Woman charged Rs 2.13 lakh bill by US hospital for taking out toy from child's nose

A woman in the United States was shocked when she received a medical bill of nearly $3,000 (Rs 2.13 lakh) for what she thought was a simple tweak of tweezers. Katy had rushed to St Rose Dominican Siena Campus in Henderson, Nevada after her 3-year-old daughter Lucy Branson stuck two plastic doll shoes in her nose, each in one nostril.

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Shocking medical bill

While Katy was able to take out one of the plastic shoes out of her daughter's nose herself but for the other one, she decided to visit a doctor. According to her, the physician on duty at the hospital used a small tweezer-like tool to take out the remaining piece of the toy in seconds, but she was prepared for the shock she soon got on receiving a massive bill of $2,600 in her mail. Katy had not seen it coming. 

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At first, Katy thought that her insurance company had sent her a wrong bill but later she was shocked to find that the bill was actually right. She for a second thought that the hospital has billed her for a wrong rate, if not a wrong procedure, but it turned out that the hospital had been right about the amount. Reportedly, Katy negotiated with the hospital and was able to get her bill slashed to $1,700 which is around Rs 1.21 lakh. 

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Reportedly, in March this year, a woman in Vancouver was left shocked when she received a medical bill of around $227,000 for a heart bypass surgery. The hospital had actually charged her for $454,000 but after the insurance company paid its dues, she was left with a bill of over $200,000. Inflated medical bills in developed countries have left many protesting against the increasing cost of healthcare. According to reports, many people from these countries come to India for medical treatment to avoid the massive cost of procedures that hospitals in their homeland charge.  

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(with inputs from agencies)