'Clerical error' sends $29,000 bill to murder victim who died in the ER

Source: Sacramento Bee

A letter of sympathy should have arrived at the home of Gerald and Elizabeth Hawkins 10 days after their son Scott was beaten to death.

Instead, UC Davis Medical Center officials were apologizing Tuesday to the Hawkins family over a clerical error that instead sent them a $29,000 bill and a form letter suggesting their slain son was medically indigent.

... Despite the apology, a swirl of unanswered questions continued to trouble the Hawkins family.

Why, for example, did the hospital continue to classify the slain student as indigent when the hospital managed to track down a permanent address? "Why didn't they call to ask us if our son had insurance?" Gerald Hawkins asked.

Instead, a $29,000 bill arrived in Santa Clara along with a form letter addressed "Dear Patient" intended to inform the student that emergency services provided by UC Davis would not be paid for by the county program for the medically indigent.

In fact, the slain student was not indigent but was fully insured by Kaiser Permanente.

... "Why, in any civilized society, would a hospital send the parents of a murdered boy a bill and letter like this?" Gerald Hawkins asked Tuesday.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2303593.html

by saying spousal abuse is a pre-existing condition.

That's why.

They don't give a shit. They only "suddenly" care, when they are called on their bullshit. THEN it's all a mistake.

was someone not noticing that this was a high profile crime victim in the media spotlight.