Interesting timing. This one surfaced in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. According to the article,
It doesn’t say which hospital. The article goes on to say that her tab collection was started at a video store where she works, so there are probably hundreds of people out there who now believe this tale.
I know that sometimes you need to believe something that’s too good to be true, but a reality check is always in order. A call to the hospital’s billing department would have cleared a few things up. As Phil Saoud points out, it is a darned good hoax.
Snopes discusses this at some length here. It goes into all the ramifications, including the McDonald’s angle (apparently, Reynolds Aluminum recycling centers are now accepting the tabs, and donating the proceeds directly to the National Kidney foundation).
Never attribute to malice anything that can be attributed to stupidity.
– Unknown