Simple answer?

NO.


If a hospital sees that u have no visible means to pay for treatment they can refuse treatment, in most cases they will get u to sign a waiver...but that still is dependent on state to state laws as well as the facility itself

Nah, I think it's more like if the doctor (who isn't going to get paid to help you) gives you negligent care, you're not going to be able to sue him.

In this case, I don't know just by reading the article whether or not the hospital is even going to be in trouble. The standard of care for a facility of this type is going to be really, really low. As a matter of law, this woman's estate might have no case as crazy as it seems.

Private hospitals can refuse to treat, but public hospitals cannot. And even private hospitals MUST treat in an emergency.

^^^@ kevin...how can your state justify completely disregarding claims by people who have no insurance? if the hospital is wrong, they are wrong!

my friends uninsured grandfather was DROPPED by two nurses moving him from the emergency room's wheelchair to the bed. he broke both hips, and when they did surgery to repair that, he got a bacterial infection and died. umm, im no expert, but would someone like to tell me where his family isnt due some sort of compensation? oh, and did i mention he was just going in because of a migraine? what are uninsured people supposed to do, stay home and die?

I believe also, in some cases (again dependent on the state) since an ER's job also it is to triage patients, they can refer patients who are not suffereing from life threatening symptoms to urgent care facilities and if they can get a person to go and free up space for true life threatening situations, they take the liability off of themselves.

and again....the keys here are 'can' and state to state....

Matter of fact let me ask....

Kevin: Where you are, do citizen get charged for the ambulance should they require one?

People in DC and Baltimore City can be charged anywhere from $75 to $150 dollars "service and dischage fee" should you ever require one and bill it to you directly (before they send it to insurance....heh)

I know many places you are charged, but the fee is waived if you are admitted.

hell daemon, if you were a bit further south in the wonderful Commonwealth of VA, you could be charged more than that...my fiance got a bill for $375. his insurance covered 100 of it...i understand a fee, but my goodness that is a bit much, dont you think?

right....

also back to the example about the grandfather being dropped in the hospital:

This is part and parcel why the govt needs to try and look into overhauling the nation's insurance system becuase too many people cannot afford it and too many insurance companies have too many tricks and loopholes for things that they won't cover.

A friend of mine told me this:

One company that she worked for has the following in ther policy

Dependent upon the client company,(like proctor and gamble, muzac, or Verisign) they have a policy where if you go to a covered or non covered ER under the and it's a life threatening emergency, they will cover anywhere from 70% to 100% of the cost


If it's not life threatening, then the most they will cover in some cases will be as much as 50%

and then if you disagree, you have to appeal with the hospital and the insurance company (which can take anywhere from 3 to 6 months by which time they have already sent thie bill to collections) just to get charges reversed.

Slightly off topic: but what i found most intruging is this lil portion of the policy for the company she worked for....

If you are over the age of 50 and you go in for a preventive care colon screening (which a preventive care screening is covered @ 100%) and during the screening, they remove any polyphs or treat you, it then is no longer a preventive and in most cases, they don't tell the patient and the patient doesn't usually find this out until they get a bill in the mail....which then she does her job and case manages the claims.....

So, whatever insurance you have...please read your policy thorughly!

My insurance is refusing to cover my tubal because they say that it's not routine to perform a tubal when performing a ceasarian. My ass it's not. I have at least three friends that had it done.

hey, Im in DC and worked in Alexandria for a year.....for an insurance company....LOL...I have heard the stories....matter of fact my new insurance info just came in the mail a week ago, I am still reading thru it...


Anybody ever take a look at Health Reinbursement/ Savings Plans?


If so, please thoroughly check ur policy...u would be surprised the things u have to come out of ur pockets for.

The argument is that if you are forcing a hospital to provide care to folks who won't pay and then double hitting the hospitals (who are already overworked) and the docs who are working for less every time there's a negligence claim, you're going to dry up the number of emergency care facilities open to treat anyone at all.

I don't necessarily agree with all of that. I do think I agree with one provision recently offered which would grant a doctor immunity from negligence claims when he's volunteering his time in an E.R.

Did he get any compensation? It's almost a close case.

But look at the dollars and cents of the situation... The hospital costs a lot of money to run. They're treating your uninsured grandfather at great expense. The hospital operates to make a profit. Would you encourage the hospital to close its emergency room in order to avoid taking these sorts of patients? Surely this would be more profitable.

Lulz...that's a damn cheap ambulance ride. At my company, your insurance is getting billed around $800-1000. So when you hear me complain about medicare and medicaid abuse it's because of these people who are too damn lazy to take a car to their doctors appointments or the emergency room and just call us. We've had patients (regulars) who had to wait for a ride on one of our busy days and when they got tired of waiting their family came and got them. That kind of shit makes me so angry.

Also Alphafrog is correct-public, state-funded hospitals cannot refuse treatment. Private hospitals can. Here's a nice story for you: guy goes to a Fallon clinic (don't know if you know Fallon at all, but their clinics are infamous in my business, we go there a lot). He has chest pain, all the classic signs of an MI (heart attack). He doesn't have insurance. Nurse tells him there's nothing they can do because he's uninsured. Guy goes home, dead the next day.

Free health care is not a right.

centaur....devil's advocate...

why didn't he go to another facility?

**Kevin yo do have a point BTW**

or...why didn't (or did she) the nurse refer him to a facility that would probably see him?

It's a messed up situation no matter how u call it but somewhere along the line one has to wonder what could have been done to save this guy's live...