Personal Injury Law

Hospitals Suing Patients

The Baltimore Sun had an article on Sunday about the unfairness of the nature and the speed of lawsuits hospitals are filing against patients for unpaid hospital bills. The numbers are staggering: Maryland hospitals have filed 132,000 lawsuits in the past five years for unpaid bills, a third of which have been filed in Baltimore City District Court.

We have had personal injury and even medical malpractice clients sued by Maryland hospitals, often over incredibly small bills, even after the client has signed an assignment of funds to be paid out of their settlement. The collection lawyers hired by the hospitals are often running collection mills so getting a person on the phone typically takes an Act of Congress if you want to talk about a case.

I don?t know what the answer is. The hospital is entitled to be paid. But so many decent people are getting pounded, often at a time in their lives when they most need a break.

Full post as published by Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog on December 22, 2008 (boomark / email).