I’ve Been Billed 8 Thousand Dollars for an Erroneous “Legal Hold” – My Civil Rights Were (And Are Bei Violated?

Question by : I’ve been billed 8 thousand dollars for an erroneous “legal hold” – my civil rights were (and are bei violated?
I was seeking psychological advice and a therapist because I was having issues focusing on school and with *some* (a little bit of) depression. I somehow got a number for a certain psychiatric hospital – West Hills, in Reno NV – but I didn’t know it was a psychiatric hospital — I was just given the number by someone. So I called and explained that I was trying to see a therapist, and they said they could help me out. To make a long story short, the person I spoke to did not have a right to put me on a legal hold but the paper was signed by someone I hadn’t spoken to. All I said was that I had had suicidal thoughts in the past. That’s it.

What really happened was that she started talking about how great their inpatient program is, and I said no I don’t want to do inpatient, and that’s all they offer, and she just randomly told someone I need to do inpatient because she is a moron.

So they called an ambulance to take me to a medical hospital to have me drug tested. (This was started on a Monday afternoon at 3PM, and I got to the medical hospital at about 2 in the morning, because they were 2 hours late for my scheduled appointment while I sat in the lobby and worked on my homework and then by the time the ambulance got the there in was about 10 or so — the people at this psychiatric hospital were not professional at all — they continuously made me wait literally hours in between everything while they got coffee and chatted in their office).

At the hospital, a “sister facility” owned by the same corporation as the psychiatric hospital, they would not let me leave the room I was in — made me wear one of those little skirt things, took all my stuff — and I continuously demanded to make a phone call — they made me sit there until like 3 in the morning doing nothing — and the only medical doctor in the wing threatened to tie me up and chemically sedate me!!! And he was about 250 lbs of lean muscle. I was finally drug tested, passed obviously, and then, by request, was sent to a different (non-private) psychiatric hospital, where they released me the next day without any problem whatsoever.

This event, however, because of my existing issues focusing on school and existing depression, caused a huge increase in the problems and I ended up failing most of my classes that semester for the first time ever in my life!

Now, again in the MIDDLE OF THE SEMESTER, I have to deal with 8 thousand dollar bills being sent to collections, after I told them what happened!

This is ILLEGAL! It’s NOT MY FAULT, I am NOT the one responsible for what happened. And I have absolutely NO money because I was laid off from my job, and my new job has had no work for me for the last 4 months, and I’m a hard science major. I DO NOT have time right now to be out looking for jobs. I NEED to focus on school. I do not have time to deal with this. I do not have money for an attorney. The collection agencies won’t help me at all – just say they’ll notate I refused to pay, which isn’t even the case — I’m telling them the companies have no legal right to bill me in the first place!

Don’t they have to prove their legal right to bill me???

What can I do????

I don’t know if there is free legal aid I haven’t found but I haven’t found any.

WTF???
NO I DON’T! IT WAS AN ERROR!

They made an ERROR! They violated confidentiality laws! The person I spoke WAS A CLINICIAN! They CAN’T BILL SOMEONE 8 THOUSAND DOLLARS BECAUSE THEY MAKE A MISTAKE!!!!!! It’s SO AGAINST THE LAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“HARD SCIENCE” — not “Art Science”. You’re half-way illiterate and have the audacity to try to answer this question????
WTF DO YOU THINK THE AMA COULD DO FOR ME????

Best answer:

Answer by cyanne2ak
They have the right to bill you – they put you on Suicide Watch. You will have to pay this one. Ask the hospital for help applying for emergency medical assistance. You probably qualify for emergency Medicaid.

Answer by Tiki
Get a new fkn major and suck it up sissy. No one can just put you on a suicide hold with no proper reasoning and legal documentation. ART SCIENCE??? WTF are you going to do with that? Don’t get me wrong I’m on the board of my local art museum and appreciate art to the core, but shut up. Just because you weren’t doped up doesn’t mean you’re not a basket case, and for the record you’re hardly the first person to say the same thing as you said here.
Were thre any misconduct the AMA would be the place to go and a civil suit should be filed, all you’re trying to do is skip out on a bill you owe.

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Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary Measure National Provider Call – February 9, 2012 – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hosted a National Provider Call on the Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary (MSPB) Measure. This call featured presentations by CMS subject matter experts. A question and answer session followed the presentations.