Declaring bankruptcy on a medical loan might mean your doctor refuses further treatment, but in practice, bankruptcy rarely effects your ability to get health care. However, you might consider repaying the debt after bankruptcy even though you may not owe it. If your doctor ends your relationship, you will be able to get treatment somewhere else.
Doctor Discretion
A private doctor can refuse medical treatment because you previously discharged a medical loan in bankruptcy. Whether a doctor actually denies you treatment is his own decision. Most doctors do not refuse treatment if you are in need. The Hippocratic Oath essentially requires that doctors help a person in need.
Exceptions
A hospital that receives any amount of federal funding may not deny you emergency medical care because you defaulted on a loan in the past. A for-profit hospital can refuse treatment, but probably would not. The exception for any hospital is discretionary treatment. If, for example, you want botox injections for cosmetic reasons, the hospital could reject the request for surgery.
Considerations
While you may have escaped the medical loan, you may strain your relationship with your health care provider. Although the doctor cannot give you substandard treatment out of "revenge," he might not be accommodating to any future financial distress, such as if you have trouble paying future medical bills and want to work out a payment payment or negotiate the charges.
Communication
Ideally, you want to talk to your doctor about including your medical loan in bankruptcy before you actually file. State that your attorney has advised that you include all creditors, so you are obliging your legal counsel. You could work out a partial payment before bankruptcy to cancel the debt. If the bankruptcy has already passed, nothing stops you from paying voluntarily, which might show enough character that the doctor agrees to keep you as a patient.
Tags: medical loan, your doctor, health care, loan bankruptcy, medical loan bankruptcy
