Hospital Bill

James Foucault, 23 was killed last Wednesday in a motorcycle accident.  But for his family, the tragedy was only beginning when the car made impact with his Harley and he was brought to Mercy Hospital, pronounced brain dead and doctors subsequently requested they be allowed to keep him alive long enough to harvest and donate his organs. 

            Carmen Foucault was told that the doctors were unable to save James, Jimmy’s life due to the severe head injuries he had suffered and that he would not regain consciousness.  It was at this point Foucault was asked to make her decision.  She believed that donating his organs was the right thing to do and that it was what he would have wanted since Jimmy was always helping other people.

            They harvested his organs until noon last Thursday when Foucault was told he was gone.  She said they told her, “They’d gotten everything they’d wanted and then turned off the machines and let him die.  They butchered him.”

            His funeral was scheduled for Saturday but Foucault was unable to afford to pay for a proper funeral herself or even provide a gravestone for her son due to a lien being placed on his estate despite the fact that Jimmy had insurance and money that would have accounted for and covered for the costs of all of that.  Foucault said that she had not been informed of any of these costs prior to being asked for her son’s organs, but she received a bill for $41 thousand.

            After receiving a notice by registered letter Foucault made the decision to get a lawyer.  A hospital spokesperson went on record at this point to say, “The lien is a standard procedure to ensure a bill is paid.  I agree the bill needs to be re-examined, and the donor bank will pay most of it.  But Mrs. Foucault will have to pay for her son’s initial treatment, and right now I don’t know what that will be.”

            Not all of the news this week was bad however; Foucault received a second letter from the donor bank stating that Jimmy’s heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas and eyes all went to save the lives of other individuals.  She also got a call from Irwin Greenhouse, Chief Administrator of Mercy Hospital, who said that they would be readdressing hospital billing procedures.  Greenhouse also stated, “Normally, Mrs. Foucault would be billed the cost of normal emergency care, but the donor bank has agreed to pick up everything in this case, everything, and we’d like to apologize to Mrs. Foucault.”