Some Patients Complain That Parkland Is Filing Exorbitant Hospital Liens For Medical Bills

Categories: Healthcare

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A little-known perk of being a Texas hospital is that if a broke accident victim visits you for emergency treatment, you get to lay claim to any money the victim wins through the courts later. It's officially called a "hospital lien," legal through a state statute that's been on the books since the 1930s. The point is to give hospitals first dibs on the money their patients get from personal injury lawsuits. If a person whose life you saved for free just got a fat settlement check, shouldn't that check go straight to you?

But since October of last year, five people have filed suits against Parkland Hospital in Dallas County, accusing it of abusing its lien privilege.

All of five of the patients are car crash victims, and all but one say in their suits that they were uninsured when they went to Parkland for medical treatment. The complaints make the same argument that Parkland is overcharging its patients when there's a lien involved, asking for money that exceeds "a reasonable and regular rate," as a woman named Elise Stamey says in a suit she filed last December.

Stamey received emergency treatment at Parkland after a car crash two years ago and had won a $50,000 judgment from one of the people who caused the crash. In its lien, Parkland demanded $22,000 of that. After Stamey sued, Parkland lowered the lien to $13,000 on the condition she drop the suit, a settlement agreement shows.

In another suit filed in October of last year, a woman named Krisana Jones said she actually had health insurance that had covered her emergency treatment at Parkland. Yet Parkland filed a lien afterward for her settlement money anyway. "Parkland's hospital lien inappropriately represents charges related to services for which Parkland has accepted insurance benefits," her suit says. In March, Jones also agreed to drop the suit after coming to a settlement with Parkland, the court records show.

See also: Surprise Bills from Texas Emergency Rooms Enough to Give Even the Insured a Heart Attack

Parkland is far from the first or only only hospital in Texas accused of abusing this special lien privilege. In 2011 the Austin-American Statesman reported on a woman who received a lien for $31,115 from the University Medical Center Brackenridge. Personal injury attorneys, who don't like how liens can cut into their paychecks, complained to the paper at the time that hospitals often make medical bills fatter than they normally are if there's a lien involved.

Between liens, surprise bills from out-of-network physicians and absurd medical bills coming from hospitals across America, it might be wise to consider refusing that ambulance ride and buying some really good duct tape.

Send your story tips to the author, Amy Silverstein.

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11 comments
emerylewis
emerylewis

It's sad to know that these such things happen when all you want is to get well in your stay in the hospital. Truth is, you may get physically well, but going through all these trouble is just as if you have been into a car crash. I like the idea how http://bit.ly/1FUPrDj has explained on what you would do next when you're trapped in this case and even from the day you have met the accident. 

roo_ster
roo_ster

As someone who pays taxes that support Parkland, I am 100% in favor of PL collecting.

ScottsMerkin
ScottsMerkin topcommenter

PI lawsuits usually go like this, settle with no trial it'll be 33.3% to your lawyer, 33.3% to insurance and you get whats left.  and if you go to trial it 40% to the lawyer.  Honestly, unless you have a complicated case, you dont need a lawyer, you can settle it on your own, and keep way more of whats your money anyhow.

L8nitedave
L8nitedave

What kind of PI suit sues for damages without including medical?

sbristow15
sbristow15

A good point to make is that the most likely party to be sued for a patient's injuries at Parkland is the hospital itself for medical malpractice or patient billing fraud. If so, does Parkland place a lien to get its cut for damages won against itself?


There's so many underhanded things going on at the county's only safety-net hospital (e.g., two settlements with the U.S. Dept. of Justice for Medicare fraud, a five year Corporate Integrity Agreement with the the HHS OIG for fraudulent billings to the government programs, numerous patient safety violations with governmental regulatory agencies, etc.) that this seems like just the tip of the iceberg.


Parkland is still just a mess.

ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul
ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul topcommenter

Hospital bills are basically a real life version of Let's Make a Deal, including spin the wheel for the anesthesiologist bill,  what's behind the door #1, #2 or #3 for the room charge, pick a number of the out of provider network physician who coincidentally doesn't belong to any network and finally, will you take the bill or take what's in the box?


I still remember the ER bill that I got for ~$1,800 but the hospital was very satisfied with the ~$650 that they received from my health care plan.

holmantx
holmantx topcommenter

So if Parkland sues its ER doctors and nurses to avoid heavy HHS fines for Patient Dumping, does the dumped patient get his/her cut?

You have to think about it.

there's a moral hazard in there somewhere fer sure.

sbristow15
sbristow15

@L8nitedave That would include loss of wages, loss of function, emotional distress, coverage for future medical expenses and complications, etc.


The point is that many of these victims are being overcharged in liens for acute medical expenses when Parkland is supposedly already covering their medical expenses as uninsured or indigent patients under the county's rules that are covered by property taxes when they are residents of the county.


If Parkland wants to private hospital and ask for full liens on medical expenses from the uninsured and indigent, then they shouldn't ask for county hospital district taxes when they say these people are covered.

Amy S
Amy S

@sbristow15 @L8nitedave "Parkland is supposedly already covering their medical expenses as uninsured or indigent patients under the county's rules that are covered by property taxes when they are residents of the county." 


Parkland is not covering their medical expenses. The taxpayers are. And part of Parkland's due diligence for handling our monies is to make sure that when people CAN pay for their medical expenses, they DO pay. I'm sorry if that takes away from pain and suffering settlements, but it is not any different than what a for-profit hospital does. 


And I agree. What lawyer doesn't include medical bills in the transaction? One that wants to make a quick and easy settlement, it would seem.

sbristow15
sbristow15

@Amy S @sbristow15 @L8nitedave The chief question here is: Is Parkland soaking its patients for exorbitant liens on personal injury lawsuit?


Sorry, but indigent and uninsured patients eligible are taxpayers, so they should be covered for medical expenses. After all, they are taxpayers too who pay into Parkland's coverage. 


It seems Parkland is getting very greedy by padding their bills to get more than their share.


Does Parkland have a history of overfilling patients when they shouldn't? They most certainly do.

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