Results: Who Should Pay?
Published on 11/19/2016
QUESTIONS
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Comments
1.
1.
My two-year-old niece has been in the hospital since Monday night. My sister originally took her in due to a very high fever and trouble breathing. While running tests on her during the early hours of Tuesday morning, the original hospital determined she was severely anemic and in need of a blood transfusion, so they rushed via ambulance to the children's hospital downtown. Once there, they re-tested her blood and, while her hemoglobin WAS low, it was not as low as the original hospital said. No transfusion was needed. Due to their error, do you think the original hospital should pay the ambulance bill? Yes
56%
903 votes
No
16%
248 votes
Undecided
28%
448 votes
2.
2.
Once settled at the children's hospital, they began to do more blood work to determine what exactly was wrong with my niece. My sister was told that the child had bacteria in her bloodstream, a very rare type of bacteria. They put her on IV antibiotics immediately, and my sister was told that they could not leave the hospital until it was 48 hours with bacteria free blood. By early yesterday, my niece was off the oxygen and her fever had gone down. Today she is finally eating and drinking on her own. However, subsequent blood tests have revealed no bacteria in the blood. None what so ever. Now the hospital is saying they think the original sample was contaminated, as it was a very rare strain of bacteria and none of the other blood tests show it. They are going to take one more test tomorrow am. But given that it seems likely there was never any bacteria in the blood, do you think the child's extended stay (due to having to be 48 hours bacteria free) should be covered by the hospital? Yes
47%
755 votes
No
17%
278 votes
Undecided
35%
566 votes
3.
3.
If you were in my sister's shoes, would you contest some of these charges, or just be glad that your child is healthy again and start paying off the bills when they come? I'd contest some of the charges, due to errors on the part of the hospital(s).
51%
811 votes
I'd just be so happy she was okay, I'd let it go and start paying the bills.
16%
259 votes
I'm not sure.
33%
529 votes
4.
4.
Have you ever had a hospital give you treatments based on an error they made during testing/diagnostics? Yes
17%
268 votes
No
83%
1331 votes
5.
5.
If so, did you contest the charges for these treatments? Yes
9%
138 votes
No
13%
204 votes
Not Applicable
79%
1257 votes
6.
6.
If so, did you contest the charges for these treatments? Yes
9%
138 votes
No
12%
189 votes
Not Applicable
80%
1272 votes
7.
7.
When it comes to hospital errors, which concerns you more - safety issues or unnecessary charges? Safety issues
39%
624 votes
Unnecessary charges
5%
78 votes
Both are equally concerning
45%
712 votes
Neither are concerning
12%
185 votes
8.
8.
Overall, how strongly do you trust hospitals? Completely
4%
59 votes
Mostly
32%
517 votes
Somewhat
33%
530 votes
A tiny bit
10%
164 votes
Not at all
8%
134 votes
n/a
12%
195 votes
COMMENTS