Beng sued for hospital bill

[Maryann Gibson]

In 1994 my husband had a heart attack, and was treated at a local hospital within the state of Georgia, where we lived at that time. The Hill-Burton foundation was paying the hospital bill, as we were in poor financial shape at that time. The doctor who treated my husband said he would need an angioplasty, and that it had to be done at another hospital, located in Tennessee. I spoke with a woman from social services at the hospital, concerned about the decision to go to another state for treatment, and she said that she felt sure that the Hill-Burton fund would cover the expense. It didn't. We got a letter stating that a default judgement against us was obtained on the 10th of this month for $9,999.99. They act as if they had no idea where to find us-I have been an employee of the Hospital Authority since 1995. When admitting my husband to the Tennessee hospital, I told them we were without insurance or money for a hospital bill, and that the Hill-Burton fund was covering the medical expenses. The admissions staff said that was not their concern. I called the office of the attorney representing the Hospital Authority, and was told that they could freeze my checking and savings accounts,garnish our wages, put a lien against our property, or anything else they wanted to do. What are my options? I don't have the money to pay this bill.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face=" Arial, Verdana, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Maryann Gibson:

In 1994 my husband had a heart attack, and was treated at a local hospital within the state of Georgia, where we lived at that time. The Hill-Burton foundation was paying the hospital bill, as we were in poor financial shape at that time. The doctor who treated my husband said he would need an angioplasty, and that it had to be done at another hospital, located in Tennessee. I spoke with a woman from social services at the hospital, concerned about the decision to go to another state for treatment, and she said that she felt sure that the Hill-Burton fund would cover the expense. It didn't. We got a letter stating that a default judgement against us was obtained on the 10th of this month for $9,999.99. They act as if they had no idea where to find us-I have been an employee of the Hospital Authority since 1995. When admitting my husband to the Tennessee hospital, I told them we were without insurance or money for a hospital bill, and that the Hill-Burton fund was covering the medical expenses. The admissions staff said that was not their concern. I called the office of the attorney representing the Hospital Authority, and was told that they could freeze my checking and savings accounts,garnish our wages, put a lien against our property, or anything else they wanted to do. What are my options? I don't have the money to pay this bill.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

My response:

Your issues are complex. Suffice it to say, you don't want them to sell your house to pay the debt, if there is any equity, or to take your bank accounts. You had best run these issues by an attorney to determine a course of action. On Monday, FIRST THING.

IAAL



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[Prairielaw]

Maryann -

The last response was right. You need to at least call a local lawyer on this. Once a party does have a judgment, depending on state law they do have the right to try to collect by garnishing wages and bank accounts.

Even though you should have been personally served with the summons and complaint before someone got judgment, the realities are what could you even do if you could open up the case and undo the judgment. You may still be liable for the monies. Without anything in writing saying someone else would pay - it looks like a tough case.

You can find a lawyer here at Free Advice or on our site in our Find a Lawyer Directory. In an effort to best serve our users we affiliated with lawyers.com, a service of Martindale-Hubbell, a data base of 420,000 lawyers and the definitive guide to American lawyers.

Wish I could help more.

Law on, Kevin

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Kevin O'Keefe
Founder & Fearless Community Leader
Prairielaw.com
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