Uninsured
Colorado shooting victim faces $2 mln medical bill
Lying
in the hospital in an induced coma after a gunshot through his eye,
23-year old Aurora shooting victim Caleb Medley has no idea that he’s
facing $2 million in medical costs.
RT,
26
July, 2012
Medley
lost his right eye, is suffering brain damage and has been put in a
medically induced coma.
“Evil
came to them through a man that opened fire in that theater,”friends
and family wrote on a website to raise money for Medley’s hospital
expenses.“Caleb was struck in the face by the gun fire.”
While
he is being treated in the intensive care unit, his wife gave birth
to a baby boy just one floor away. But the soon-to-be father may wake
up to a life of debt and expenses that could forever ruin his young
family’s finances.
“Caleb
and his family will be struggling with these hospital bills for the
rest of their lives,”said Michael West, a friend of the victim.
The
young man, relying on a ventilator to breathe, has no health
insurance – but that is not an issue for some of the other victims.
Some of the hospitals treating the Batman shooting victims have said
they will limit or completely cover their patients’ medical bills.
But
unfortunately for Medley, the hospital that is treating him has not
made any promises. The University of Colorado Hospital, where Medley
is being treated, is among the state’s top two safety net hospitals
and, combined with the Denver Health Medical Center, provided $740
million in free care in 2011. Still, it would not say whether it
would provide Medley any assistance, forcing friends and family of
the seriously injured victim to find ways to raise money.
“Many
of these people I assume will need prolonged and expensive
rehabilitation after their immediate injuries are dealt with, and
that seems precisely what hospitals today are less and less willing
to cover out of their own funds, and no law requires that they do so,
as far as I’m aware,”said Dr. Howard Brody, director of the
Institute for Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical
Branch.
Being
unsure whether or not Medley’s hospital would pay any of his
expenses, the shooting victim’s friends and family have set a goal
of raising $500,000 to cover his hospital bills.
“All
the money that is donated is going straight to Caleb, Katie and Hugo
to help them with medical bills, getting back on their feet, help
them with baby items,”West said.
But
even if that fundraising goal is reached, it would not cover a bill
as high as $2 million, potentially leaving the new family in an
unfortunate financial situation.
And
while Medley’s hospital expenses may be higher than most, he is
among 1.5 million Coloradoans – one third of the state – that
have inadequate or no health insurance, according to a 2011 report by
The Colorado Trust. The highest uninsured rate is among adults
between 18 and 34, and many of the injured shooting victims fall into
that group.
But
while Warner Bros. and Americans across the nation are donating vast
amounts of money to help cover medical costs for the shooting
victims, some of the hospitals themselves cannot even promise to
provide any sort of assistance.
Instead
of relieving the financial stress glaring at Medley’s family and
the 22 other shooting victims it is treating, the University of
Colorado Hospital, on its website, is asking others for donations.
With
no right eye and a long recovery period ahead of him, Medley will
soon meet his newborn son, his financial fate lying solely in the
hands of the hospital that was required by law to treat him.
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