Legal Question in Consumer Law in Illinois

My 11 year old son recently fainted in school. The school called 911 before contacting me, and an ambulance was dispatched. By the time I reached the school, panic stricken, he was strapped in the ambulance being treated. I was not given a choice as to whether or not he should be transported to a hospital, only which hospital he would go to. Once in the ER, so many tests were ordered and performed that we are now faced with nearly $4,000.00 in medical bills (after insurance payments) and the results of every single test, including Chest X-ray, full blood screen, EKG and Head CT all came back negative. We don't really know why he fainted. We feel the hospital staff ordered these tests just to make some money. Do we have a legal defense against paying the exorbitant medical bills for tests that we feel were unnecessary?


Asked on 4/10/12, 2:58 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

And if anything drastic had happened had the school done nothing and/or if any of the tests had revealed a problem, would the money be an issue? A "simple" ER admission today with a CT scan plus EMT transportation can be $15,000.00-$20,000.00. The scan alone can be upwards of $10,000.00. You would need your insurance company as your ally, along with your own MD and potentially experts to testify that the tests were not medically necessary. You could ask the insurance company for a second opinion unless the reason for the "co-pay" is the kind of insurance arrangement you have. Depending on that it would probably be best to take all your information, bills, records, etc. to an attorney who can walk you through the possible scenarios.

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Answered on 4/11/12, 7:43 pm


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