Quote:
Originally Posted by Basalt Beach
Not everyone has the ability to negotiate or be an advocate up front.
A close friend was skiing, was hit by an out of control skier, cited by the ski patrol, however he received severe injuries and was knocked unconscious. He was taken to the hospital and remained in a coma for several days with brain swelling, procedures and surgeries. He had no family to make decisions for him and was hit with a bill for over $250K. He sued the out of control skier, who was a 20 something with no assets and no real job and won a judgement however has never collected. My friend was young, self employed and had no health insurance coverage. The hospital sued my friend and won a judgement against his wages to pay the bill.
Beyond that, as others have said, in an emergency, you are relying on professionals to make the best medical decision not a decision based on quotas and cost. When your loved one has a heart attack, a stroke, or collapse and is rushed to the hospital. Time is of the essence. I would seriously doubt if any of us collapsed and were having a heart attack or stroke or any other emergency where our life was in the balance we would be negotiating the cost as the doctors administered their treatment on us.
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Life is not without risk and your friend was willingly engaging in a risky activity .
The scenario that you just related is an outlier and an anomaly .
I have no doubt that most of us were 20 somethings that lacked assets at some point . Unless this incident was intentional , I see no reason to attack the other skier .
I am curious as to the nature of " out of control " . A beginner tends to be out of control . Need more info .
Oh yeah , I am personally very familiar with risky activities and what can happen . I road raced motorcycles for a number of years .
As far as your loved one/s are concerned , this is exactly when you should step up to help them because they cannot help themselves and they can have established a durable or medical power of attorney exactly for this purpose .