no payment for incorrect surgery?

[freelancewriter]

I read this article on AP this morning:

"HealthPartners to withhold payment for surgical errors
HealthPartners, one of Minnesota's biggest health plans, says starting Jan. 1 it will no longer cover certain medical procedures if they go wrong.

For example, HealthPartners said, it will no longer cover a surgery if an operation is performed on the wrong body part or on the wrong patient, or if a foreign object is left inside a patient..."

By contract, they also won't allow the patient to be billed.
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&n...ers+said,+it+will+no+longer+cover+a+surgery+"

Either this is a PR move or, as the company states, taking a stand against medical errors.

Do hospitals actually bill for surgeries on the wrong body part, or other heinous mistakes of this nature? I understand that major medical mistakes do occur in very rare instances, but I can't imagine the hospital actually billing for it, especially given the malpractice suit that would likely result from such a mistake.

Thoughts?

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[margaritaboy]

I can't imagine hospitals bill for major medical mistakes, like the ones mentioned above. It is bad press for the hospital, and I doubt anyone would stand for it. But....I don't really have any first hand knowledge of sugical billing.