Is it standard for all ortho offices to sign a waiver if...

[Koof]

Is it standard procedure for all offices to require someone to sign a waiver if someone is requesting that the orthodontist remove their braces before it's recommended? Just wondering because my office is now trying to say that I requested them to come off early, which isn't the case, and it's a pretty new/modern office, so I'm assuming that that's something they would require to save their own butts in cases like that.

[klobird]

They do need to cover their butts---there are a lot of asses out there!! It would be foolish of them not to have you sign it....

[TMJJill]

I have no idea what is normal, but if you didn't ask them to take your braces off early, I'd certainly want to have a conversation with the Orthodontist, not just the office people, about why you need to sign it. It sounds like his office is contradicting itself. You are right to raise the question.

[EbonyQ]

A little bit off topic: Do they sign contracts in the UK too? Or any other countries in Europe for that matter?

When we get braces in my country we don’t sign any contract at all. Nothing to sign when you get braces, if you want them off earlier, if the ortho has to take them off earlier or when you’re finish. None of the orthos I know has ever been sued before (you rarely hear people suing other over here) and they have never had their pt sign a contract.

I don’t have any contract with Eric even though we made an oral agreement to not go for the perfect result (I was the one who wanted that).

For me it would be strange to sign a contract (a bit scary too) but I think for my US friends it would be strange to not sign a contract I guess. It’s very interesting how different this

[Koof]

EbonyQ - they made me sign a contract/agreement in the beginning.. but from what I've been told, if someone is insisting the orthodontist remove their braces before their treatment is complete, the office should make them sign a waiver to cover themselves.. so the person can't then go and say whatever they want, they signed it stating that's what they wanted. These people estimated my treatment @ 18-24 months and took my braces off at 14 (only because I procrastinated, they actually gave me a deband date of about 12 months)!




My orthodontist is telling the office manager he told me that 6-8 more months in braces would've finished the job. But that's not true at all, and if it was, I would have kept them on. Since apparently 'all the assistants heard this conversation' and it's basically them vs. me, I'm trying to argue the fact that, hey.. if this was really all true, wouldn't you have made me sign a waiver? Really. Very annoyed, because they basically didn't do crap. I'm getting braces somewhere else to finish the job and he's estimating me at TWENTY months! That's discouraging! And makes me feel like they obviously didn't do their job.

[Dee17]

Well, if you are in the US, I think it would be pretty standard. Things are very litigious in the United States and I'm sure he's wanting to cover himself. If you didn't ask him to remove them, though, I don't think I'd sign. Instead, I'd ask for clarification as to why he wants to remove them. If you are going to have to go elsewhere for more treatment, that is just going to cost you more money. Sounds like a weird situation to me. I'd proceed cautiously if I were you.

[Koof]

Dee - he already removed them. I felt like it was happening so early, but felt like, who am I to question an orthodontist.. .this is his profession.. I just had a bad feeling about it, but went with it because he said I was ready. Got them off and immediately hated my teeth, got a couple consults and they agreed that there was more to be done. My thing is I talked to the office manager about how they aren't where they should be and she spoke with my ortho - he's telling her now that he told me that 6-8 more months would've finished the job, but like I said that's not the case or I wouldn't have gotten them off. It's them vs. me. and the only 'proof' I guess that I could have would be the fact that they didn't make me sign a waiver.. so how can they say I requested this - that I insisted they come off early. There is no waiver. Because I didn't - this was his suggestion. So, yeah. Just trying to figure out my options and figure out if that's standard at most orthodontist's offices these days.

[Dee17]

Oh, what a dreadful story. I'm so sorry this has happened to you. I hope you'll be able to get it all sorted out without it costing you a ton of money. Keep us posted on what's going on. In light of what you've said, it's a good thing you didn't sign a waiver. Maybe you should see a lawyer? I'm not normally the kind of person who would think about pursuing any kind of legal action but I think this thing is going to end up costing you a lot of money and you probably shouldn't have to pay for that. Good luck with it.

[EbonyQ]

Oh, I’m sorry to hear this. That does not sound like any fun at all. I can’t managed how it would be to want the perfect result, put all this money in it and time (and pain), and then getting them off before you are ready

[Kipepeo]

Koof, if I were you, I'd request a compete copy of my record. Hopefully they use an electronic medical record, and if so, it will have an audit trail. So if they went back retroactively and added a comment or changed one, it would have been captured as a change on the date and time. If it's a paper record...well, sorry, easy to fudge.

It should be captured in your record when the decision was made to remove them, and by whom.

[Koof]

Well, I just got a call from them today and they will be refunding me what I paid out of pocket, along with stopping my payments (because I still owed) so I'm very happy I'll be getting my new ones on on Tuesday!

[fosterp]

The waiver is to release them of their contractual obligation to you - so that when they come off you cannot turn around and say they are breaching the contract because they didn't provide comprehensive treatment.

It's not necessary, since requesting them off verbally has the same legal effect, but the paper just makes the question of whether or not you said it a non-issue in case a dispute arises later. However, the orthodontist should have made it explicitly clear that taking them off against his recommendation would mean that the treatment is not optimal and there is still corrections to be made. If an orthodontist took a patients braces off with no questions asked before treatment was complete he would likely be breaching the standard of care and would owe you a refund of some of what you paid.