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3 year old daughter got concussion in bathtub in hotel

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nyord

Guest
I live in North Dakota and in September we were on vacation in Orlando, Florida. My 3 year old daughter was standing in the bathtub, getting ready to take a shower with dad, when she took a step forward, fell because it was so slippery and hit her head in the bathtub. Dad picked her up right away and she was unconcious. We called for help, she came to her self, and the security manager on duty came up after he had called an ambulance. He was told what happened, asked right away if we left her alone in the bathroom which we denied where upon he took pictures of the bathtub. At the ER they did a cat scan which turned out to be okay - she "just" suffered a concussion and should take it easy. That meant no Disneyworld for 2 days! Back in the hotel I talked to the security manager and asked him about the hospital bill - I knew that our health insurance most likely would not cover because they would say it was an accident. He gave me the accident report number and told me to forward the bills and their accident insurance would take care of it. After calling the reception 3 times we finally got a skid-proof mat put in the bathtub.

Back in ND we had some rough months with a little girl who was afraid of closing her eyes because then she saw "ghosts", she was obsessive with colouring her Magna Doodle totally black and she still cannot go into a dark room alone and cannot sleep alone. As expected we got the claim denied by our health insurance and on 18 Dec I forwarded the bills to the hotel via certified mail. Well, the hotel called today and said that we should NOT expect them to pay, because they were at no fault as far as they were concerned. Also today we got a letter from the hospital that they want money from us right now being our regular health insurance will not pay.

What are we to do? If the hospital does not get some money they will turn us over to a collection agency which will hurt our perfect credit rating. At the same time I cannot pull $2000.00 out of my hat. Is it time to get a lawyer??? We told the hotel today when they called, that we were not asking for extra money, etc. - we were just asking they pay the hospital bill, but after that discussion on the phone I don't know...

Any inputs will be greatly appreciated as I just don't know what to do. We were just trying to put this behind us and get our little girl back to the normal routine - we don't need the hassle!

[Edited by nyord on 12-29-2000 at 01:06 AM]
 


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nyord

Guest
Should I wait consulting an attorney till I get a letter back from the hotel that their insurance will not pay? I mean, they could still pay (allthough unlikely); but if they did pay, we wouldn't have a problem anymore...
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
What advantage do you think you would have in waiting any longer? The accident occured in September 00 and pretty soon it will be January 01 and what have you accomplished thus far?
The legal consultation would be free so you decide if you are capable of handling things and know the legal aspects of a possible personal injury claim.
 
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nyord

Guest
You are totally right - we really don't have anything to loose. Then my question to you is: do we consult an attorney in ND where we live or in FL where the accident happened?

Thanks,
Dorte
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
nyord said:
You are totally right - we really don't have anything to loose. Then my question to you is: do we consult an attorney in ND where we live or in FL where the accident happened?

Thanks,
Dorte
HomeGuru response: ND and the attorney will advise you if you need someone in FL.
 
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nyord

Guest
Thank you so much for your help. I spoke to a lawyer and we are to meet with him next Wednesday - he is pretty much certain that we should sue for a new trip to Disneyworld, possible future medical bills, pain & suffering, but he also said we might have to put her thru another scan and other medical things which we would have to pay out of our own pocket. Now I guess it will be up to us to decide if it will be worth it.
 
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nyord

Guest
Well, I wonder if the hotel is reading this site! :) Today they faxed us a release form and said that if we would sign this, they would pay the medical bills in full right away! Needless to say; we have not signed, we do not intend to sign, we will just take it with us to the lawyer tomorrow.

I just don't understand: why did they not try to have us sign it when we were downthere? We would probably have been still so chocked and stupid to sign it then!!!

Thanks again for the "wake-up call".
 
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nyord

Guest
You will probably see us before you know it!! :) We just have to go see a neuropsychologist and stuff like that first...

Optimistic for the first time in a long time!
 

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