Leigh Fava wound up in the emergency room after injuring her thumb at her New Orleans home. She said she received a tetanus shot and a badly wrapped bandage — and an unexpectedly high bill. Her experiences trying to dispute the hospital’s charges left her feeling ignored, she said.

In this installment of InvestigateTV and KHN’s “Costly Care” series, Caresse Jackman, InvestigateTV’s national consumer investigative reporter, illuminates the practice of up-charging for common medications and supplies in the emergency room.

Jackman’s story features an interview with Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal, KHN’s editor-in-chief, who cautions that emergency rooms have wide leeway to charge high prices.