My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: New Jersey
Is it legal for medical providers to charge me for services that I did not authorize? This has happened to me a few times now, and although I have often been able to get the charges removed eventually, it is an extremely stressful process and companies act as though they are doing me a favor by removing the charges.

For example, if I have told my doctor's office that I do not want to get a certain type of blood test and they accidentally order it anyway, and the tests are done without my knowledge using blood samples that I had provided for other tests, am I legally obligated to pay the bill?

Or if I asked the price of a service in advance and they quoted me a certain amount and I paid it in advance and received a receipt, are they allowed to call me five weeks later and inform me that the doctor provided additional services without my knowledge and that the new bill is 3 times the amount they quoted me?

I seem to run into these types of problems rather frequently, and no matter how much I try to make sure that I do not receive services that are too expensive, I seem to end up with enormous bills anyway. I do not understand why doctors and hospitals and labs seem to think that if you agree to pay for one service, they are automatically authorized to provide any services they like. I am very clear about what I want (or don't want), and when I know I will have to pay for a service myself, I typically discuss the cost with more than one person from the company.

And just to be clear, NONE of these services for which I had billing issues were for medical emergencies.

How can I make sure I do not get medical services I don't want? It is so exhausting to fight the bills after-the-fact!