“Insurance Is out of Control” — Doctor Gets Pulled out of Surgery After UnitedHealthcare Calls Her

A doctor says that she was pulled out of active surgery on a breast cancer patient. A call from a UnitedHealthcare rep prompted her to remove her scrubs and take the call in order to answer a question as to whether or not inpatient care for the woman undergoing the procedure was absolutely necessary.

Austin-based plastic surgeon Dr. Elisabeth Potter (@drelisabethpotter) relayed the story in a viral TikTok that's accrued over 2.1 million views on the popular social media platform. In it, she delineates how the state of health insurance in America is worsening.

Numerous commenters who replied to her video shared in her disbelief and ire over the healthcare company's request.

"It's 2025 and insurance just keeps getting worse. I just did two bilateral DIEPs and two bilateral tissue expanders for patients and I've never had this happen before. But during the second DIEP, I got a phone call into the operating room."

According to Dr. Potter, she received a call from the controversial healthcare company that's been making the media rounds.

Dr. Potter goes on to highlight in her post that her experience with UnitedHealthcare is a frustrating one. The call that she received while she was in the operating room was from this very insurance provider.

It was "about one of the patients who was having surgery today." She continued, that they were "actually asleep having surgery," when the phone call was placed. "And said I had to call right now. So I scrubbed out of my case and I called UnitedHealthcare and the gentleman said he needed some information about her."

Dr. Potter went on, "Wanted to know her diagnosis and whether, whether her inpatient stay should be justified. And I was like, 'Do you understand that she's asleep right now? And she has breast cancer?' The gentleman said 'Actually I don't, that's a different department that would know that information.'"

She replied, "And I was like, 'Well, she does need to stay overnight tonight and you have all the information with you. Because I got approval for this surgery. And I need to go back and be with my patient now.'"

According to the surgeon, the healthcare situation in the United States has gotten "out of control." She went on to state, "Insurance is out of control. I have no other words."

Dr. Potter further shared her grievances with the call in a caption for the post.

She wrote: "It’s 2025, and navigating insurance has somehow gotten even more out of control. I just performed two bilateral DIEP flap surgeries and two bilateral tissue expander surgeries. During one of the DIEP cases, I was interrupted by a call from United Healthcare — while the patient was already asleep on the operating table."

She continued, "They demanded information about her diagnosis and inpatient stay justification. I had to scrub out mid-surgery to call United, only to find that the person on the line didn’t even have access to the patient’s full medical information, despite the procedure already being pre-approved."

She concluded her caption by writing: "It’s beyond frustrating and, frankly, unacceptable. Patients and providers deserve better than this. We should be focused on care, not bureaucracy. I just have no other words at this point."

Fox59 highlighted some of the more "frustrating" policies health insurance companies engage in. One of the biggest is the grounds for "claim denials" where patients seeking coverage for procedures are informed they can't get their medical costs covered by the insurer.

According to the outlet, UnitedHealthcare has "higher rates of denials than its peers." Furthermore, prior authorization is another gripe that folks have with their respective insurance companies. This means that healthcare providers must get approval from companies before they can carry on with a procedure.

These delays can oftentimes contribute to a patient's condition worsening, or "even death" as Fox59 puts it. Smaller network coverage is another sticking point for health insurance customers, giving them a mitigated choice of healthcare professionals to choose from.

Getting hit with "surprise bills" has been counteracted by the "No Surprises Act" of 2022 where patients can't be hit with charges by their insurance company after going through with a procedure.