<prompt> Human: In 2014 I had a peritonsular abscess that caused me to go to the emergency room three different times in one week each time in extreme unbearable pain because the time before, the abscess would not be taken care of with what the ER doctors decided to do.Doctors did not want to perform surgery to remove the abscess, even though I wanted it to be taken care of immediately because of the unbearable pain, and insisted that antibiotics would take care of the problem and surgery would be done as a last resort. I went home, but not before they gave me local anesthesia long needle straight to the back of my throat in order to puncture the abscess with a needle and drain it. Second time going to the ER was a repeat of the first, and it wasnt until the third that I was admitted, and surgery was performed to split open the abscess completely so it would not continue to create pus. I received a hospital bill for each of the three visits to the ER plus the cost of the operation. The combined total was less than 500 in copays, however I was unable to pay it a total the time because I was in college, and the payments ultimately were handed off to a collection agency.Thankfully I am now in a position where Im able to pay off this debt, however I cant help but feel that I would not have incurred the cost of the copays in the first place, if the hospital recognized the severity of the abscess and performed the operation in the first place. Before paying the collection agency in full, is there any possibility of somehow bringing these points to the attention of the hospital, and would they be able to do anything about the payments now due to the collection agency? If not, I assume I can make some sort of negotiation with the debt collectors, but is the situation with the hospital itself worth mentioningwould it likely be helpful in the end?  <response>: Surgery comes with complications so surgical procedures are almost always a last resort. You were probably told to contact your PCP for further evaluation and definitive treatment, as emergency departments are for treatment of emergencies.Additionally, patient satisfaction is inversely correlated with patient outcomes, so the doctors had no good reason to go straight to surgery just because you wanted it.Contact the connection agency and offer less with the condition that they remove the mark on your credit report. 