Dr. Elisabeth Potter received a call from a representative from UnitedHealthcare regarding the patient's coverage.
A Texas surgeon was performing surgery when she was informed of a phone call from the patient's insurance provider.
Dr. Elisabeth Potter, a board-certified plastic surgeon specializing in reconstruction for women who had breast cancer, is based in Austin, Texas. FOX News reported that Potter conducted roughly 520 surgeries for cancer patients.
Dr. Elisabeth Potter posted a video discussing the experience which trended online.
In the video, Potter explained, "I just performed two bilateral DIEP flap surgeries and two bilateral tissue expander surgeries," she said in the now-viral video.
During one of the DIEP surgeries, while the patient was on the operating table, the doctor was interrupted by a nurse supervisor informing her that a call had come in from UnitedHealthcare, the patient's insurance company, Potter said. The nurse who took the call said that Potter was in surgery and not available.
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"And they said, I need to get her a message because we need to talk to her about this patient," Potter told Fox News Digital. "So they wrote a note and brought it into the operating room and I took a picture of it, because I'm like, I can't believe this is happening."
FOX News reported the note had the name and number of the person to call at UnitedHealthcare, along with the patient's name and Dr. Potter's name. (The note did not state that the caller had requested an immediate response.)
"The nurse at the front desk of the OR who took the call and wrote this note said that the person on the phone first asked for the patient and then for me," Potter shared with Fox News Digital.
Potter also told the news outlet that UnitedHealthcare did not require her to leave the operating room or threaten to deny coverage. FOX News reported that the patient was safe with another surgeon and the anesthesia team, who were finishing the procedure.
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According to FOX News, Potter said she was "scared" that the patient would wake up and learn that the insurance company said they didn't have the information they needed and would deny the claim.
The doctor added that the person on the phone didn't have access to the patient's full medical information, despite the procedure already being pre-approved.
"I've seen it before, when people get stuck with bills that are $80,000 or $100,000," she said to Fox News Digital. "And so I said to my partners, 'I'm going to make this call real quick.'" (Watch Potter's video here.)
What they're saying:
UnitedHealthcare released a statement which was obtained by Fox News Digital regarding what happened.
"There are no insurance-related circumstances that would require a physician to step out of surgery and it would create potential safety risks if they were to do so."
It went on, "We did not ask nor would ever expect a physician to interrupt patient care to answer a call and we will be following up with the provider and hospital to understand why these unorthodox actions were taken."
A DIEP flap surgery reconstruction is a type of abdominal wall flap procedure. The DIEP -- or deep inferior epigastric perforator -- flap is named for the blood vessel that runs through the abdominal muscle.
According to breastcancer.org, this surgery requires surgeons to make a small incision in the layer covering the abdominal muscle so they can take the blood vessels that travel within the muscle.