Woman billed $700 for waiting in emergency room for 7 hours and leaving without treatment

A woman suffering from a head injury was charged $700 for just waiting for treatment at a hospital in Georgia. She stated that she hadn't even got treatment at the hospital but had been charged for waiting for seven hours. Taylor Davis said she left the emergency room because no one had attended to her for seven hours but was still charged $700. Davis assumed there was a misunderstanding when she received the bill a few weeks later but the hospital confirmed that she was charged for waiting. "I sat there for seven hours. There's no way I should be sitting in an emergency room.. an emergency room for seven hours," Taylor Davis told WAGA. "I didn't get my vitals taken, nobody called my name. I wasn't seen at all."

Emory Healthcare told Davis that it was hospital protocol that you are charged even if you're not seen. Davis was told that just walking into the hospital meant being charged and in her case, $700. "When you type in your social, that's it," said Davis. "You're going to get charged regardless." She was informed by the hospital's representative that the charge was an "emergency room visit fee" or "facility fee," seen in some hospital bills to cover the facility's overhead. The American healthcare system is notorious for charging patients for random items including Davis' visit to the hospital. 

Burned by the steep bill for simply visiting the hospital, she is now reluctant to visit a hospital for any type of treatment and added that she would consider it only as a last resort. "Seeing that they're able to bill you for random things, it doesn't make me want to go," said Davis. "So that's not good." A spokesperson for Emory Healthcare said it "has been working with the individual to address this matter, and correct inaccuracies that may have been assessed or communicated," but didn't say if the charge had been waived. They only indicated that Davis had not conveyed steep charges satisfactorily. When asked about Davis' reluctance to visit the hospital, the spokesperson told Insider, "Anyone who needs emergent medical care should seek a health care provider as soon as possible." But, of course, they would be charged for it, irrespective of whether they are seen or not.

The growing healthcare costs have made it impossible for many Americans to seek treatment. It's not the first time Americans have avoided hospitals for the fear of being charged insane amounts. As we reported earlier, a 9-month pregnant woman walked to the hospital after their car broke down, for the fear of having to have to shell out $2,000 for an ambulance. The video was filmed by @kelskiller's partner and shows her walking in the dead of the night. Husband Andrew can be heard asking, “Babe what are we doing right now?” She responds, “Well, our car broke down half a mile from the hospital, so we’re walking because it costs $2000 to order an ambulance,” she replies, reported God.DailyDot. Thankfully, the couple made it to the hospital safe and she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. 

Even doctors have been exasperated at the broken system. Andrew Carroll, the Board Director of the American Academy of Family Physicians recently posted a tweet that highlighted the issue. "I think I'm finally broken," wrote Carroll. "Insurance company denied a CT Chest on a young woman with post-Coronavirus syndrome. And while describing why I wanted it, I broke down in tears. It's too much. We want to do the right thing, and stupid rules keep us from being effective for our patients." He went on to add that it was important to not get desensitized by the system. "Crying is human, and I accept it. I do not want to lose my humanity through all of this. Our patients need us to be strong guides through this horrible time, but they also need us to be compassionate humans with the heart and mind to help them through it," he wrote.