I need to know if there is any law regarding the time a patient has to wait for a surgical prodcedure to be performed through an HMO. My mother has spinal stenosous and needs to have 2 vertabraes fused together. She has followed all of the steps that the doctors have advised her of and finally after 7 months saw the spine surgeon. He said that the only way to relieve the constant pain is surgery, she agreed, and was told that they are very booked and that it would be about 5 months before he would be able to perform the surgery. I wanted to know if she would be able to receive this surgery through another spine surgeon at her medical insurances' expense. 5 months seems like an awfully long time to wait when you are in constant pain and unable to do anything.

Please help
Thanks