10TV: OhioHealth Surgeon Helps Patients Who Can’t Afford Surgery

Sometimes, the simple act of helping someone in their time of need is all it takes to make a big impact.

However, a surgeon with OhioHealth Grant Medical Center and OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital is going above and beyond simple acts of kindness by using money out of his own pocket to help patients who can’t afford their surgeries.

The physician has chosen to remain unnamed, because for him, it’s not about getting recognized. Instead, it’s about fulfilling his oath as a doctor to help people.

"It would be very difficult to have somebody in front of you that needs help and to tell them I can't do it for whatever reason," he said in a recent interview with 10TV reporter Stephanie Stanavich.

The physician doesn’t choose what patients he helps. Normally, he gets a calls at random from Grant Medical Center or Riverside Methodist about patients like Jerry Williams, who was sent to a specialist after a biking accident resulted in a $90,000 surgery. When Williams couldn’t afford the course of action, the physician offered to pay for his surgery and all costs.

When it comes to incoming patients with trauma cases, infections or other urgent medical needs, the physician will cover the cost of the patient’s surgery, office visits, dressing supplies, x-ray costs, fees for his own services and any other necessary medical attention in the following 90 days after the patient’s surgery.

Why does he do it? Out of the goodness of his own heart. He said the funds are well worth knowing he is positively impacting another person.

After five years of performing these good deeds, the physician has helped over 50 patients, and he doesn’t have plans on stopping anytime soon.

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