UHC Pulls Surgeon Out Of OR To Question Cancer Patient's Status

Elisabeth Potter, M.D., a plastic surgeon specializing in breast cancer patients, tells the story of a UnitedHealthcare employee calling her to question status of her patient just after she was scrubbed up and about to perform surgery while her patient was sleeping. Potter is fed up with the system, calling the industry "out of control." So, she had to leave the operating room to deal with UnitedHealthcare.

“It's 2025, and insurance just keeps getting worse,” she said. “I've never had this happen before. But during the second deep, I had a phone call into the operating room saying that UnitedHealthcare wanted me to call them about one of the patients who was having surgery.”

“So I scrubbed outta my case, and I called UnitedHealthcare, and the gentleman said he needed some information about her, wanna know her diagnosis and whether her inpatient stay should be justified. — I was like, do you understand that she's asleep right now and she has breast cancer?” she explained.

“It's out of control. Its insurance is out of control," she added. "I have no other words.”

Another doctor explains the bizarre process:

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