Hospitals Can Hold Patients Financially Responsible for Treatment Received as Minors, Maryland Appeals Court Rules

Hospitals can bill patients for emergency care they received when they were minors if their parents "refused to pay" at the time, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled Nov. 15, the Baltimore Sun reports. In a 4-3 ruling, Maryland's highest court said hospitals have three years to file suit to recover payments for emergency medical care that went uncompensated. The three-year statute of limitations will "largely affect" people who turn 18 within three years of receiving uncompensated medical care, according to Herbert Thaler, a lawyer for the hospitals. In the majority opinion, Judge Glenn Harrell wrote that the ruling was "sound public policy," even though it may "seem harsh on a patient." He added that the judges in the majority did not want to put hospitals in a position where they could not recover their costs from "apparently financially able individuals." The ruling is based on a case in which a 16-year-old St. Mary's County girl was treated at Prince George's Hospital Center after a 1997 car accident (Siegel, Baltimore Sun, 11/16).