ATLANTA (NEXSTAR) – A Georgia woman says she left an emergency room after waiting for hours to be seen, but, despite the lack of treatment, a $700 bill still showed up in her mailbox.
Taylor Davis told WAGA-TV she suffered a head injury in July and went to Emory Decatur Hospital, only to find the ER packed.
“I sat there for seven hours,” Davis said. “There’s no way I should be sitting in an emergency room.. an emergency room for seven hours.”
Davis said she didn’t have her vitals taken, she didn’t hear her name called and no one saw her for her injury. Finally, she got up and left.
To her surprise, a couple of weeks later the Emory Healthcare bill arrived.
Convinced it was possibly a clerical error, she contacted the hospital and received an email telling her that the emergency room fee is applied before someone is seen by a doctor. “This is hospital protocol,” the email read. “Sorry about that. But the balance is valid.”
Davis says she’s now hesitant to go the ER knowing she can be charged hundreds of dollars before receiving any treatment.
The hospital system sent the following statement to WAGA:
“Emory Healthcare takes all patient concerns seriously and appreciates this has been brought to our attention. Our teams are currently looking into this matter and will follow up directly with the individual.”
Nexstar reached out to Emory Health for an update Monday but did not hear back before publishing time.