Medical Bills will be GONE!!!!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2004
Medical Bills will be GONE!!!!!!
16
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 1:11pm
I hate to admit to myself that I did this. I actually took someone to court sued them. I don't really like the idea of lawsuits unless they are really really necessary. I my case it kinda was, but I still feel bad about it.

A couple years ago I had a beach house for the summer that I was renting with my college roomates. My neighbor had a habit of slipping girls date rape drugs. I didn't know this at the time and unwittingly became one of those girls. He gave me a little too much and instead of falling unconsious or forgetting everything, I fell into a coma and stopped breathing. I got to take a helicopter ride to the local hospital. I woke up totally fine, but with over 40K in medical debt. And that's what charity care didn't cover. I got to pay it off monthly (450$/month) with no interest. The guy was convicted and went to jail, only for a short time though. I was still kinda mad that I was responsible for the medical bills (even though I wasn't responsible enough to know not to accept a drink from someone I didn't know).

I mentioned a whlie back that I found a lawyer who would take the case and I wouldn't have to pay him unless I won. Well today was my court date. I WON!!!

I could have sued for a lot more. I just wanted to pay my medical bills and the lawyer. The judge awarded me 60K, which is more than enough to pay the medical bills and the lawyer and have some left over (possibly a huge snowball).

Today was a very good day....but I still feel kinda icky for suing somebody. I want to pay my some of my debt off with the extra money, but I feel weird about it. It kinda feels like cheating.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-02-2003
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 1:27pm
I do not agree with suing people just to get money. This man harmed you and caused you to have medical bills because of what he did. Don't feel guilty about it at all! You did not deserve what happened to you.

Kathie

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 1:31pm
I don't think it's cheating, and congratulations on winning. That is a horrible experience and nobody deserves to go through that. Not you or anyone else. I assume you have not gotten the money yet though, does he have the resources to pay it all at once? Will it be paid over time?

And I say good for you for going for a reasonable amount that covers your expenses. Don't feel guilty about the extra, you suffered more than just having money taken out of your pocket.

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Avatar for mymartes
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 2:11pm
Don't feel guilty about suing him. He did you harm. He deserves everything he gets. You were in a coma, for goodness sake. You could have died.

I'm glad you won the lawsuit. However, i don't mean to pop your bubble. It doesn't mean that you will get the money. If he doesn't have $60k, he won't be able to pay you.

MYM

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 3:25pm
What a pig.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2004
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 4:50pm
Thanks everyone for your responses. I know I shouldn't feel bad about it. It's true that I could have died if I didn't get medical attention right away. But I did. He was the one who called 911 when he realized I wasn't breathing.

He is a stockbroker from NYC, so he does actually have the $$, and has agreed to pay. He actually thanked me for not asking for a crazy amount of money. His lawyer told him he was lucky to get off so easily. He only spent 90 days in jail, and managed to stay employed somehow. I'm still kinda mad about that.... But 60K is still a lot of money, even to him, so maybe he'll be in get to be in debt for a while......

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2003
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 6:02pm
I agree with the others-don't feel badly about doing this. It's pretty fair, all things considered...

If you do feel bad about taking the money to pay bills with for now, here's just my 2 cents-

I'd probably pay off all the medical bills and lawyer fees. Then, I'd park the rest somewhere that I wouldn't be tempted to blow through it-& keep it there until I knew what it is I wanted to do. Maybe give some to a charity that is active in this area-I don't know any right off hand.

Congratulations for winning your case-

Lisa

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 7:58pm
Good for him for calling 911 - but he knows he would have been in jail for life if he hadn't. And good for him for thanking you for being reasonable about the amount in the suit. It sounds like he got off easy, but not easy enough to do it again. I think your lawsuit was a win-win, something not often seen these days. He got a more appropriate punishment (although it probably should have been a harsher jail sentence) and you got your bills paid (although he should have offered to pay them from the beginning).

And the one good thing about him being able to keep his job, he has the money to pay you.

Congratulations again. It takes a lot to go through something like this, and then also go through whatever happened in the criminal case and then a civil case. You sound like a very strong person.

Photobucket

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-23-2004
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 8:16pm
Don't feel guilty...Maybe you stopped him from hurting someone else. As for the money, I think you should pay off your medical bills, and use the rest of the money however you need to, to make yourself feel better. If that means paying off your debt, then thats great. If it means putting it into an account to build some interest, thats great too...If you want to donate a portion of it, thats terrific! You didnt ask for this to happen....As bad as this was, he could have killed you, or you could have ended up in that coma for a very long period of time causing irrepairable damage. He needed to be punished. IMHO 90 days in jail is pathetic.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-22-2003
Fri, 10-08-2004 - 9:15am
You didn't cheat and the medical bills were caused by another individual and his selfish purposes. I'm not a big one for sueing everyone under the sun, but you were justified with this, the emotional agony of huge medical bills and the stress involved are huge. I'm in the process of paying off medical bills also, and though not as large they are no fun to pay every month. Congratulations for taking action on this and being able to move on with your life after what must have been a tramatic experience.
Avatar for cl_beckymk
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 10-08-2004 - 9:33am

You didn't do anything wrong!!

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