Need advice on settlement

First of all, why do you believe you shouldn't have to pay it?

Back when this took place I went to the ER and afte being there a few hours with a kidney stone I was being discharged and the doc said I should have surgery as an outpatient to take care of the stone. I told him I didn't have insurance if there was a pill. He left and came back with the social worker who said if they were to admit me as an emergency (which I wasn't because I was being discharged ) and stay over night (1 day )then emergency Medicaid would cover the costs. They garantee me this was covered. So after my mother and father also spoke with them we agreed. The next day I was supposed to have the surgery and 20 min before the time it was supposed to start I was told it was being postponed due to a scheduling conflict so now I had to stay in the hospital a. Second night ( $4500 per night ).
2 years layer in 2008 I receive a collection notice. I explained the situation to them and was told it would be looked into. I never heard back . 2 years later in 2010 I received another and went through the whole thing again and went to the hospital and was told it would be looking into. Turns out medicaid did not cover the cost and now since aug 2011 I have been going back and fourth to court over this. I feel I was misled by the social worker/doctor . Also if the scheduling conflict didn't happen I $4500 wouldn't be on the bill.

The bill is 4500x 2 per night = 9000,850 ER fee and the rest is the surgery total $11775


I sent both message from my iPhone with a brown screen so sorry if there are grammatical errors. I had to type it fast because I am about to go into the subway

Do you have anything in writing that was given to you stating the charges would be covered? Did the social worker get a preauthorization?

I used to work in hospital administration... have you tried to call the hospital to find out the name of the social worker/doctor? If you can get the hospital on your side you'd be in good shape.

I dont have anything in writing other that medicaid was applied for. As for the hospital being on my side well they are the once suing me.

i was being discharged and then after i spoke with the Doc about not having insurance for the out patient surgery is when he brought the social worker from the hospital to me and then they told me my mother my father and fiance that they guaranteed it would be covered and even assured me the next day when the paper work was done. for this past year the hospital and medicaid said i never applied for medicaid at the hospital but in july the lawyer for the hopital found the paper work that state the application was denied because at the time i made too much (34k) family of 2.

The other mods know a lot more about the process of you fighting this in court so I will reserve that to them, but if I were you and I were standing to lose 4500+ dollars over something that I should not be paying, I'd be walking into that hospital going straight into the social worker's office to get her to do something... like I said before I worked for a cc company I did hospital administration... the hospital doesn't know what was told to you. you are being sued by some attorney, not the doctors at the hospital. I highly highly suggest you find that social worker and ask him/her to pull some strings. I've dealt with similar situations to yours and seen them resolved.

This sounds like something for skydvr or goldenbast.

I was told by the lawyer for the hospital to prove that I applied for Medicaid at the time so I went to the hospital 3 times and was told I never applied. I called Medicaid and was told I never applied. But in July on our last meeting I told the judges assistant who is taking care of this because the judges are backed up and the lawyer for the hospital had the paper work that proved I did apply in the hospital at the time but that it was denied. My next conference appointment is set for tomorrow the 27 at 1030 am. At that time I'm going to plead my case for the 10th time and see what they say. I feel like I was misled but the lawyer has a bill . A piece of paper that states I was there and I owe this amount of money which I never denied not having the services done just that I was led to believe I wouldn't have to pay for them. The lawyer said in July he didn't want to have to to all this but it's his clients call. He said if the judgement is filed then they can garnish me up to $300 of of my current paycheck per week and charge me interest for 6 years .

Like I said the best advise I can give you at this point is to try to track down that social worker. I have referred this post to golden and skydiver who are experts on the legal process. But for now try to get a hold of that social worker.

Hiya,

OK, I agree with waffles, in that you need to be going after the info you need. You cannot rely upon the plaintiff's attorney to provide your evidence for you--they are educated in how to best represent their client's interests and not yours.

If you go into that hospital right now, pushing for information, your name will most likely draw a bunch of red flags because the hospital is the one suing you. You may consider speaking with the social worker at a different hospital, and ask them to give you the basic rundown of how the emergency medicare process is supposed to work. You need to gather as much info as you can, even at this late stage in the game. I would still try to get the info from the hospital that is suing you, but I would also look in other directions as mentioned in case they are not willing to provide you with anything.

At the end of the day, you did receive treatment. This does place you on the hook without some extenuating circumstance. Even if you can show that you applied for the emergency medicare, if that application was denied then you are still legally liable for the bill. It is best for you to try to gather this info today--do not wait to see what the court or the plaintiff's attorney say tomorrow because then they will know they have you over a barrel so to speak, and may be less willing to settle.

Also, be sure to educate yourself on your state's wage garnishing laws. Do not let an attorney intimidate you about what they will take--they might not even be telling you something that is legally possible. Knowledge is your best friend right now--gather as much as you can. At the end of the day, if you have the means to offer a settlement, that might end up being your best bet, but like I said, before you do that, cover all your bases. If you can find something about the process that the plaintiff has not told the truth about, it could change this whole situation.

Also, please clarify this statement that you made:

Quote:

This is pure bureaucratic BS at it's best. This is a very slippery slope. Have you been able to talk to the social worker again? The DR. who brought you the social worker? The bottom line is that the HOSPITAL kept you there longer through the scheduling issue..you need to subpoena ALL your records so you can find this scheduling snafu and use it as evidence. You need to get testimony from the Dr and the social worker, they would be forced to perjure themselves or admit to everything and somewhere in those files it should all be in black and white. Also get testimony from the family members who also spoke to the social worker.

Honestly you should get a lawyer, they would be better equipped to advise you as this is a sticky situation and who knows, it sounds hokey enough that perhaps you can countersue for malpractice or something...I don't know about that, but a lawyer would.

I just left court and the clerk said there's no record of the meetings other and a 2 sentence note on the file folder . They don't do recordings or have note taking due to how backed up the system is. I met with the laywer for the client( a different lawyer) she asked the client to settle at 4k and they won't settle for less than $8200. I don't know what proof I can get because I've been to the hospital multiple times and they said they don't have a record of me applied and neither does Medicaid but the lawyer in July did. They set me for a trial for. Oct 25th. I was told by the clerk to get any proof I can. All I can bring is my mother who was there at the time but its just her word. Now I don't know what to do

Did you ever try to find the social worker?

Wow...they didn't record the meetings? I thought all courts recorded all meetings...depositions right? Hmm. You need to get your records from the hospital...THEY say one thing, but perhaps your records will say another. You need to get a hold of the original doctor and the social worker, that is paramount and should be your first priority right along with getting a copy of your medical records...also contact medicaid, if the hospital 'accidently' misplaced the application, they did not.

Yes we cannot stress that enough you need to find this social worker