Unethical Conduct from Accounts Department

Almost year after my admission to Claro Clinic (in N1 City, Cape Town) for depression, I was contacted by debt collectors for an outstanding account which had not been paid for by my medical aid. I was never informed about the outstanding amount before it was handed over to debt collectors. My medical aid also had no record of any outstanding or unpaid claims related to the hospital admission. To my recollection, the clinic forces depressed unwell patients to sign a legal disclaimer indemnifying them from any financial loss.

2 Major issues arise from this conduct: - Medical aids are legally allowed to decline accounts which are more than 4 months old from the date of service. I was only made aware of the account for the first time after almost a year and therefore unable to claim from my medical aid. - Debt collectors add their own additional fee/commission to the account. The account was never sent to me first. I am now being held responsible for the additional fees of the debt collectors as well as potential detrimental effects on my credit record.

Through email correspondence, I asked: - for my outstanding account to be withdrawn from the debt collectors since I had never personally been sent the account. - to be forwarded evidence that the claim had been received by the medical aid within 4 months of the service date to facilitate a late claim with the medical aid. My email requests have been ignored (email address confirmed correct). I have yet to call telephonically.

Legally I may still be held responsible for the outstanding amount due to the disclaimer I was forced to sign on admission, but ethically the conduct of the accounts department for Claro Clinic is unacceptable.