My mother was at my grandmother’s house, on her way out she tripped on the porch and broke her arm…it had just finished raining so the porch was wet. At the hospital they asked my mother if she wanted to sue my grandmother. Could she REALLY have filed this lawsuit and won? I would find it ridiculous if people were expected to somehow keep their porch dry during the rain…
I’m all for lawsuits for injury compensation when it is a result of someones neglect or stupidity…but are they serious?
Oh, yeah.
Your grandmother should report this to her home insurance company and have them pick up the hospital tab.
If there’s a buck to be made, there’s a lawsuit for it.
If people really get compensation for that…good riddance. My aunt contracted HIV via blood transfusion last year and for some reason she is having a hell of a time getting anything out of the hospital…apparently lawyers are trying their best. I believe this kind of lethal mistake on behalf of the hospital should be a sure and quick thing for lots and lots of money…clumsily falling on someone else’s porch on the other hand…
Your mom could get a sleazy lawyer (note: not all lawyers are sleazy) and sue granny for “pain and suffering”.
Geez that is horrible, I didn’t realize those kinds of things still happened.
they’re not supposed to happen anymore, but apparently this hospital has a horrible record with things like that. They hadn’t identified the disease before it was spread to my uncle and now they are filing seperate suits…niether seem to be going anywhere.
Sorry to hear that man, nobody could ever see that coming. 
It happens, ThatGuy. When I was injured at my parents’ cabin, my insurance company wanted me to sue for medical bills. I kept saying it was entirely my fault (Note to others: Do not attempt to get into a rocking boat holding a child), but they wanted someone to pay the bills.
Wow, really? I’m surprised I haven’t heard anything on the national news about this; I thought HIV-infected blood hadn’t been given to anyone since the mid-nineties. If I were you, I’d call up the media and tell them about this hospital. They deserve to be shut down if they’re doing something so negligent.
To the OP: If your grandmother were to call her insurance company, her rates will go up. If the rate increase is larger than the hospital bill, calling them probably isn’t a good idea. And yes, your mother could sue for falling.
I admit I don’t know how suing someone really works and whether insurance or the person themself has to pay but either way, it seems vindictive and petty when the injury wasn’t through malice or negligence. Why should she sue?
Who in the hospital asked you such a question?
The idea is to have their homeowners insurance pay for your medical bills rather than your medical insurance company having to pay.
I don’t get it. It wouldn’t be the hospitals fault would it? It would be the fault of the institution that supplied the hospital’s blood bank. Right? Here in Oklahoma we have the Oklahoma Blood Institute, American Red Cross… Hospital blood banks get their already tested blood from blood institutions. Or am I missing something?
Hospitals are probably more heavily insured than the Red Cross. Some folks are more interested in money than ethics.
The medical insurance will only have to pay the agreed upon reduced rate. Homeowners insurance will pay the full inflated rate. The hospital makes more money and someone in emergency admissions gets a little bonus in the paycheck. A friend works in ER admissions and she loves folks that pay in cash or use other types of insurance such as homeowners and auto insurance. She’s using her bonus’s to pay for Christmas this year.
It’s a fairly standard question, as are the letters that later come from the insurance company asking for details about the incident so that they know whether they should fork over the dough, or if they should pursue payment through someone else.
I fell into my bathtub once (long, embarassing story) and ended up with a fat lip and four stitches on my finger. The hospital asked me if the injuries had been inflicted by anyone else. I said that they hadn’t, of course. A month or so later, I got a letter from the ins. co. asking for more information, and the first question was: “Was this injury the result of the actions or inactions of another party?”
A few years ago, my car was struck by a hit-and-run driver. As a result, not only was my car totaled, but I had some minor aches and pains (mild whiplash). Apparently, Pennsylvania has a law which states something along the lines that the other person’s vehicle coverage (his) must cover injuries to the other party (me). The other driver later called the police and 'fessed up, however, he didn’t have any insurance (which is one of the reasons why he fled the scene). I had health insurance, with a $10 office visit copay, and a $10 script copay, but I had to argue with my doctor’s office AND the pharmacy when I went to my doctor as a result of the accident. They refused to believe that the other party wasn’t carrying vehicle insurance, and that in order for them to be paid, I had to use my health insurance.
Eventually, I was able to see the doctor, and simply paid the $10 copay (and likewise for the pharmacy), but it was almost as big a hassle seeing the doctor and getting my prescription afterwards as it was dealing with the accident itself.
I also had tons of attorney’s call me (from information taken from the police report), wanting to know if I was thinking about suing. That pissed me off more than the accident as well.
And, no, I didn’t sue. Everything worked out in the end–without an attorney.
When I was in one car accident in which I got a concussion, the hospital took my car insurance information for payer of the hospital bills, and then let my insurance company fight it out with the other driver.
This was also in Pennsylvania. My insurance company was very nice about things and thoughtfully informed the other driver’s company that the accident had happened. Seems he hadn’t quite bothered to tell them or never got a chance in the week following the accident. His company was less than thrilled with him.
Can I open up a huge can of worms?
Disclaimer up front: My prejudices here reflect ONLY how I view the risk factors.
Scenario 1 : Aunt receives infected blood transfusion in a hospital that the media hasn’t picked up on. She transmits disease to uncle.
Scenario 2 : Your uncle is on the “down low”, received the disease through a common form of transmission, and transferred it to your aunt through another common form of transmission.
It’s just that that two events that happened in Scenario 1 for your aunt and uncle to get the disease are, respectively, very unlikely, and quite unlikely (yes, I said that female-male transmission through hetero-sexual sex is “quite unlikely”. Great Debate it somewhere else, or check cecil’s archives.)
And, in scenario 2, well maybe not so much.
It probably does still happen, it’s just usually rare. I know that some emergency cases require crash donors whose blood hasn’t been checked for hepatitis; presumably, the occasional HIV+ donor will slip through as well.