appendicitis
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? OHIO
when my wife (then my girlfriend) was an 18 year old student in 1998 she had her appendix removed at a big hospital in town. She had no health insurance and did not pay the $10000 bill. This $10,000 represents a non negotiated health bill. Of course we all know any health insurance company would have negotiated it down to as low as maybe $4000-6000. Nonetheless, she did not have the money and the bill went unpaid for the past 8-9 years. We married 3 years ago and have a 2 year old daughter.
Last week we received a solicitation mail from a local defense attorney specifying that my wife would soon be sued by the hospital for the full amount and maybe more (interest, court fees, etc) and that we should hire him to defend us. We have yet to receive the court papers/summons, but I researched the Municipal court records website and sure enough there is an "open" case on the website which shows my wife as the defendent and the hospital as the plaintiff. The plaintiff's attorney info is also on the website (name, address, phone #, etc).
Here are my questions:
1. Should I contact the plaintiff's attorney and negotiate a deal or should I hire an attorney to do this? I would rather not pay an attorney a lot of money but would rather have the money go towards paying the bill. From a purely financial standpoint, what is the best move for me?
2. Although we plan to pay the bill, what can the courts do to obtain the hospital's money? For example, can they take our tax return money, even though at the time of the hospitalization I was not married to my wife? I make 75-80% of the income in the household if that means anything???
3. I want to resolve this as cheap and painless as possible. Thanks in advaance for all your help.
when my wife (then my girlfriend) was an 18 year old student in 1998 she had her appendix removed at a big hospital in town. She had no health insurance and did not pay the $10000 bill. This $10,000 represents a non negotiated health bill. Of course we all know any health insurance company would have negotiated it down to as low as maybe $4000-6000. Nonetheless, she did not have the money and the bill went unpaid for the past 8-9 years. We married 3 years ago and have a 2 year old daughter.
Last week we received a solicitation mail from a local defense attorney specifying that my wife would soon be sued by the hospital for the full amount and maybe more (interest, court fees, etc) and that we should hire him to defend us. We have yet to receive the court papers/summons, but I researched the Municipal court records website and sure enough there is an "open" case on the website which shows my wife as the defendent and the hospital as the plaintiff. The plaintiff's attorney info is also on the website (name, address, phone #, etc).
Here are my questions:
1. Should I contact the plaintiff's attorney and negotiate a deal or should I hire an attorney to do this? I would rather not pay an attorney a lot of money but would rather have the money go towards paying the bill. From a purely financial standpoint, what is the best move for me?
2. Although we plan to pay the bill, what can the courts do to obtain the hospital's money? For example, can they take our tax return money, even though at the time of the hospitalization I was not married to my wife? I make 75-80% of the income in the household if that means anything???
3. I want to resolve this as cheap and painless as possible. Thanks in advaance for all your help.