I'm in Texas. A few years ago I moved here from another country on a visa. I was waiting for open enrollment to get on my husband's insurance when I found out I was pregnant. This was three months after arriving, I was on birth control which apparently just failed me.
I didn't know I was pregnant but I became very unwell and had internal bleeding (won't get into gory details). My husband rushed me to an urgent care clinic where I found out I was pregnant and they worried it may be an ectopic pregnancy and told me to go across the street to the hospital and to the GYN floor. I went, and before entering I had to go into an office to sign some papers. I told the office worker up front that I had no insurance or money at this point but she told me not to worry and that they were just doing an ultrasound which I could expect to cost between $100-$150. I had never experienced American healthcare before so this didn't sound absurd to me. I read through the form (I still have copies) and it didn't say anything about pricing, just that I agreed to be seen by a doctor and have the necessary scan done etc.
I had my scan done and they confirmed that I was pregnant. I was told that they couldn't tell what was going on since the fetus was so small at that point, but that I had a cyst on my ovaries that might be causing me the pain and discomfort I was having. They told me to come back in 7 days, when they would likely be able to see something. I told them I just wanted to go and have a termination because I didn't have health insurance and I was so unwell at this point that I NEEDED to get better, not risk getting any worse (I was severely dehydrated and weighed around 85lbs from not being able to eat). They told me that I COULD NOT go and seek medical treatment (i.e. get an abortion) if they hadn't signed papers saying that I was discharged from their care. I was devastated and completely freaked out. My family back home were frantic and my health was just deteriorating by the hour.
The next night, at around 10pm, I received a call from an unknown number. I answered and they said they were from the hospital and that something had been seen on my scan so I needed to come back at 11am the next day. I went in the next day and spoke to the nurses at the desk in the GYN department, but they had no idea who had called me or why and told me to go to the office to sign in. I signed in, and told them there that I really couldn't afford another $100-$150 scan. They told me to just go and speak to the nurses once I'd signed the papers again. I went back and spoke to the nurses but they told me that, since I HAD been called in and told that something was on my scan they HAD to do another scan, by law, even though they knew they still wouldn't be able to see anything different from the last scan since it hadn't been long enough.
I had another scan, they repeated what they had told me two days ago, and told me to come back again at the same time I had already been told (5 days). I told them "I really can't afford this. I just want to go get an abortion, can I do that? Where can I go?" One of the nurses repeated that I needed to just wait until they had figured out what was going on, and that I HAD to come back in 5 days for another scan.
I came back 5 days later, weighing 81lbs and unable to keep any fluids down. I was having to wear shoulder braces just to stop myself slumping over, and I couldn't sit so I was having to lay in the fetal position in the corridors while I waited to be seen, I was just in so much pain. I had yet another scan done, and was told the same thing again and given an estimate of how far along I was. I voiced again that I wanted to go for an abortion, but I was told again (by the same nurse as last time) that I had to wait. I didn't understand what I had to wait for and asked if they could give me something for the pain I was in or just to at least help but I was refused any medication as I "probably wouldn't be able to afford it without insurance".
I went home again and looked for a lawyer I could speak to. I spoke to one briefly who told me that the hospital had no right to tell me I couldn't seek treatment/an abortion elsewhere if I hadn't been discharged, they were just taken advantage of my naivety/lack of knowledge over the American healthcare system. I was advised to go and speak to someone at the hospital about what had been going on on the GYN floor, and to go and get the medical treatment I needed.
I received three bills for my hospital visits. The first one was $630, the third one was $850. The most expensive one, $960, was for the appointment where they had told me I had to come in straight away because something had been seen. Most of the cost was for the doctor who saw me, who was from a company who the hospital hired doctors from. It later turned out it was that company who had called me, telling me I needed to go in. In my opinion it seemed like they were essentially just tricking me to get some money for themselves. On top of this I had the bill from the urgent care clinic. All in all, it amounted to just under $3000 (then I also had to pay $600 for the abortion itself).
I spoke to the billing department immediately and was told to come in to the hospital and go to a department where there was a charity that helped people pay their medical bills. I went, but was told they couldn't help as I didn't have a green card or SSN yet. I was told to go to the Patient Relations department, so I did, and I spoke to a woman whom I'll call Gill. I explained everything that happened, how I'd been called in the night to come to an appointment I didn't even need to be there for and how I'd found out it was this private company that had called me and it was one of their doctors that saw me. She said she would look into it and call me back in a weeks time. A week passed and I didn't hear anything. I called and asked the receptionist to have her call me. A couple of days later I had my abortion, the doctor who performed it couldn't believe what a state I was in (I could barely walk and had to be lifted in and out of bed) and she told me I ought to sue the hospital over what had happened.
Another week passed and I still hadn't heard from Gill. I called again, the receptionist said she would call me back, still nothing. Another week later I called again but told the receptionist a different name this time. Immediately I got to speak to Gill. When she realized it was me she told me she couldn't help. I asked why, and why she hadn't gotten back to me, but she just said because she didn't have time for my case. My husband took the phone to speak to her and I could hear her through the speaker phone. He told her he didn't appreciate her wasting our time and that she should have gotten back to us when she had said she would. She told him that she wasn't dealing with our case and that if I continued to fight my case I would be DEPORTED back to my home country, then she hung up.
I started receiving hospital bills every week, and after a month I had a debt collector contacting me. I told him everything that had happened and he decided to help. He said he could figure out a deal for one of my bills (the $650) so in the end I paid $150. He helped me draft a letter to submit to his company so that no one else in the company would contact me to try and get more money. In the letter it explained that I had paid $150 for one of my bills after he got the billing department to agree with it (the hospital billing department was also on my side over all of this, although there wasn't much they could do) and that in the meantime I was contacting the DSHS about what had happened.
I wrote to the DSHS. It was a four page long summary of everything that had happened. They wrote back and said they couldn't do anything about it and that nothing about the hospital telling me I couldn't seek treatment elsewhere was illegal. Also it wasn't illegal for Gill to threaten me with deportation for disputing my bills. I stopped receiving bills after this though, and called the billing department who said they couldn't find my bills either. I don't know if the bills were just cancelled or if they will eventually show up on my credit when I apply for a credit card or something.
I just want to know what a lawyer might make of this. I don't want to sue (it was two years ago now) or seek any legal aid, I just want to know if I was in the wrong here and whether medical bills can ever just disappear/if a hospital might just write them off if the DSHS starts investigating over them or if they will eventually resurface? Thanks.
I didn't know I was pregnant but I became very unwell and had internal bleeding (won't get into gory details). My husband rushed me to an urgent care clinic where I found out I was pregnant and they worried it may be an ectopic pregnancy and told me to go across the street to the hospital and to the GYN floor. I went, and before entering I had to go into an office to sign some papers. I told the office worker up front that I had no insurance or money at this point but she told me not to worry and that they were just doing an ultrasound which I could expect to cost between $100-$150. I had never experienced American healthcare before so this didn't sound absurd to me. I read through the form (I still have copies) and it didn't say anything about pricing, just that I agreed to be seen by a doctor and have the necessary scan done etc.
I had my scan done and they confirmed that I was pregnant. I was told that they couldn't tell what was going on since the fetus was so small at that point, but that I had a cyst on my ovaries that might be causing me the pain and discomfort I was having. They told me to come back in 7 days, when they would likely be able to see something. I told them I just wanted to go and have a termination because I didn't have health insurance and I was so unwell at this point that I NEEDED to get better, not risk getting any worse (I was severely dehydrated and weighed around 85lbs from not being able to eat). They told me that I COULD NOT go and seek medical treatment (i.e. get an abortion) if they hadn't signed papers saying that I was discharged from their care. I was devastated and completely freaked out. My family back home were frantic and my health was just deteriorating by the hour.
The next night, at around 10pm, I received a call from an unknown number. I answered and they said they were from the hospital and that something had been seen on my scan so I needed to come back at 11am the next day. I went in the next day and spoke to the nurses at the desk in the GYN department, but they had no idea who had called me or why and told me to go to the office to sign in. I signed in, and told them there that I really couldn't afford another $100-$150 scan. They told me to just go and speak to the nurses once I'd signed the papers again. I went back and spoke to the nurses but they told me that, since I HAD been called in and told that something was on my scan they HAD to do another scan, by law, even though they knew they still wouldn't be able to see anything different from the last scan since it hadn't been long enough.
I had another scan, they repeated what they had told me two days ago, and told me to come back again at the same time I had already been told (5 days). I told them "I really can't afford this. I just want to go get an abortion, can I do that? Where can I go?" One of the nurses repeated that I needed to just wait until they had figured out what was going on, and that I HAD to come back in 5 days for another scan.
I came back 5 days later, weighing 81lbs and unable to keep any fluids down. I was having to wear shoulder braces just to stop myself slumping over, and I couldn't sit so I was having to lay in the fetal position in the corridors while I waited to be seen, I was just in so much pain. I had yet another scan done, and was told the same thing again and given an estimate of how far along I was. I voiced again that I wanted to go for an abortion, but I was told again (by the same nurse as last time) that I had to wait. I didn't understand what I had to wait for and asked if they could give me something for the pain I was in or just to at least help but I was refused any medication as I "probably wouldn't be able to afford it without insurance".
I went home again and looked for a lawyer I could speak to. I spoke to one briefly who told me that the hospital had no right to tell me I couldn't seek treatment/an abortion elsewhere if I hadn't been discharged, they were just taken advantage of my naivety/lack of knowledge over the American healthcare system. I was advised to go and speak to someone at the hospital about what had been going on on the GYN floor, and to go and get the medical treatment I needed.
I received three bills for my hospital visits. The first one was $630, the third one was $850. The most expensive one, $960, was for the appointment where they had told me I had to come in straight away because something had been seen. Most of the cost was for the doctor who saw me, who was from a company who the hospital hired doctors from. It later turned out it was that company who had called me, telling me I needed to go in. In my opinion it seemed like they were essentially just tricking me to get some money for themselves. On top of this I had the bill from the urgent care clinic. All in all, it amounted to just under $3000 (then I also had to pay $600 for the abortion itself).
I spoke to the billing department immediately and was told to come in to the hospital and go to a department where there was a charity that helped people pay their medical bills. I went, but was told they couldn't help as I didn't have a green card or SSN yet. I was told to go to the Patient Relations department, so I did, and I spoke to a woman whom I'll call Gill. I explained everything that happened, how I'd been called in the night to come to an appointment I didn't even need to be there for and how I'd found out it was this private company that had called me and it was one of their doctors that saw me. She said she would look into it and call me back in a weeks time. A week passed and I didn't hear anything. I called and asked the receptionist to have her call me. A couple of days later I had my abortion, the doctor who performed it couldn't believe what a state I was in (I could barely walk and had to be lifted in and out of bed) and she told me I ought to sue the hospital over what had happened.
Another week passed and I still hadn't heard from Gill. I called again, the receptionist said she would call me back, still nothing. Another week later I called again but told the receptionist a different name this time. Immediately I got to speak to Gill. When she realized it was me she told me she couldn't help. I asked why, and why she hadn't gotten back to me, but she just said because she didn't have time for my case. My husband took the phone to speak to her and I could hear her through the speaker phone. He told her he didn't appreciate her wasting our time and that she should have gotten back to us when she had said she would. She told him that she wasn't dealing with our case and that if I continued to fight my case I would be DEPORTED back to my home country, then she hung up.
I started receiving hospital bills every week, and after a month I had a debt collector contacting me. I told him everything that had happened and he decided to help. He said he could figure out a deal for one of my bills (the $650) so in the end I paid $150. He helped me draft a letter to submit to his company so that no one else in the company would contact me to try and get more money. In the letter it explained that I had paid $150 for one of my bills after he got the billing department to agree with it (the hospital billing department was also on my side over all of this, although there wasn't much they could do) and that in the meantime I was contacting the DSHS about what had happened.
I wrote to the DSHS. It was a four page long summary of everything that had happened. They wrote back and said they couldn't do anything about it and that nothing about the hospital telling me I couldn't seek treatment elsewhere was illegal. Also it wasn't illegal for Gill to threaten me with deportation for disputing my bills. I stopped receiving bills after this though, and called the billing department who said they couldn't find my bills either. I don't know if the bills were just cancelled or if they will eventually show up on my credit when I apply for a credit card or something.
I just want to know what a lawyer might make of this. I don't want to sue (it was two years ago now) or seek any legal aid, I just want to know if I was in the wrong here and whether medical bills can ever just disappear/if a hospital might just write them off if the DSHS starts investigating over them or if they will eventually resurface? Thanks.
