The woman, Judy Burton, told the television station she initially visited the hospital for pains but decided to leave the ER waiting room and go home after the pain let up. She later received the bill.
Ms. Burton said she first thought it was a clerical error and that she had been wrongly billed for a full ER visit, but she was offered a payment plan when she contacted the hospital, according to the report.
A spokesperson for the hospital’s operator, Cincinnati-based TriHealth, told WCPO in a statement the issue was a significant error and Ms. Burton shouldn’t have received the bill.
“We inadvertently did not remove her visit from our tracking system when she left, and a bill was processed when it should not have been,” the spokesperson said. “We have taken steps to ensure this situation does not happen again.”
The report notes the spokesperson said TriHealth removed the entire charge, and Ms. Burton told WCPO the organization sent her flowers after the incident.
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