Expert: Dr. Randolph Myerson - 11/18/2008

Question
I took my daughter to the dentist in July and she had 9 cavities and she needed some crowns put in. The dentist only did crowns for kids, where the put the kids completely "under" once a month, the last Tuesday or each month. So, I scheduled an appointment for December 30th, because our dental insurance didn't kick in for cavities and crowns until after Dec. 1 (there was a 6 month waiting period).  I was happy about the appointment being before January because $3200 of the care was medical expenses covered under our medical plan, and we already covered the deductible for this year, so we won't have to pay any medical expenses.
Anyway, so I just got a call from the dentist today, saying that Afton, my daughter, can't have her dentist work done on December 30th because the anesthesiologist  is going on vacation. I told them that we have to have it done in December because our dental insurance doesn't kick in until Dec. 1st, and because we would have to pay our $1500 deductible for medical insurance, plus extra fees if we did the dental work in January. They basically said that there was nothing they could do.
My question is... are they under an doctor-patient obligation to keep the appointment since we scheduled it months ago? Either hire another anesthesiologist or take the extra money we would be paying off the bill from them?
I would go to another pediatric dentist in our area, but then we would have to pay the extra appointment fee for them, which would probably be $200-$250. We are already paying $900 out of pocket for this dental work, and I don't want to "break the bank" even more.

Answer
While this question is probably a legal matter it is my opinion that the doctor-patient obligation does not prohibit the re-scheduling of an appointment.  It's unfortunate that this has such important financial consequences for you but it appears to be necessary.