‘Do you understand she’s asleep right now and she has breast cancer?’: UnitedHealthcare interrupts surgery to ask if patient really needs to stay overnight. It gets worse
A surgeon operating on a breast cancer patient says that UnitedHealthcare called her during surgery to find out if inpatient care was necessary. In a TikTok video, Dr. Elisabeth Potter claims that she had to stop in the middle of a breast reconstruction procedure to get on the phone with a health insurance representative and confirm that a patient needed to stay in the hospital overnight.
UnitedHealthcare has been the target of scrutiny and criticism ever since a gunman fatally shot former CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan in December 2024.
Doctor says UnitedHealthcare stopped approved surgery
Dr. Potter, a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon and DIEP specialist in Austin, Texas, posted a TikTok video on Jan. 7, 2024, claiming that UnitedHealthcare demanded she call them back immediately while her patient lay unconscious on the operating table. The post currently has over two million views.
"So I scrubbed out of my case and I called UnitedHealthcare, and the gentleman said he needed some information about [the patient]," Potter said, "wanted to know her diagnosis and whether her inpatient stay should be justified."
Potter says she was performing "two bilateral DIEP flap surgeries and two bilateral tissue expander surgeries" that day, which are common breast reconstruction procedures after a mastectomy or lumpectomy for related cancer. Patients usually stay in the hospital for two to five days to recover just from a DIEP flap.
But it gets worse. Potter went on to claim that the person she spoke to lacked basic information about the patient.
"I was like, 'do you understand that she's asleep right now and she had breast cancer?'" she asked him. "The gentleman said, 'actually, I don't, that's a different department that would know that information.'"
@drelisabethpotter It’s 2025, and navigating insurance has somehow gotten even more out of control… I just performed two bilateral DIEP flap surgeries and two bilateral tissue expander surgeries. During one of the DIEP cases, I was interrupted by a call from United Healthcare—while the patient was already asleep on the operating table. They demanded information about her diagnosis and inpatient stay justification. I had to scrub out mid-surgery to call United, only to find that the person on the line didn’t even have access to the patient’s full medical information, despite the procedure already being pre-approved. It’s beyond frustrating and, frankly, unacceptable. Patients and providers deserve better than this. We should be focused on care, not bureaucracy. I just have no other words at this point
♬ original sound - Dr. Elisabeth Potter
Potter informed the representative that UnitedHealthcare had approved the surgery, that the patient did need to stay in the hospital overnight, and that they had all the information they needed already. She then went back to doing her job.
TikTok commenters hate on health insurance companies
As per usual when people share their health insurance horror stories, social media commenters expressed their anger toward the company for coming between a doctor and her patient. This time, they focused their ire on UnitedHealthcare, wondering if anything has changed as a result of the bad press they received following the shooting.
"They just put that patient at a higher risk for a negative outcome!" said one TikTok user on Potter's video. "They should be sued for delay in care!"
"United clearly learned nothing from the situation that just passed," said another. "Who’s in charge at United now?"
Others offered up their own UnitedHealthcare struggles woes
"United is the WORST insurance company ive ever had. Theyre sending me through hoops just to make me find a dentist that they cover for my 2 year old," wrote a stressed out mother. "I found a place that will finally take him and ... Theyre out of network. They wont even partially pay. The only place in network near us wont call me back."
Does insurance cover reconstruction surgery for breast cancer patients?
Most of the time, yes, U.S. health insurance policies must cover standard breast reconstruction procedures like DIEP flaps and tissue expanders. This is thanks to the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act, signed into law on Oct. 1, 1998.
The law requires most group insurance plans to cover these surgeries if they also cover mastectomies for breast cancer. While breast enhancement surgery is typically labeled cosmetic and is therefore not covered, reconstruction related to cancer is considered part of a patient's overall care.
UnitedHealthcare's image fails to recover
Ever since former UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed by a lone gunman, the majority of the public has turned against the company rather than the one who pulled the trigger. The act proved that disdain for the U.S. health insurance industry crosses political lines, as claim denials and other imposed obstacles to care know no party.
According to a University of Chicago poll released in late December 2024, seven out of 10 respondents said that health insurance companies making huge profits and denying claims are responsible for Thompson's death by at least "a moderate amount."
Meanwhile, Luigi Mangione, the man arrested for Thompson's murder, has become something of a folk hero figure among those negatively affected by the industry.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @drelisabethpotter for comment via TikTok.
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