SARS and the US medical (and legal) system

Factual Questions
1

As I understand, in the US you have to pay yourself for all your medical bills; so what would happen if you get a highly transmitable virus, says SARS, and don’t have any money to get put under observation at the local hospital, will the government pay for it?
Also, what if another patient gets infected because of me; who will pay for his medical bill?

And finaly, knowing that in the US there is a lot civil lawsuits; say I have SARS and without knowing it, infect other people that subsequently become very ill and/or die. Would I be sued for millions of dollars?

And what if I know I’m ill and infect other people; (I’d certainly go to jail), but would I be sued by other infected people; and what if I don’t have any money to pay them, and they need to pay for medical bills (because of me) what would happen?

2

In New York, at least according to Law and Order, if you are HIV positive and have unprotected sex with someone who doesn’t know they are at risk it’s a chargable offense. I’ve never heard of any responsability for infecting folks with other stuff. I’d think that someone knowing that they are sick with something serious would be expected to take reasonable precautions.

I’m guessing here too, but if “they” say you need to be under observation and you have no money, it’s on their dime.

3

The OP’s understanding of the US is overly simplistic. Government programs do exist to provide medical care to the indigent, but they are very bare bones, at the best.

As for lawsuits, anyone in the USA who tried to sue under the condition of being infected by a carrier unaware of infectious status would be thrown out of the court. Again, the OP’s (gross and horrible mis)understanding of the US is simplistic.

Finally, in the case of intentional infection, that would fall under assault and possibly terrorism charges these days.

4

Dogface: Of course my understanding of the US is overly simplistic; that’s why I ask, so I can learn.

I never lived anywhere where I actually had to pay for the doctor; the closest thing to that is the dentist, but you rarely go for an emergency to the dentist, and if you don’t have the cash and don’t go, you might lose a tooth, so there’s no drama, that won’t kill anyone…

My understanding on the US health system is that it works somewhat like the dentist, either you enter the hospital with a medical cover card, a credit card…or you just stay at home: I also know that the government pays for the really poor but that there is a class of people that are too ‘rich’ to be covered by the state and too poor to afford it privatly; so they are basically screwed… (and of course, some other that just don’t bother buying even if they have the cash)

Now, I have absolutely no idea of the costs (if its hundreds, or even thousands of dollars) but I would imagine that closing a whole portion of hospital for you wouldn’t be all that cheap, someone would have to pay for this… so my question is WHO? if you’re not insured, who pays? I would assume they can’t kick you out because you’d be a danger to others, so what happens?

My second question goes like this: say I’m at the hospital for a broken finger and it costs me $50 (or other random small amount) to have it checked; and then I get SARS from another patient within the hospital, and the hospital asks me for $5,000 to cover the cost of keeping me there: now, either I have the money or not is irrelevent because; but in my opinion three persons could be responsible for the costs:

  1. The other infected SARS guy because he infected me through his maybe negligent behaviour
    2.The hospital, because it didn’t not contain the infected person properly
  2. Myself, because when I go to the hospital, I know there are lots of viruses and whatnot floating around and that I might catch one.

So, what happens now, who pays? Since you seem to know how it works, would you please care to enlighten me?

(as for the lawsuit thing, I’m pretty happy with the awnser…it makes a lot of sense now that I think about it!)

5

of course by “medical cover card” I mean some kind of insurance policy (private or public)

6

If you show up at the emergency room or call 911 you will receive emergency care irregardless of your ability to pay. In addition hospital ERs and ambulance services are not allowed to delay patient care in order to determine a patients ability to pay. This will all apply if you have SARS. Also, most hospitals (that I’m familiar with, anyway) have negative pressure rooms, so it would be unnecessary to close down part of the hospital to quarantine a SARS patient.

St. Urho
EMT-B