AboutLisa Lindell Expertise Consequences to the patient and family, reply by healthcare facilities, statistics and types of medical errors.
Experience Extensive personal experience during my husband's 108 day hospitalization.
Publications 108 Days
Education/Credentials Author of the book "108 Days." Speaker at patient safety events across the country, student of medical errors. I've been a patient safety advocate for years.
Question I know you think you answered this for me, but I never received the answer. I did get a receipt for the question. "I have no Insurance. I had gall-bladder surgery that was supposed to cost $14,000. I had complications, a nicked bowel, that ended up with a weeks stay in the hospital, and bills of over $70,000. I don't think I should have to pay for anything over $14,000. Is there ANYTHING i CAN DO?"
Answer Well you can pay them the $14,000 you agreed to pay and send them a certified letter indicating you appreciate the care they gave you, however, you're not going to pay for additional damage they caused during the course of said care.
More than likely they will pursue you via third party collection agencies to pay the balance and this will haunt you for years to come. You'll just have to keep sending stern letters maintaining you paid you balance in full. Ask them to justify charging you for harming you. Ask them if they've ever heard of "never" events. Talk to reporters in your community and see if they'd like to do a story. The short answer is no, there's not much you can do other than argue with them, but there's not much they can do to collect the balance other than ruin your credit.
