1434: Fix It!

[Blitzgal]

So, I haven't seen Toddler and Tiaras, however when this 10 year old girl is the new hot face in the modeling world (she's already been in Vogue magazine and walked the runway for a Gautier show), it should help explain why these mothers think their daughters will someday be their meal tickets.

Hard Candy - Thylane Loubry Blondeau, pretty little model

[DWarrior]

Except I thought malpractice settlements were in the double-digit million ranges. Also, is it the estate that sues for malpractice, or the spouse/parents? I guess the bill tactic would only work if it's the estate that sued.

[Medium Brumski]

Originally Posted by Blitzgal

Everyone has an "estate." It's just the legal term for your assets. She's dead, so they can't sue her. They have to sue her estate. I see that her mother was also removed as her guardian by court order, however that doesn't always mean that the mother was a terrible person. She was an agitator and making claims that they were mistreating her daughter, so they were probably already irritated by her on that front. I agree with Keith; they billed her this outrageous fee to scare the pants off her so she doesn't sue for malpractice.

I just figured that it would only work as a scare tactic if they were suing the mom. Go ahead and sue the daughters estate, she been in the hospital for 5 years (and I think they said she was 29 when she died), a regular person in that situation wouldn't have many assets left. Suing the daughter's estate for medical costs shouldn't have any bearing on whether the daughter's surviving family can sue for malpractice, right?

[Blitzgal]

Oh yeah, she probably has nothing in her estate. Maybe a life insurance policy, however she probably had a hard time getting one due to her illness. It doesn't stop her mother from trying to sue them but it definitely would intimidate your average person knowing that the other side is willing to fight tooth and nail. Their pockets are much deeper than hers are so they can drag it out forever.

[lews_therin]

Regardless whether the 9$ mill was justified, or the doctors done all that they could for the lady, to absolve her of payment for services rendered would set a horrible precedent. Anyone with a terminal illness or knew they were going to die would check in until they did so. I'm not saying the hospital was right, but her estate should at least fight it. Perhaps in the future someone will invent payment plans.

[Blitzgal]

Even if the hospital were to win the lawsuit that does not mean they will get any money from these people. People win lawsuits all the time and never collect any money. Can't get blood from a stone.

[lews_therin]

That's true enough, but at the same time, who puts someone in the hospital for 5 years without realizing that that is going to cost a Shit-ton of money if not 9$ million? If the girl died from the disorder is sort of makes me think it's the family keeping her there. I wouldn't be surprised to find out the family is loaded.

[WittyReference]

Originally Posted by mcbane89

The part where he said doctors were assholes, and $9million dollars is fucking ridiculous and the hospital knows it. That part. The post you cite were my reasons I agree with Keith beyond just looking at the ridiculous headline, and never once did I say "well, Keith clearly said this on the show". No. I just went a little deeper in response to Hitler (something i never thought I'd say) who had the idea that the hospital actually accrued these charges, and if they didn't get this money a precedent would be started that would take us down a slippery slope of health care until only Jews could afford it (he said that right? Well, he had to at some point. I mean it is Hitler).

I'm guessing your real issue is that "Keith yelled at someone who didn't agree with him". Well, I can't speak for Keith and won't try, but it seemed Hitler was trying to poke the bear a little and... well, he got the bears attention. And I wouldn't call it "not agreeing" but trying to be contrary, as Keith hadn't said at that point doctors shouldn't get paid, he simply marveled at the balls they had to charge these bills, ignore patients, and generally act like assholes.

To sum up, I agree with Keith that $9million is fucking ridiculous, and apparently you agree with fucking Hitler that $9million hospital bills and mass genocide are ok. I'm cool with my side of argument.

oh lolz, your whole response was funny. I just genuinely thought I'd missed something. Made me wonder if I'd zoned out for a few minutes when I was listening.

If you should get your money back when doctors don't fix you, can you get your money back when a comedian doesn't make you laugh?

[DWarrior]

So today I woke up to a nice "fuck you" from my bank. I accidentally went over my account by $10 and got charged $210 in overdrafts.

Apparently charges can pend for a week, but the bank still deducts them from "available balance." That part is standard. So I had 6 charges pending for various amounts over the course of this week, all "approved and pending." Then since the net available balance was negative, they charged fees as they paid each one. I got NSFed for old charges because the new charges had funds "on hold" and NSFed for new charges because the previous NSFs drained the account.

Into the wild...

[labelmore]

I'm sorry if this has been brought up before, but I've been thinking a lot of Keith's problems vis a vis crappy doctors have to do with he doesn't have insurance. I'm not excusing the doctor's behavior, but I wonder if Keith would encounter such indifference if he had an insurance company behind him. People who are uninsured are often disregarded. See most emergency rooms. Of course, with health insurance, Keith would have a whole new topic to rant about...not undeserved, of course.