jeannabeena
New Member
I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this problem, but here goes nothing.
In December 2010 I drank too much at the company Christmas party. I was carpooling with my friends, one of whom was our designated driver. I got sick after leaving and blacked out, and for some reason the driver decided to call 911 and have an ambulance transport me to the hospital instead of driving himself (the hospital was less than 2 miles away). He told me he was calling, and although I don't remember it, I apparently told him not to call either my parents or the ambulance.
The next thing I remember was waking up in the ER at 5 am. The nurse refused to speak to me, and I had 14 missed calls from my parents on my cell phone wondering why I wasn't home yet. I wasn't allowed to leave until later that afternoon after they'd done a full EKG scan done by a private physician, drug screening, and what would later amount to $5700 worth of medical "necessities."
They have my "signature" on a paper that says I have the right to refuse care, but I was still blacked out at that time and according to my medical records, I was asleep 13 minutes later. My signature is barely legible whereas it's usually very neat, and I don't remember signing it--had I been in a right state of mind, I absolutely would have refused it. I wanted to be brought home by my friends and put to bed, but no one listened to me. My parents were never notified of my whereabouts, even though I have 3 ICE contacts in my cell phone. The doctors' notes indicate that my drinking was "non-dependent alcohol abuse," which indicates a slip-up and no instances of alcoholism. The notes also state that I was very drunk, but not dangerously so--had I not been treated, there would have been no impairment to my long-term health (the doctor's words, not mine).
My insurance won't cover anything because they consider it to be "substance or alcohol abuse," the coverage of which was dropped by my plan 6 months prior. I filed a grievance to have it considered an emergency trip and not substance abuse-related because I rarely drink and have never been brought to the hospital with alcohol in my system except for that one instance, but the grievance was denied by whichever customer service representative looked at it.
While I understand it was a serious and stupid lapse in judgment on my behalf for putting myself in that situation, I feel as though the hospital took advantage of the fact that I wasn't in a right state of mind to do a lot of unnecessary things. Is there anything I can do to help this? I know insurance and hospitals don't take personal character into account when billing patients, but I can honestly count on one hand the number of times I drink in a year. It was incredibly out of character for me.
The hospital bill is $5700, the ambulance is $580, and the private physician visit for the EKG was $334. If anyone could give me some advice I would greatly appreciate it.
In December 2010 I drank too much at the company Christmas party. I was carpooling with my friends, one of whom was our designated driver. I got sick after leaving and blacked out, and for some reason the driver decided to call 911 and have an ambulance transport me to the hospital instead of driving himself (the hospital was less than 2 miles away). He told me he was calling, and although I don't remember it, I apparently told him not to call either my parents or the ambulance.
The next thing I remember was waking up in the ER at 5 am. The nurse refused to speak to me, and I had 14 missed calls from my parents on my cell phone wondering why I wasn't home yet. I wasn't allowed to leave until later that afternoon after they'd done a full EKG scan done by a private physician, drug screening, and what would later amount to $5700 worth of medical "necessities."
They have my "signature" on a paper that says I have the right to refuse care, but I was still blacked out at that time and according to my medical records, I was asleep 13 minutes later. My signature is barely legible whereas it's usually very neat, and I don't remember signing it--had I been in a right state of mind, I absolutely would have refused it. I wanted to be brought home by my friends and put to bed, but no one listened to me. My parents were never notified of my whereabouts, even though I have 3 ICE contacts in my cell phone. The doctors' notes indicate that my drinking was "non-dependent alcohol abuse," which indicates a slip-up and no instances of alcoholism. The notes also state that I was very drunk, but not dangerously so--had I not been treated, there would have been no impairment to my long-term health (the doctor's words, not mine).
My insurance won't cover anything because they consider it to be "substance or alcohol abuse," the coverage of which was dropped by my plan 6 months prior. I filed a grievance to have it considered an emergency trip and not substance abuse-related because I rarely drink and have never been brought to the hospital with alcohol in my system except for that one instance, but the grievance was denied by whichever customer service representative looked at it.
While I understand it was a serious and stupid lapse in judgment on my behalf for putting myself in that situation, I feel as though the hospital took advantage of the fact that I wasn't in a right state of mind to do a lot of unnecessary things. Is there anything I can do to help this? I know insurance and hospitals don't take personal character into account when billing patients, but I can honestly count on one hand the number of times I drink in a year. It was incredibly out of character for me.
The hospital bill is $5700, the ambulance is $580, and the private physician visit for the EKG was $334. If anyone could give me some advice I would greatly appreciate it.
