Dr. Christopher Anthony Ewing, MD

I saw Dr. Ewing at Seton's downtown ER about flank pain that turned out to be a kidney stone.He arranged for me to get a CT scan, which confirmed the stone existed.I did not receive any pain medication or further service from him or Seton.The bill for the CT scan turned out to be $7200, which is roughly 20x market value for the Austin area. The urologist to whom Dr. Ewing referred me, for actual help with the stone, charges only $250 for a CT scan.I think Dr. Ewing should probably inform patients of this extraordinarily high cost in advance, so they can make informed decisions, instead of just recommend the scan and call it a day.However, like most doctors, he didn't think of that.He also forgot to examine me before giving me a formal diagnosis -- i.e., he forgot to do his job.I know this because as I was about to leave, he rushed into the exam room and said (in front of myself and my attorney) "I forgot to do my job."He then conducted a very rapid exam that took no more than two… minutes and eventually cost me $887. This cost, too, was not discussed in advance, and had I known, I certainly would not have allowed him to conduct any such exam. It bore no medical relevance to my diagnosis whatever, since that diagnosis was already in my hand at that time.Points for correctly diagnosing the stone, Dr. Ewing, but no points for fiscal sanity or good memory. Maybe next time the exam should come BEFORE the diagnosis, eh?