Shine OnNova Scotia mom billed for hospital room four years after giving birth
A Nova Scotia woman is raising concerns about a local hospital’s billing practices after receiving a bill for a room she says she never asked for. And that’s not all – the bill is also four years late.
Sarah Robinson gave birth to her daughter Josie in 2009 at the Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville, N.S., about 100 kilometres northwest of Halifax. In January of this year, she received a $220 bill for her two-night stay, CBC News reports.
“I was shocked,” she tells CBC.
Apparently, there are only private and semi-private rooms in the hospital’s maternity ward. Robinson claims Josie’s father requested a private room. However, there were none available, so she was placed in a semi-private room.
The baby’s father signed a form that states if no private room is available, “a patient may receive semi-private accommodation at the semi-private rate.”
But, the hospital also has another room-assignment option.
According to CBC, patients can request a “ward room,” which can be set up elsewhere in the hospital – if the space is available. If there’s no room, the patient will be placed in a semi-private room (yup, the same one Robinson got) at no charge. Robinson says if Josie’s dad didn’t request the private room, she would have ended up in a semi-private room but with no charge.
Confusing, right? Robinson thinks so. She says the policy needs to be better explained to patients – especially those who are about to have a baby and are probably thinking about something else.
"When they go into the maternity ward and they’re going to have a baby, I don't think they're told that if you sign this piece of paper and you don't get a private room you're going to get the same accommodation you’d have if you didn't sign it,” she tells CBC. “And you'll pay for it then.”
Robinson also says a semi-private room is supposed to come with a TV, a phone and a newspaper – but she didn’t get any of those things.
She says she’s tried to talk to hospital officials, but as of now they say she still has to pay the bill.
Valley Regional Hospital has not yet explained why the bill came so late, but the letter Robinson received says if the bill is unpaid it will be sent to collection.
