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Garda shot on holiday in America faces $1,000,000 hospital bill

My name is URL

This bit in particular just sums up what an absolute ****hole the US can be at times

The popular local uniform garda - who had been on holiday with his father Brian Snr - spent over a week in Intensive Care and also underwent surgery. It is thought he had travel insurance but that this was not sufficient to meet the costs of his spiralling medical bills. After a week in hospital he moved into a hotel to cut down on costs.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/garda-shot-on-holiday-in-america-proclaims-im-a-lucky-man-662487.html

With that out of the way, what on earth was he thinking by refusing to hand over a measly $200 to the mugger? Fair enough if it happened on some quiet Irish street, but in perhaps the most dangerous area of one of America's most violent cities? Irresponsible or what like?! I'm pretty sure Gardai would be the first people to advise that you just hand the money over.

What happens if he just refuses to pay now? Would the hospital or state risk the embarrassment of extraditing an Irish police officer (who had travel insurance) after he was shot by one of their own scummers?

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The Diabolical Monocle

steddyeddy wrote: »

America you're doing civilisation very very wrong. You're going backwards in education, health and housing.

yet forward in tits and aircraft carriers

get a haircut hippy

darkpagandeath

Why are we still using Garda instead of holiday maker ? I'm sure someone here can tell us all how Garda carry warrant cards into another country while on holiday.

FatherTed

No sympathy for that idiot. If he really had travel insurance, he must have gotten the cheap shytty insurance that doesn't cover anything. Then drinking until 4am wasn't enough, he follows some guy he just met out of the French Quarter to the 7th Ward, notorious for crime to get some "drink" when there are bars open 24/7 in the French Quarter.

Wompa1

I wouldn't go to New Orleans without insurance but that's beside the point. They should probably make good travel insurance mandatory for tourists coming over here. That's what they are doing to the US citizens. If you don't have insurance for the entire 12 months of the year. Blamo! $1,500 owed come tax return time and going up to 2k the following year...

Wompa1

steddyeddy wrote: »

America you're doing civilisation very very wrong. You're going backwards in education, health and housing.

Not completely true. Insurance companies now have to provide cover to people with pre-existing condition. So that's a step forward.

Also have some of the best third level institutions in the world.

Housing, I don't know much about...could do more for homeless people for sure. Unemployment is falling drastically, the economy where I am has picked up and is currently going through a bit of a boom. Lots of jobs!

Turtwig

Wompa1 wrote: »

Not completely true. Insurance companies now have to provide cover to people with pre-existing condition. So that's a step forward.
!

There is typically either a five year delay period before you can make claims on pre-existing conditions. Or there is a top up fee to waive that period. Neither work out cheap.

kowloon

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Just looked at the fine print on mine, I'm not covered for injuries sustained while partaking in hand to hand combat, professional clay pigeon shooting or the release of WMDs.

Shysters!

That's the weekend feckin ruined. :mad:

[Deleted User]

My name is URL wrote: »

This bit in particular just sums up what an absolute ****hole the US can be at times

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/garda-shot-on-holiday-in-america-proclaims-im-a-lucky-man-662487.html

With that out of the way, what on earth was he thinking by refusing to hand over a measly $200 to the mugger? Fair enough if it happened on some quiet Irish street, but in perhaps the most dangerous area of one of America's most violent cities? Irresponsible or what like?! I'm pretty sure Gardai would be the first people to advise that you just hand the money over.

What happens if he just refuses to pay now? Would the hospital or state risk the embarrassment of extraditing an Irish police officer (who had travel insurance) after he was shot by one of their own scummers?

He's already back in Ireland.

L'prof

[Deleted User] wrote: »

He's already back in Ireland.

Which is where they might try to extradite him from.

Akrasia

The article says he moved into a hotel to reduce costs...

maybe his insurance didn't cover a hotel room? and maybe he shouldn't have stayed in a luxury penthouse suite in Las Vegas

nxbyveromdwjpg

Wompa1 wrote: »

Also have some of the best third level institutions in the world.

Similarly to health care though, those are only available to the rich, no?

gramar

Garda shot on holiday in America faces $1,000,000 hospital bill

They should offer to pay in euros, or better again in sterling. It would be way less than a million then.

Timberrrrrrrr

Greenmachine wrote: »

Had the mugger got a gun? Would have thought a cop should be able to restrain someone, even if they had an knife.

Well there tends to be a gun resent when someo

PizzamanIRL

My name is URL wrote: »

This bit in particular just sums up what an absolute ****hole the US can be at times

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/garda-shot-on-holiday-in-america-proclaims-im-a-lucky-man-662487.html

With that out of the way, what on earth was he thinking by refusing to hand over a measly $200 to the mugger?

Are you serious? Not everybody will bend over backwards for a mugger. If they did, they're basically telling the muggers to keep on mugging because we're not going to put up a fight.

dubrov

YFlyer wrote:

How the heck could insurance afford multi million euro treatments on the back of â‚¬50 per year?

Normally when I see these cheap travel insurance deals they are for people who already have health insurance in Ireland. It is really their health insurance covering them for medical bills abroad. The travel insurance but is only covering things like lost luggage / missed flights due to sickness /bereavement

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

seamus

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

They could try, but they'll get very little traction, especially when they present an itemised bill with $53 for a pair of latex gloves. The best they could hope for is a judge to ask them to present the cost of the equivalent care in Ireland and ask the Garda to pay that.

These levels of bills however are very rarely paid. The advertised healthcare costs are so high so that they can be charged to insurers. When the patient turns around to the hospital and says they have no insurance, the hospital will usually write of 95%+ of the costs so that they only have to chase the patient for $50k rather than $1m. These headline figures are often used to illustrate the absurdity of the US healthcare system, but they're almost never paid.

The hardest cases are the ones where someone's life relies on ongoing critical and expert care, but the family are unable to afford to pay the mounting medical costs. Hospitals in the US will focus on stabilising the patient and then moving them to a cheaper/free hospital where the patient's chances of survival plummet. It's barbaric.

$50k is still insanely expensive and it's ridiculous that not only does a modern country not provide life-saving healthcare to its citizens, but half of the government actively opposes all measures designed to improve the situation and provide healthcare to it citizens, because they have big business interests funding them.

And the Americans vote in these idiots.

Egginacup

nm wrote: »

Did he not have travel insurance?

Even if he didn't have insurance do you think that any society should charge someone a king's ransom just to treat them after they got shot?

Egginacup

My name is URL wrote: »

$1,000,000 just looks better on paper. It could be a bit less or a bit more, but a million for multiple gunshot wounds and surgeries is about right.

I'm the most cynical fcuker you could ever meet but even I don't think this is some kind of swindle. New Orleans Police Dept are even doing some fundraising to help pay for his healthcare bill.

He's just after arriving back in Ireland. Why would they be 'demanding' it yet? You have a while to pay up like. I hope he doesn't though. Let the money hungry fcuks try to extradite him. They'll be laughed out of any court it ends up in.

He still should have just handed over the $200 to the mugger though. Bit of an idiot for refusing to do so really.

Why does anyone have to raise funds to pay his medical bill? Shouldn't the state pay it?

Egginacup

shamrock55 wrote: »

Land of the free my arse!!

Land of the FEE

ScumLord

My name is URL wrote: »

$53 charge for every pair of non-sterile disposable gloves used during your stay

http://www.rd.com/slideshows/wildly-overinflated-hospital-costs/#slide5=&slideshow=slide5

Sterile ones are more expensive apparently.

Seriously, fcuk that kip

You'd think with the competition between hospitals in America that they'd have competitive prices. I'm sure the actual price of those gloves is at worst $50 for a box of 100.

I had the pleasure of spending a week in a public hospital years ago and then a week for the same thing in a private hospital last year. The differences were crazy. In the public hospital I was on 3 antibiotics, there were no clean towels or bed sheets, because people were using the bed sheets as towels and there were more nurses and doctors running around the place achieving nothing than I could count.

In the private hospital I was on one cheap antibiotic. There was one nurse checking patients routinely all day and night. She could do a better job than 3 nurses in the other place. The biggest surprise was that the bill was half the price of the public hospital and the level of care was in a different league altogether. The impression I got was that the private hospitals treat insurance companies as customers and don't try to rip them off. Whereas the state hospitals see them as cash cows and will throw everything at someone with insurance whether it's needed or not.

I understand the public hospitals do a lot of training but whenever you go into the hospital and start to talk to a doctor a gang of other doctors burst through the door, treat you like a dud sheep at a fair, have a big conflab and go on their merry way leaving you with a piece of paper telling you to come back in a year for a scan. I think the training seems to be taking precedent over patient care, all them trainee doctors and nurses are just getting in the way.

Egginacup

Yamanoto wrote: »

Your right in that he made an extraordinarily foolhardy decision - quite staggering actually, given the mans profession.

Is it not the case though that folks are raising money for costs incurred over & above the $1 million mark - which was where his level of cover maxed out? Absolutely didn't deserve to be shot, but we all know the costs associated with medical treatment in the US are astronomical & I'd imagine the vast majority of Irish folks travelling there make provision accordingly.

I'm covered for medical treatment in the States for an amount up to €10m, which costs less than €50 p/a on a multi-trip basis.

Why? Do the laws of physics change and much more effort is needed to administer treatment once you cross the border into the US?

TheDoc

Egginacup wrote: »

Why does anyone have to raise funds to pay his medical bill? Shouldn't the state pay it?

Why should the state pay for a citizen abroad on holidays getting a high medical bill?

I've got all the love for our police and armed forces, but I don't think they should get special treatment abroad as private citizens.

All this story does it highlight how silly it is not to take out basic cover when travelling to the states. I've paid in the region of €40-€60 in the past on trips that cover medical expenses in excess of €6m.

Egginacup

Wompa1 wrote: »

Not completely true. Insurance companies now have to provide cover to people with pre-existing condition. So that's a step forward.

Also have some of the best third level institutions in the world.

Housing, I don't know much about...could do more for homeless people for sure. Unemployment is falling drastically, the economy where I am has picked up and is currently going through a bit of a boom. Lots of jobs!

Yeah, Cornell gave us Ann Coulter. Yale gave us George W. Bush.

The_Minister

JaseBelleVie wrote: »

Again,

Welcome To America! Come for the Freedom and Amusement Parks, stay for the $130,000 f*cking aspirin.

He shouldn't pay it. What are they going to do? To try and extradite and sue across jurisdictions is a major pain in the hole and the hospital would end up paying far in excess of that $1m to try and claw it out of him. Not a hope. He should send them a cheque made out to that amount and let it bounce and then just tell them "The money is resting in my account" and let them work that one out.

It's amazing what a distorted view people have of legal fees in this country - obtaining a judgment and enforcing it cross-border is nowhere near that expensive and wouldn't be close to a million.

(No comment as to whether they'd actually be able to enforce it - you're supposed to negotiate with the hospital rather than pay Micky Mouse money.).

323

FatherTed wrote: »

No sympathy for that idiot. If he really had travel insurance, he must have gotten the cheap shytty insurance that doesn't cover anything. Then drinking until 4am wasn't enough, he follows some guy he just met out of the French Quarter to the 7th Ward, notorious for crime to get some "drink" when there are bars open 24/7 in the French Quarter.

My thoughts exactly when first seen this in the news. Seen him quoted as saying "I'm a lucky man." The idiot is very lucky to be alive.

Traveling internationally with piss poor insurance, I suspect none. Stupid.

To go on the beer on your own anywhere in New Orleans is begging for trouble, let alone heading to the 7th Ward, I wouldn't go there in a car in broad daylight, let alone on foot at 4AM, suicidal.

Then after getting himself into a situation where he was at best asking to be mugged, to refuse to hand over a measly $200, he's obviously not very bright.

$1,000000 sounds about right for plugging multiple gunshot wounds and keeping the fool alive, probably bee the same here it all toted up. The price of stupidity. Amazing so many here suggesting he should be allowed to avoid payment.

Tzardine

Greenmachine wrote: »

Had the mugger got a gun? Would have thought a cop should be able to restrain someone, even if they had an knife.

For the sake of €200 I would not put up a fight if all they had was a sharp pencil.

Iranoutofideas

Well I think he can rest easy now that he's home. Its not like the yanks will come in the middle of the night, put a hood over his head and magic him away on an unidentified plane back to their own jurisdiction.

ScumLord

Tzardine wrote: »

For the sake of €200 I would not put up a fight if all they had was a sharp pencil.

I would have knocked the two of them out with one roundhouse kick and karate jumped onto a passing overhead train.

Mr.McLovin

53 quid for latex gloves?!?

could he not just nip round to boots and pop some in the post?