While unemployed the summer of I was injured when I was hit in the ankle with a line drive of a softball. For several weeks, I did nothing about the pain, however, it would not subside. Knowing I had no insurance, I visited the ER thinking I had heard somewhere that this is the place to go when hurt without insurance as they are required to help without charge for those without means to pay. Afterall, this is one reason I had heard is the cause of such high hospital rates to those with insurance.
Once I entered the ER at Spring Hill Regional, I inquired about this policy as I wanted to make sure prior to being looked at or having a bunch of unnecessary tests done. I inquired several times of several staff members and each time was instructed "not to worry about it." I took this to mean I was correct and would not be billed as I had no money and, although, in my thirties was having to live in my parents home following a divorce and the subsequent layoff that had me in the ER without insurance.
Here's where it gets interesting. The "doctor" declared the injury to be a sprained ankle and gave me a wrap for it. I accepted this diagnosis, but, even after several more weeks, the pain did not subside.in the meantime, I had gotten a job at a local elementary school. As I got to know the nurse, I showed her the spot on my ankle that had by now turned purple and grown in size equal to a tangerine. She almost immediately indicated that it appeared as though I had an infection. She instructed me buy some irrigation water at a drug store, pour some on a gauze pad, and place it over the area for several hours or overnight each day for the next few days to draw out the infection.
I went home that day and did as she instructed. Sure enough, within a couple days a massive amount of puss began to seep out of the wound. After mopping it up and squeezing out as much as possible, I was left with a deep creavice about a dime in diameter and equally as deep. I used neosporan and creams for burns to help heal the area, but am left with a huge purple circle on my ankle that forever seems dry and flaky.
About this same time, I began to receive in the mail bills from the hospital and staff that had examined me. The totals for about 20 minutes of time came to something close to $2000! I was pissed! It was clear now that the staff had all conspired to lie about my being billed for services. I was even more pissed because the diagnosis wasn't even correct! Near as I could figure, I had a broken blood vessel or something that caused the ankle to become infected. Once I did as the school nurse instructed, all the pain subsided.
I called and wrote the hospital of my concerns and the fact that I inquired several times as to at least an approximation of what the bill may be and each time was told not to worry about it. This indicated that there would be no charge since I had no means to pay. The hospital did not want to hear that.instead of working with me and either living up to their implication of no charge or offering me the opportunity to pay some lesser amount, they almost immediately sent the bills to collections and eventually to the credit bureaus.
Since then, I tried to reconcile on a couple of occassions when I needed surgery for other ailments, but was met with the same refusal to accept anything less than the full amount!
What a Rip-Off. I wish I had known about this site back then. You guys should run advertisements so more people know about you! So more businesses know about you, too! Maybe then they would start to put customer service ahead of investor service as it used to be.
If you live in the Spring Hill, FL area, choose HCA Oak Hill Hospital instead of Spring Hill Regional.in fact, choose HCA Oak Hill Hospital over Brooksville Regional, as well, since they are owned by the same greedy company that owns Spring Hill Regional.
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