Partial refund after miscarriage? - Page 3

[MJ123]

Originally Posted by nashvillemidwife

No. The global fee is for prenatal, delivery, and postpartum. If a client leaves my care and that flat fee no longer applies then I wipe the slate and start over with a new itemized bill.

I know each midwife would answer this differently, but what would you charge in my situation?

Summary: 12-week and 16-week prenatal home visits, 2 urine test strips, one hemoglobin test kit, possible 4 hours of travel (midwife does only home visits, has no office), client declined prenatal screen (would've had to find a doctor to prescribe, not through midwife), client found ultrasound provider and scheduled ultrasound to confirm loss. If it's significant, midwife missed appointment during this time period, with no phone call, and was unreachable for about a week following.

Total fee $3000 includes approx. 12 prenatals, birth, approx. 5 post-partum. Contract is general, listing total fee and that a partial payment is expected at each visit, but no details.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Originally Posted by MJ123

I'm trying to err on the side of benefitting the midwife.

That's definitely how I understood your post, MJ.

[MJ123]

Thank you again to everyone who responded.

I heard back from the midwife today. She told me that while she stands by what she said before about her unstated policies (i.e. the undisclosed $300 non-refundable fee), she will refund the $200 I'm requesting (making the total $300 instead of the $500 we paid).

She also admitted that she does not have a policy for cases like mine and that she has no intention of creating one. I guess that's her choice...

Another thing she said confirmed what I mentioned here earlier. She told me that if we had paid $200 at the first appointment, she would've been fine with that as the total.

To be honest, none of this makes sense to me at this point. She's basically saying that she still feels entitled to the $500, she still believes her undisclosed policy should stand, she has no intention of disclosing this policy to future clients, but whatever we'd paid at the first visit would've been the amount she'd feel entitled to, even if it was less than what we're willing to pay her.

I still think she's a nice person and I appreciate that she's going to issue the refund, but her business practices seem weird to me, given this whole ordeal.

[nashvillemidwife]

What you have described isn't just weird, it's unprofessional, and shady. If you're going to put yourself out there as a professional you need to act like one in all aspects of your practice, including your financial policies. I'm glad you got some resolution even if it was arbitrary.

[allisonrose]

Originally Posted by MJ123

She also admitted that she does not have a policy for cases like mine and that she has no intention of creating one. I guess that's her choice...

Hm, that seems odd. Miscarriages happen - along with transfers of care for various reasons. It seems like it is a good thing as a midwife to have policies in place for such situations.

I'm glad to hear that she is giving you a refund.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Yea, MJ. I think your instincts were right from the beginning. She seems like she has a fairly odd relationship with money...I guess many people do. I always want to think of midwives as evolved in every way shape and form. That's probably not fair, ha?

I'm glad you got it worked out but wish for you that you could feel better that she was going to try to fix this problem for future clients.

I don't know how many MWs you've been to but I've been to 3 in 3 different cities and I can say that this was not something that ever would have happened with them -- so, there's hope in finding another MW down the road where you won't have to deal with this.

Thanks for sharing your most interesting experience!

[smeep]

Originally Posted by nashvillemidwife

What you have described isn't just weird, it's unprofessional, and shady. If you're going to put yourself out there as a professional you need to act like one in all aspects of your practice, including your financial policies. I'm glad you got some resolution even if it was arbitrary.

Totally unprofessional.

My midwife's contract very clearly states how much she charges in the case of transfer (prenatal or during pregnancy). Very, very clearly. And it's most likely to never be relevant to me because of the insurance I have but she still has all her clients read and sign it just in case so there's no misunderstanding.

[caedmyn]

Her business practices do seem odd...from what you've described she kind of seems sloppy about things in general. The midwife we first hired for this baby was like that (at least that was my impression of her based on a lot of little things). We ended up terminating her services after my second prenatal visit. She had initially wanted a $200 deposit (I think it was nonrefundable, don't remember what the contract said) which we paid upon hiring her...the contract didn't say anything about a per-visit fee. I did not offer to pay her anything additional and she did not ask. I feel like what we paid was completely fair to her given that I only had 2 short prenatals and some labwork (that I know only cost her $40 in lab fees) and her total fee was $2200 which included all lab work. I guess she could have asked for more but I don't know that I would have paid it since nothing was spelled out in the contract and I was pretty dis-satisfied with her quality of care overall.

Anyhow, I'm glad you got your partial refund.

[OkiMom]

That really is unprofessional and Id be a little leery of dealing with someone who works that way with money. Of course, I like having everything laid out before I agree to anything so i might just be overally cautious.

[Peppamint]

IMO

1) She needs to edit her contract significantly- it should state how much is a non-refundable deposit and how much will be kept for each prenatal if care is discontinued prior to 36 weeks.

2) She needs to offer a copy of the financial contract to clients who would like one.

I'm sorry for your loss.

[ARG2003]

I know you have this resolved and I really like your attitude about all of this. I thought I would post what is in my midwife's contract. They are the exact same as far as $3,000 total to be paid by the 36th week. The contract also says:

"In case of termination of services or a decision to transfer care to another provider, an adjustment will be made whereby $150.00 will be charged for the initial prenatal visit and $75.00 will be charged for each subsequent prenatal and postpartum visit. Reimbursement of fees will occur within 30 days."

Thought that might help. So, if you had seen my midwives, you would have been charged a total of $225 and been refunded $275 within 30 days.

I think it is probably a good idea for a midwife's contract to include situations like this.