BK, anyone associated with any receipts or information in your filing can find out especially if you have to prove expenses.