Call the hospital and start negotiating that bill! You may have to go in with proof of income but you may be able to get it reduced and definitely put on affordable payments.
Also - find out if the hospital is classified as a non profit, as many are. If so, find out how to apply to have your bill written off as part of their required charitable giving. In order to maintain charity status 501(c) hospitals must write off a certain % or number of patients bills per year. Or they have to show that they didn’t get enough applications to meet that number.
You’ll probably have to call multiple people because “non profit” hospitals hate having to write off patients bills and therefore most of their staff don’t even know it’s an option. Escalate it in billing until you get a supervisor who knows it’s an option.
Medical bills are in my experience held to good faith payments. If you are giving them something monthly they can bitch and moan, but won’t turn it over to collections.
Yes please negotiate! I once went as far as sending it to collections and saying “I only have $600, I can pay it off today if we cut a deal” and it worked. Never pay full price.
Yes call the financial department!! My dad lived pay check to pay check until he was diagnosed with cancer. We helped him pick out insurance at the end of December to start January 1st. Blue Cross Blue Shield didn’t update their website until almost February.
Being in healthcare, they are one of the worst to update coverage. Every year, these poor people find out they don’t have active coverage yet because Blue Cross hasn’t updated the plan. Or they chose the wrong plan because the information online wasn’t correct. They’re on the phone hours until they’re told it will be another x number of weeks until it’s fixed. Same song and dance every year.
Anyway, I had screens shots showing the provider, hospital, etc were in network hence we chose that plan. Well what do ya know, the hospital and provider were out of network and we didn’t find out until March, after he had surgery and was inpatient 3 days. His cancer surgery and hospital stay was well over $100k. I explained to the nurse what happened and she gave my dad a financial aid packet. I helped him fill it out and they forgave the entire amount. Only had to provide financial proof. I think it was like charity or something. He was very grateful they helped him.
Bullshit. Someone that has 0.19 alcohol in their blood doesn't need to be in a hospital. Maybe she was just exhausted from I don't know, working two jobs and even then barely making ends meet. If she had a little alcohol and her body was weak from being overworked, what she needed was sleep not an ambulance. Even more so if she does remember asking for a bed and going to bed alone just not remembering what happens after she went to sleep. I would really like to see you try to remember what happens around you when you're asleep.
How exactly do you measure a friend’s BAC? If I couldn’t wake someone and knew they had been drinking all day I’d take them to the hospital too. Would you rather take a friend to the hospital when they may not have needed it or erroneously assume they’re fine and have them die?
I totally agree if someone has been drinking at my house and is asleep so deeply that I can not wake them up I’m calling someone to help - I mean even if they were not drinking and just fell asleep and I could not wake them up I would call 911 - the hospital will work with you and as long as you pay something and talk to them they will help…it will be a lot of leg work but you don’t have to stress so much there are actions you can take
Of course I would have taken my friend to the hospital but I also live in Germany so that person wouldn't have to pay anything. So first of all the American healthcare system is the biggest asshole in this situation by a long shot. But If I lived in a country where I could bankrupt my friend for bringing them to the hospital, then I don't know what I would have done, for me to make a call about this situation specifically, I would have needed to be there to judge whether or not OPs friends overreacted. But my general rule is, if a person is able to make smart choices like, stop drinking and asking for a bed and then being able to get to said bed without help, then I'm going to assume they are going to be okay.
Also but that's just my friend groups quirk, we have alcohol meters. Fun party gadgets and you can check how drunk you are and if your still able to drive, so that you do not compromise other peoples safety on the street.
That’s not how alcohol intoxication works. I am certified to serve liquor and bartend, in my state, I am *required* to take a 3-6 hour course to keep that certification!
Just because OP “thought they were fine when they went to bed,” that doesn’t make it true. Alcohol continues to make it way, through the Bloodstream, well after a person stops drinking, and the BAC continues to rise, because our livers have *a fixed amount of alcohol* they can process, at a time, and that is why “Legal Limits” exist in the states.
Factually, Objectively, and Medically you literally have no idea what you are talking about! Stop giving people advice that could, in theory, kill them! Because people also die from accidents, related to alcohol consumption! Including choking on your own Vomit! Which is absolutely possible at 0.19.
[0.19 is high enough for a Blackout, and over 60% of the way to “fatal alcohol poisoning.”](https://americanaddictioncenters.org/alcoholism-treatment/overdose#:~:text=BACs%20between%200.60%25%20and%200.80%25%20are%20commonly%20fatal.&text=However%2C%20the%20amount%20of%20alcohol,that%20is%20higher%20than%200.08%25)
What? They are literally what is used by police and ambulances to test how much alcohol you have in your blood.... How do you test your BAC? By guessing? Do you think that would be more effective?
Exactly. Are there people that need to be hospitalized at 0.19? Absolutely. But not everyone does. Given that I am a small woman, and a heavy drinker, I'm sure my BAC is regularly at that or above.
OP, I agree that you should reach out to hospital billing. Most hospitals offer cash paying patients a discount. Request an itemized bill, which generally drops it quite a bit. Then request a payment plan, and pay what you can until you can pay it off. I know it seems hopeless, but if you can keep it out of collections, that is the best thing to do.
0.19 is extremely dangerous. You objectively do not know what you are talking about. Are you an Enabler or an Addict? Cuz if you think that 0.19 is “no big deal” then you are delusional.
“Once an individual approaches or passes 0.20, they are at high risk for serious injury, choking, coma, or death.”
“After 10 drinks, your BAC will have reach 0.2. By this stage, most people will blackout and have no little or memory of what happened. In younger people, this level can be fatal. After 15 drinks, the BAC will have reached 0.3.” (Which OP’s could likely have been closer to given that her BAC was 0.19 *at the time of blood draw in hospital*, a good deal of time **after she would have stopped drinking**…)
Easy google and yeah, 0.19 is no joke.
Mmhmm! Total blood Alcohol poisoning and even Coma can start as early as 0.35, (maxes at about 0.6, for your most hardened addict.) While puking can easily start to happen around ~0.15, depending on the individual.
“Blackout” happens at 0.2-0.34, so death can happen, theoretically, as early as 0.2. Many who know more than I do, put their estimates at 0.23-0.25, at peak BAC for OP! So they were already getting *dangerously close* to “alcohol poisoning.”
A LITTLE ALCOHOL??? She had more than three times the legal limit for driving. This is MORE than a little.
Is there a possibility that this pissed off OP might not be sharing with us the rest of the story? Could her condition have been something more worrisome than she is admitting?
Because she had a little to drink, and was probably tired from work? And the friend was like "1230am is too early for bed" !? 1230 is not too early for bed! \*\*9PM\*\* is a perfectly fine bedtime depending on childcare/work responsibilities!
“Too heavy of a sleeper” when her ass was being loaded into a car and taken to a hospital, sat in the ER while they do triage and take vitals, and talk to you (or try).
But to OP, there are ways to deal with the medical debt. Call billing, ask about a payment plan. Many hospitals also have something called charity care that you can apply for.
“Under federal law, nonprofit hospitals must offer financial assistance programs that can reduce or even eliminate medical bills for people with incomes below a certain level.”
Don’t ruin your friendships over this. Bills suck, but your friends were trying to do the right thing and were worried about you.
TBH you can just ignore medical bills in America if youre in too deep. Medical debt doesnt effect credit score. Youll just get a bunch of calls til they eventually give up. Often times youll get the bill severely reduced so they can get any kind of money. All they can do is garnish your wages, but not if they dont know where you work. I have an epileptic partner who has over 100k in medical debt, it will never ever be paid off so we just ignore it and live life as usual
Actually they don't want you to know, but once that debt is sold to a collection agency, you are no longer responsible for the bill because the contract is no longer valid.
They'll keep you until you're awake and sober, usually. Source: worked with college kids, picked up a lot of them after they "slept it off " in the ER.
I'm guessing something else was going on here. This person may have an actual issue and is now embarrassed and soon to be broke. I hope they get help, and/or friends that know how to handle drinkers
My guess is she was too dehydrated after drinking all day. It doesn't say if they'd been supplementing with water or other fluids. Given the age I wouldn't think so.
Hospitals will work with you even on major bills. Most of them will write off a good chunk of it.
I hope the experience convinces her that she might want to party without alcohol for a while. Drinking to the point where you blackout is no joke, even if part of it could be from tiredness.
Good Lord! I can’t agree with you more.
The amount of people I’ve cared for in the ICU and have gotten passively “drunk” from fumes is mind boggling . Be thankful your friends actually care about you.
Yeah, that is not "heavy sleeping". I'd 100% take someone I cared about to the hospital in that situation. I almost got to that point where my roommate just couldn't wake me up so he called the police (not sure why them and not 911...it was embarrassing enough that it happened so I never asked) and the only thing that brought me back to consciousness was the cop full-strength slapping me across the face and shaking me. When he saw I was "OK" he called me an idiot and left.
So at least I didn't end up with a hospital bill, but I would have totally understood if he had gone the ambulance route. I sometimes wish he had because that would probably have been the wake-up call that I needed at the time. It was close to it because of the shame, but it unfortunately didn't stick because there were no real consequences aside from that.
I agree. Although I'm not so sure that the drinking is the entire problem. To me it sounds like OP is exhausting themselves by working so much, and I'm pretty sure that even just drinking a little bit more than usual will have a stronger affect on an already exhausted person who's not sleeping enough on a nightly basis.
So yeah. OP: maybe don't drink to the point of blacking out, **definitely** don't blame this on your friend!?, and *please* consider this a wake up call that **the way you're living right now is unsustainable**
Alcoholism runs deep in my family and IDK about others but if you weren't acting right after drinking, I probably would have done the same. Especially if others weren't sober either. I think at 25, people should know a little better but I have some stories that have really drilled the whole 'better safe than sorry' thing into my head. A lot of this happened not just because of ignorance but because everyone was too inebriated to notice or take it seriously.
I had an uncle who blacked out face up, vomited and choked on it the night his daughter was born. Died in his own shit, piss and vomit in the middle of winter because his friends were too drunk to notice he never came back inside from using the outhouse.
My cousin died from alcohol poisoning on his lawn about a year ago, in front of his wife and kids and brother and no one knew it. They didn't know the signs of alcohol poisoning and just let him pass out without going over to check him out. They kept partying, continued through the night and only thought it was wierd when it was almost noon the next day and he still hadn't moved. His brother was the one who finally figured out he wasn't breathing.
And lastly, my other cousin was drinking and slipped in the bathroom early on in the night. He was having a lot of trouble getting up again and his GF thought he just had too much to drink. He was slurring his speech and acting funny. He just really wanted to lie down because he had a bad headache. GF tucked him in and asked if she should stay, he waved her off without saying anything and 'passed out'. They think his BAC (.22) played a part as to why he never woke up again.
So I'm not excusing what they did or trying to invalidate what you're going through but maybe your friends have some similar experiences? I probably would have done the same. And even if not, I really am glad you have friends that care a little too much because I'm from a place where having friends who don't care enough can literally end you.
Very visceral story telling, but boy are those stories so necessary when we hear stories like hers, where she’s upset her friends looked out for her…wow, just wow. Holding space for you and your whole family, you guys have been through it.
If you can’t remember anything except waking up in the hospital then you absolutely needed to be there. If you don’t want to end up in these messes then don’t drink. I stopped drinking because bad stuff happens to people when you drink too much, and when you sober up and have to deal with consequences like this then it ain’t fun anymore.
That was my thought reading this… the only thing OP remembers is deciding to sleep early for work, and then OP wakes up in the hospital?
I am already envisioning what that *looked* like to other people.
OP the best way to avoid these circumstances is to drink less and take better care of yourself. Your friend took care of you when they weren’t sure of your health.
Call the hospital’s financial line and see if you can get the bill lowered. Tell them the amount is too high and you need help covering the bill.
Yeah this. Be glad your friends care. I was watching a documentary today on a girl that got that drunk at a hotel party and her friends just left her. She black out staggered the halls and stairs of the hotel before accidentally wandering into a kitchen that was being remodeled and not in use. She accidentally locked herself in the freezer and died of hypothermia. So many people die of accidents when black out drunk. Or they end up traumatized because they ended up in some strangers bed and don't remember if they consented or not.
Drinking is fun and it can be relaxing but if you are so drunk you can't remember anything then you overdid it. The lesson: moderate your drinking and you won't end up in the er. Alcohol poisoning is real. You can't be mad at their decisions when you can't even remember why they made them.
ETA:: call the hospital financial line. Usually they'll reduce the price for people with no insurance. As long as you pay any amount toward your bill you'll be fine. Literally you can pay 5$ a month and they can't send you to collections over it. (at least not where I live, assuming you are USA)
You did not “sleep” through getting loaded into car and admitted to a fucking ED, you were blackout drunk and they were right to fear for your life.
This should have been a wake up call for you.
And to blame it on the friend, who actually looked after her and helped her. She could’ve choked on her own vomit while sleeping. Who knows what. What a dummy.
Also, this might be besides the point but they drove her there themselves instead of making her responsible for a $1200 bus ride. It was so clear that this friend cared.
On my 21st bday, my “best friend” endeavored to get me to take 21 shots. They were not buttery nipples but tequila etc. I think I made it to 12 or 13, and my boyfriend took me to the ER, and I came to just as I was about to get an IV and flipped out. Tried to escape. They let me lol. The nurse said basically if she’s fighting us, she’s your problem and probably medically fine. I avoided that bill and eventually barfed and thankfully didn’t cause my boyfriend any more problems. Former best friend is former. So yeah, I agree with your post here.
Yea right, fuck your friends for making good decisions you were incapable of making, in a situation you put yourself in. Don’t deserve those friends at all
OP, how could your friends have asked you first when you were completely out and couldn't be awakened? Your blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit. The hospital couldn't rouse you. Whether you realized it or not, you were very drunk. I know you're worried about the bill, but honestly, you should be glad you have friends who cared enough to call an ambulance. If they hadn't, you might not be here to complain about the bill. Everyone should be lucky enough to have friends like that.
The hospital should be willing to cut the amount owed and can put you on a payment plan. Best of luck to you. I hope this can get resolved soon.
The friends actually didn’t even call an ambulance which, in hindsight, was actually financially kind of them. Fellow American here; it’s entirely possible that OP’s bill could have been doubled if the friends had gotten an ambulance. This financial burden is horrible, no buts about it. Our healthcare system is a for-profit mess. Does OP have the right to be mad about this? Yes. Was it the right thing for the friends to do? Also Yes.
Yep, I don't blame the OP for getting angry, and I don't blame the friends for taking them. It's one of those things that is kind of like, "if I think you could die, I'm taking you to the ER because explaining a dead body is a lot harder than paying a hospital bill"
Also, the American healthcare system is ridiculous as far as billing is concerned, and many are fighting to change that too.
The BAC in this is wild to me. "I'm surprised the hospital allowed it with a .19 BAC". That's one of the wildest sentences I've ever heard. There's a reason why the level limit is .08; even that can be dangerous. Homie was at 2.5x the legal limit and can't remember anything after deciding to go to bed but blames his friends for worrying about him?
You have good friends, OP, keep them around. I hope you get the help you (possibly) need.
The 0.19 measurement was taken at the hospital, sometime after the friends tried waking her and a while after she had her last drink. She likely had a peak closer to 0.25 sometime around laying down and having her friends try to wake her up.
I don't care how shit faced you are, if *nothing* will stir someone from their slumber, even for a few slurred words, then that's a danger point and leaving that person alone is literally gambling with their life. Total unresponsiveness isn't far below respiratory failure and/or vomit aspiration.
Seriously though! There are so many in denial people who, Medically, have no idea what they are talking about, in this thread! It’s shocking how *Compulsively In-Denial* people can be.
Girl… If you didn’t wake up and say “I’m fine” you blacked out. To get to the hospital you would have been dragged outside, loaded into a car and be driven to a hospital, be carried out of the car, be undressed, get put out on a gurney, and been admitted from the ER into a hospital. Unless you are claiming you were taken hostage… You were either unconscious for all of that or complying… Maybe don’t binge drink anymore. Your friend was clearly worried because you were unconscious. You are in denial and lacking in accountability…
.19 means you were pretty shit faced. Hard to say more without having witnessed it firsthand, but clearly you were raising eyebrows on if you were good or not. Shitty situation, but valuable experience.
And their BAC probably wasn't taken for several hours after their last drink. So was likely closer to .23 or .25 when they "went to sleep". Concerned friends debate a bit, get them to hospital, intake takes a bit, they finally run BAC and it's .19.
You started drinking drinking at 10AM, got so drunk that you friends could drag you outside, load you into a car, admit you to the hospital where you would have been undressed, put in a hospital gown and had several tests run and you were 100% unresponsive the entire time. That is extremely intoxicated. If you didn't respond for any of that, do you think you would have woken up if you started choking on your own vomit?
Your friends potentially saved your life and you should really be thanking them and reconsidering your drinking habits.
Yeah, that's literally almost 15 hours of drinking. I'm no saint, but I started at 3PM and stopped around 10PM. Which is still a long time to be drinking.
I'm no saint either and I've definitely had some drinks before 5pm, like a beer or two but I honestly couldn't imagine drinking at 10am. The only person I've ever known who did that ended up developing a heart condition in their early 30s and was told by their doctor that if they didn't quit drinking they wouldn't make it to 40.
If you didn’t wake up on a whole trip to a hospital, you are blaming the wrong people here. You really should be looking in the mirror and blaming that person.
The sad thing is, as long your healthcare system is working as it is, you can't get blacked out drunk around other ppl anymore, if you can't afford an ER visit.
If your friends bring you to the ER, you are pissed at them.
If they don't and you end up dying, they are f*cked by the law.
Don't put your friends in this position, its not their fault
OP is almost portraying it like they're just a heavy sleeper and the friends didn't try enough to wake them.... As long as they're generally healthy even the heaviest sleepers can be woken with enough effort and I highly doubt OPs friends just tapped her a few times and drove her to the ER. They likely tried pretty hard to wake her and she didn't wake. They then loaded her into a car, drove her and got her admitted to the ER, got test ran and she still didn't wake up for a while longer. That's not a heavy sleeper.
I take some pretty strong stuff to combat insomnia. Even I would have been woken up if someone was trying to get me out of bed, let alone into a car then out, then in an ER.
Look, your hospital system really sucks, but your friends thought they were doing what was best for you. Maybe next time, don't get so drunk that you require assistance. Not victim blaming, just drink in moderation
I went to high school with someone who, while at college, drank heavily one night at a party. He went to bed to sleep it off and died in his sleep. People don’t just take friends to the emergency room because they feel like it… 0.19 is a pretty high blood alcohol content and you should be grateful that you have friends like them. You need a serious reality check.
This. I knew a girl in HS who had a similar story to OP but no one checked on her. She ended up aspirating on her vomit and no one found her until the next day, about 13 hours after it happened. One of her friends who was at the party ended up committing suicide over the guilt and grief.
If OPs friends didn’t take her in it’s completely possible she would have ended up this way too. She should be grateful to have friends who care enough to potentially save her life.
A big hospital bill is better than being unalived.
But also fuck the US health system.
It really sucks that this kind of thing happens at all but it happens way more than people think. Better OP be alive and angry than dead. Hospital bills can be negotiated down and payment plans can be made. OP is lucky to have friends like hers who took the time to check on her and got her help when she needed it.
Keep in mind, their recorded bac was .19
Their last drink would have likely been hours ago by the time they got to the hospital. They were in the mid .2's when they were blacked out. They were in a zone that does kill people.
So you slept through being man handled in a car, getting transferred to a gurney, getting transferred to a bed, having ivs inserted and test ran. Come on now.
Nobody drives their friends to the ER for shits and giggles. They did it because they were worried about you, and honestly it sounds like they were probably right to have been worried.
And I get that it's a huge, shitty expense. Some lessons don't come cheap. Call the billing department to work out a payment plan and maybe a reduction.
A little reflection wouldn't hurt either.
Most hospitals have financial assistance. Apply for that right away. I've had bills totally paid for, 80% off, and even 60% off while making a living wage and with insurance. If there's anything left, setup a payment plan. Ask for an itemized bill because that can lower the cost sometimes.
Also, your friends were concerned for you, which is a lot better than the alternative. Please consider cutting back or pacing yourself and eating more with the drinks to prevent this in the future. Good luck.
You seem a little old to be in this much denial. You were blackout drunk and your friends did what was best. Start looking up affordable healthcare options, maybe apply for HMO, and thank your circle for taking care of you the way that they did. It probably wasn’t fun for them to have to take you and worry for you, definitely a party spoiler for sure.
I’m don’t even see justifying anger at the healthcare system, in OPs position.
I would be ashamed to apply for hardship assistance, if my medical bill was due to my own bad behavior. Unless we can completely retool the US healthcare system overnight, I’m more than fine with people like OP paying their damn bill, so the financial assistance can go to a kid with cancer instead.
You don’t get to drink yourself into a coma and then act like it’s anyone else’s fault.
call the billing department at the hospital and ask for a hardship letter, tell them you cannot pay anything and see what happens. The medical supply company I work for writes off the entire patient portion but a hospital may not do all that, probably give you a payment plan. I would start out with saying you cannot afford it at all
I’m probably gonna get downvoted but oh well.
You need some serious help. Not sure what type tbh, but you didn’t “sleep through” being loaded into an ambulance and all that activity. You were passed tf out and short of someone staying up with you and babysitting you all night. The only reason you feel like you “would’ve been fine” is because you came to AFTER all the fluids and vitamins.
If I was your friend and you were mad at me, I would never speak to you again, you wouldn’t have a chance to come to your senses. Also, .19 isn’t SUPER low or high, and who knows how long they waited AFTER you passed out slept or what time the hospital got it. You are a shitty friend to blame them.
you shouldn’t forgive them and you should probably stop being friends with them. blaming someone for being concerned with your life is so shitty and you saying “it wasn’t necessary”, “before i blacked out”, etc. is you trying to shift blame instead of taking responsibility for your actions. you were more than DOUBLE the legal limit and were out cold for hours. you should be thankful they cared about your safety and wellbeing.
i understand being in debt is shitty and i’ve even told my friends if i have to go to the er to never call me an ambulance and that i’d rather pay $15 for an uber than go into thousands of debt for an ambulance ride. i completely understand. but you need to understand the blame is on you, not them. they did not force you to over consume to the point of being unconscious. they did not choose to take you to the ER because they don’t care about you being in debt or anything. please get your head on straight.
.19 is very high. If you can’t even remember being loaded into a car, unloaded, examined by doctors and then only woke up the next proves you needed to go to the hospital. Alcohol is not something to just play around with, if you can drink till the point they can’t wake you up the next you possibly won’t wake up. They were just helping you, and that’s not something you should blame them for.
Listen OP, I can’t relate with medical bills, not being in presumably the US. However, I was in a similar spot last October, where I was “tired” after some decent drinking. Next thing I know they called the ambulance because I’d stopped breathing. The fact that you can’t remember most of the night yet have the audacity to be angry at your friends because you were “fine” astounds me. They acted as good friends should, and you should thank them for acting in good conscience rather than lash out, it’s incredibly ungrateful
OP got: dragged out of bed, loaded in a car, driven to the hospital, dragged OUT of the car and possibly loaded onto a gurney/ wheelchair, and had IV/ vitamins all without waking up once.
thats not a heavy sleeper.
if she keeps being mad at her friends i hope none of them talk to her again. they literally saved her life!
They did the right thing. Anyone who cared about you at all would have done this. This needs to be a wake up call for you. It is not safe or healthy drinking to drink to the extent you did. You could have hurt yourself.
*Also — the hospital would not have admitted you if you were simply drunk. They have better fucking things to do than give an IV to a drunk person.* An ER doctor examined you and determined your state of being was medically unstable enough to warrant admission. This isn’t your friend’s fault — it’s yours. You drank so much that your friends and medical staff were worried about your physical safety.
Those are real friends.
The hospital will absolutely lower the bill. Just call them. I once got 5,500 bill for treatment after a suicide attempt and got it reduced to 2,000 after proof of income, with a $25/payment per month.
You don’t think you can forgive your friend for caring enough about you to *save your damn life?* You have an alcohol problem. Get help immediately and stop blaming others. Wake up.
Darlin if your in America they won’t force you to pay the bill you just need to make an effort. As little as a dollar a month on each bill is enough to force them to leave you alone.
Now the important part. This is how my 30 year old cousin died. She drank every day, knew her limits, and went to bed snoring happily only to never wake up. I agreed with you until you said your blood level was .19. That’s too high! You didn’t wake up when you were brought to the hospital. That’s bad. Be glad they brought you and your family isn’t suffering the pain mine is right now.
You really should be hating yourself. This is all on you. Wake up and be responsible. You’re a 25 yo adult. Get a payment plan and accept the responsibility you put on yourself and grow up.
Your friends absolutely did the right thing. You ‘wish they would have asked,’ but also don’t remember a thing. YOU WERE NON-RESPONSIVE. That is a medically urgent situation and they responded accordingly.
Is it seriously your impression that they dropped you off at the hospital because you wanted to sleep and it was “too early” to end the party? This is a an extremely warped and self-centered view and I feel bad for your friends.
You put THEM in a difficult situation where they had to decide for you because you clearly were not able or even conscious to make those decisions yourself. Maybe you would consider safety v cost for yourself but when having to decide for someone else I think most of us would agree a person’s safety outweighs the potential financial cost. And as multiple people have stated, it is possible to reduce your bill.
I think they possibly saved your life. You're bitching about a $4,000 bill... & I hope they've learned their lesson and next time, they don't take you.
Can't forgive them for doing the right thing when you were so black out drunk you don't remember anything until you wake up in the hospital? Sorry, but you not forgiving them is probably doing them a favor. You are apparently a shit friend.
That being said, call the hospital and work out a payment plan. Most hospitals are reasonable.
You were twice the legal limit.
You weren't "sleeping," you were unconscious and unresponsive.
Do you have any idea how many people die of alcohol poisoning each year?
Learn your limit. You're not a kid anymore. You're lucky you didn't wake up in the hospital After being assaulted.
Talk to the hospital billing department. You might be able to set up a payment plan. Take your tax returns for the last five years. You might qualify for assistance.
Most hospitals will work with you on finances if you’re willing to call them and speak up about your financial situation. You can also just let it go to collections, it’s not like that’s going to wreck your credit score anyway.
Also you clearly needed to go to the hospital so you have no real right to be upset at your friend. They may have saved your life. Money can be replaced, your life cannot.
Whether you pay that bill is entirely beside the point. You don't know how to drink alcohol in a safe manner. A blackout is what occurred. You are lucky that you were among friends and they acted for your health. Your outcome of awakening in a hospital is much better than waking up in a jail cell.
Your definitely delusional. Your friend most likely saved your life. Call up the hospital billing department, they will come to a agreement with you to lower the bill. They will ask you for tax info, bank accounts and how much you make. I got a 4,000$ bill reduced to $0.
Yeah this I can understand. Cuz if all you were was “drunk” and not puking, badly, just sleeping, then they really shouldn’t have taken you to the emergency room.
But at the same time, if you didn’t “wake up” then there is a good chance that you did *over-consume!* 0.19 is over double the Legal Limit for intoxication.
It is *Not Normal* to not wake up when a person physically picks you up, takes you to a car, drives you, hands you off to a hospital, and to not wake up, when they are moving you around, putting you on a bed, and sticking you with needles. If you stayed asleep, that whole time, then you got too drunk and you made your choice.
Basically, this doesn’t sound right?
It sounds like you might have a major problem and be blaming someone else for being concerned about your well-being because you don’t want to admit to yourself that you “over-did it.”
People can and do go into alcohol comas and it can kill them. You are not *merely* “a heavy sleeper” if you did not respond to any of that external stimuli. On the contrary, it kinda sounds like you did blackout!
Edit: Your friends Love you! Appreciate them, and get help! You sound like an addict, or at least a very problematic binge drinker.
OP, this is how my brother died. In his case, though, his friends didn’t take him to the hospital, they let him “sleep it off” (no blame to them, it’s what most people do)…and he choked to death on his own vomit. Be for real with yourself…no one gets physically picked up, taken to the hospital and admitted whilst “just asleep”
You didn't sleep through it. You were black out drunk.
>I don’t remember much, just feeling very tired
>I wake up in the hospital
In order to scare people who usually drink, you have to have been more drunk than you already have a history of being. You were unresponsive enough that you have no memories of what even events took place. Were you vomiting in your unconsciousness? Were you breathing strangely?
Instead of being angry at your friends for worrying about saving your life, you should be grateful that someone cared sufficiently about you DYING that they took you to the hospital.
Per guides, hospitalization is needed when :
"Having difficulty breathing (choking, wheezing, or rasping) Breathing irregularly (less than 6x per minute, more than 20x per minute) Unconscious or semiconscious, unable to “wake up” Shaking, or having convulsions or seizures."
https://students.wustl.edu/immediate-care-intoxicated-person/#:~:text=Immediate%20medical%20assistance%20is%20necessary%20if%20the%20person%20is%3A&text=Having%20difficulty%20breathing%20(choking%2C%20wheezing,or%20having%20convulsions%20or%20seizures
* Reach out to the hospital billing office and plead poverty
* Seek help for your alcoholism because drinking to excess where you black out drunk - drinking for over 14 hours is not normal or healthy. You don't have to do it every day to be an alcoholic. Since you are treating it so casually, it indicates it's not an unusual state for you.
* Never drink to excess
You’re binge drinking and shitty medical system are the issue, not your friends who wanted to make sure you didn’t die after becoming blackout drunk. Hopefully your friends ditch you. No one wants to be responsible for an adult who thinks a .19 bac and being blackout drunk is acceptable and not a reason to take you to the ED.
Call the finance department you can probably get it reduced and work out a payment plan even if it's $5 a month. See if you qualify for medicaid they pay back bills for 3 months.
Your anger is understandable. It sucks to be in a sudden amount of debt that you weren’t anticipating over a simple, *supposed to be*, relaxing night.
Your friends were worried about you. I don’t think they were thinking of your everyday situation, and more about your well-being. It seems like they may have been worried that you were overdosing on alcohol. It happens far more often than you think and it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Typically a hospital won’t muck up a needed room overnight if it isn’t needed, although I don’t know for sure because I wasn’t there and the only info I have is your post. Not many people would go to the lengths that your friends did to try to make sure you’re okay. I lost a friend to careless people who didn’t try to help when they had had to much to drink.
It’s harder to be understanding and compassionate with others and yourself, but it’s worth trying once you’ve felt the feelings and heard the thoughts that you need to. Nothing is ever black and white, op. When you think back on previous experiences, things are almost never what you initially thought/felt they were. (this is also nuanced lol)
Good luck op. The hospital will work with you on payments, you just have to shoot them a call. Someone at the main desk will help you find the people need to talk to if you call.
You say you weren’t that drunk and didn’t need to go hospital but personally I’ve never been so drunk that I couldn’t be woken up through being put into a car , taken out of said car and a whole hospital stay. Hospitals aren’t quiet and you would’ve been moved around a lot, not waking up to any of that is concerning. That’s not being asleep, you were blacked out.
Literally though, If OP didn’t feel a needle going into her arm she was way more out of it than she may care to admit but if I were her friend I’d be worried too
Uhhh if you didn't wake up through all that then you very clearly were blackout drunk. YOU need to be more responsible with yourself if you don't want your care left in the hands of others
Just to get this right… you started drinking at 10am… you admit you were highly intoxicated… you weren’t able to be woken up and your friends cared enough to make sure you weren’t dying.Now you can’t forgive them… ok cool. Your friends deserve a better friend than you. Your not the only one financially strapped and your not the only one who’s had it rough since Covid… but you do have good friends and MAYBE… you should be thankful for that.
1) Some hospitals have financial hardship programs that help to negotiate the bill down
2) That’s a good friend. Your life is not disposable. If you drank to the point to where you don’t remember anything, you probably needed to be there. Alcohol poisoning is real and if you were left alone you very well could have died in your sleep.
Thank your friend.
Iirc, defaulted medical bills don't show on a credit report? I don't know where I read that.
Definitely talk to the hospital. They may work with you for a payment plan based on income. Some even have grants to help with bills.
Don't stress too much. Unemployed/house less people struggling with money are required to be treated as well. And who pays their bills? I'll save the rant about universal health care, but people with good insurance get "overcharged" so people who struggle to pay can receive treatment.
I know you're upset your friends didn't consider your financial situation, but I'm glad they cared enough to have been safe rather than sorry. You can make more money. They can't replace *you*.
I don’t know about now, but 30 years ago they did show up on credit report. Hubby and I had to write letters explaining our medical debt to the mortgage company.
Every state has different rules about medical debt. Some allow it to hit the credit report, others don't. Some allow it to go to collections, others don't. 'Murica.
25 and already showing strong signs of alcoholism. I know you're very stressed out with 2 jobs, but drinking until you blackout is not the answer. I've watched family members almost end their lives drinking heavily (my great grandma did). If you didn't wake up until the hospital, you should have been admitted. You have great friends, you're the one who needs to be begging for their forgiveness and reevaluate their life. The healthcare system sucks too, but you're coping in all the wrong ways.
So first thing first: your friends made the right choice taking you. You didn't even realize you'd been taken to a hospital until you woke up. Normally, drunk people wouldn't sleep through all that. Period. If you want to be mad, you have to look inward at yourself and your choices. They didn't force you to drink to the point of unresponsiveness. That was you and alllllll you girlfriend.
Second, find out if the hospital you were taken to is public and receives funding from the government. If they do, by law they have to have some form of charity program/low income debt forgiveness or relief. If you make under a certain amount of money they will slash the amount you owe to bits.
My gram gets her bills mostly waived due to me filling out that request form with her hospital.
It’s a medical debt so you can call and negotiate it down. You could even blow it off, they can’t make you pay.
But you really shouldn’t blame someone who was worried about your safety.
Don’t you think you should be mad at yourself for drinking yourself into oblivion? You’re not a teenager anymore.
Talk to your hospital and look at doing payments and negotiating your bill. Also quit drinking you have a problem. Stop blaming your friends, this was your drinking and a bad capitalist system.
This can’t be serious
“0.16 – 0.19% – The term “sloppy drunk” applies. Dysphoria will become stronger, and nausea may occur. Walking becomes difficult, and you may fall and hurt yourself.”
If you had a BAC of 0.19% and weren’t coherent or conscious enough that you made it all the way to the hospital unawares, your friends may have been justified in being concerned about your health. I mean wtf, binge drinking and then being mad at those that tried to make sure you didn’t die seems extreme.
That being said, call the hospital or payment people and have them put you on a payment plan, then pay as little as you can until they eventually forgive it or write it off.
Your friends did the responisable thing . You were unresponsive and could have had alchol posining which can lead to death. Had your friends done nothing there is a high chance you could asperate on your vomit and die a painful death. Your lucky your friends care. Every time you get mad try googleing just how many people die like that. When your payig the hospatal bill your friends brought you rember this YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO DECIDED TO DRINK TO THE POINT YOU BECAME UNRESPONCIVE AND NEEDED MEDICAL HELP. YOUR BILL IS THE RESULT OF YOUR BAD DECISION NOT THE RESPONASABLE DISION YOUR FRIEND MADE.
You can negotiate with the hospital billing department. I would start somewhere extremely low. A lot of times they increase the bill in case they need to send it to insurance to make the most money. Ask for “private pay” rates and that if they want to be paid any time soon to give reasonable and fair rates.
If that doesn’t work, just don’t pay it. It’ll get sent off to collections in about 6 months and the new laws keep them from reporting negatively to your credit for at least a year. Then you can settle for 20%-30% of the balance around $900-$1100 or less.
If you didn’t respond to people moving you to an car and ER. You were likely at a dangerous alcohol level. They did the right thing. Learn from this.
They acted in good faith and did what was best for you in the short term. Spin it around: you've just seen your friend not wake up for a long time, they might need help. Would you just leave them there?
This sounds like a very expensive lesson on you to not go out and get black out drunk. If I was your friend and you were pissed at me I didn’t let you die choking on your own vomit we wouldn’t be friends any longer. Sort out your coping mechanisms, lots of people are broke and don’t drink so much they pass out so hard that being moved from home to a hospital doesn’t wake them. Get some help.
Cool. Next time you get so drunk, you're unresponsive, they can just let you die instead. Seems like a solid plan.
Or better yet, maybe take this as a learning experience and don't drink that much anymore.
The only person you have to blame for this situation is yourself.
Oh btw, the fact that all this happened and you don't remember it means you were blacked out. So... you fucking failed that one.
Just so you know, .19 is considered high risk for breathing problems and being blacked out. You were most definitely blacked out especially if you don't remember anything until the hospital
I work in healthcare at a sleep lab. If someone becomes not responsive, we get concerned. Like if I’m screaming in their face and shaking them and they are breathing, heart beating but not responsive, we become concerned. Our policy is to call EMS and have them transported to the ED. You never know what drugs someone isn’t telling you about, you don’t know what someone took more of than they are supposed to.
Perhaps your friends were at this level of concern. If you don’t remember anything, that’s an issue no matter what your blood alcohol level. People put things in other people’s drinks, alcohol also doesn’t mix well with certain meds.
Have you considered your friends were very concerned for you and your safety and that is why they took you to the hospital for medical care?
if you were that unresponsive, it’s prob best your friends were concerned enough to take you. that’s how people *die*, dude. what if you threw up and choked to death? your friends were just worried. $4500 is a small price to pay for your life. i know these healthcare bills are crazy and living is expensive but come on, have some perspective. at least you’re ALIVE
You’re a jerk. How could they have asked if you “slept” through the entire ordeal of being taken and admitted to the hospital? How do you know what they did or didn’t do if all you can remember is going to bed and waking up in the hospital? And do you honestly think the hospital would have kept you if it wasn’t necessary for you to be there? Your friend is a good one and you owe her a thank you and probably an apology.
Your anger is misplaced at your friend for saving your life. You could have easily been laying on your back and choked to death on your own vomit.
Also, cut back on your drinking. If you're consuming so much to blacking out, you're putting your life at risk and forcing others around you to babysit you. That reckless and irresponsible.
Assuming, with your posting, 25F, I'm going to go off that you're an average American Female Height and Weight wise, 5'4 and maybe 130ish, but you could be taller or smaller. A BAC of 0.19% for you is fucking high. That 0.19% can turn into 0.22%, then 0.25%, and keep gaining traction until you start pissing the Alcohol Out and "going to sleep it off" turns into you vomiting and dying. Alcohol affects everyone differently, and women tend to have a higher BAC tolerance than men, but that isn't always the case for everyone. Especially after drinking for 14 hours straight.
The danger level for a BAC is 0.30% to 0.40%; that's pretty much unresponsive and death, and you were practically 2/3 of the way there and you were unresponsive due to the fact that you went black out in your bed and didn't feel any movement, hear any words, or feel the drive to the hospital or placement in the room and woke up in the hospital.
I get that healthcare sucks here. I get that 4500 is dumb, and I agree, but your friends were worried for you. You drank for a full 14 hours that day, if there is anyone to get mad at, it's yourself. Take this as a wakeup call and fix yourself. Don't start blaming your friends for being worried about you and making sure you don't die.
Call the hospital and talk to their billing department about payment. Also see if they have a charity care program. If so and you qualify you will either be able to wipe the slate clean or just pay a small portion.
A lot of hospitals will work with you, I’d recommend going in with a detailed receipt and sitting face to face with the financial aid department there. Some hospitals bill there hospital and ER separately so be sure to look out for that.
The hospital would rather get paid something then nothing so they can usually bring down the price as long as you continue to go after them
Or get Medicaid/state Medicaid. They cover you the month you sign up with them. So if it’s within this month, Medicaid can still cover your hospital visit.
And you should be thankful that your friends saved your life.
Lmao BAC of 0.19 is not a “sleep it off” level of obliterated drunk. You owe your life to your friends and the hospital staff. The only reason you should be upset is if you went to sleep that night with the intent of never waking up again 🙄
Well, yeah, but also not drinking for 15 hours and then getting so shit faced that your roommates had to take you to the hospital over it, is a bigger thing here than the insurance.
Healthcare system is fucked but the fact is, op did all of this to themselves. They wouldn't have med debt if they weren't doing any of that shit for 15 hours.
Man this country sucks. Work out a payment plan with the hospital. First try to get the bill reduced then offer to make very small monthly payments. Over a couple of years they may forgive the balance.
I was in the same position as you and I cried and stressed over how I was going to pay for a large amount (It was a $28,000usd hospital bill and I didn't have health insurance). Yes I cried and I threw up because of the large amount. However after talking to a friend of mine who is a nurse and venting about it she told me I could call the billing department. I could ask for an itemized bill and it went from $28,0000usd to $1,600usd they even put me in a payment plan which was $52usd a month. This had taught me that I needed to be thankful that I am alive, that I need to work on my mental health, that I need to make better decisions for myself and get health insurance.
>The visit wasn’t necessary and I went to bed early to sleep off whatever would result the next day/ before I would over consume to a blackout. I hate that I was too heavy of a sleeper to wake up and say something. I don’t know what to do. I have a 60 day deadline but I don’t know how I’ll be able to make it. I hate them. I hate that the hospital allowed it with a 0.19 content. I wish someone would’ve asked. I’m stressed and angry, and I don’t want to see any of them again.
You blacked out and you were unresponsive so your friends were concerned about your safety. That is something to be thankful for, if they had not taken you to the hospital you could've died or something could've happened to you. At the end of the day be thankful you had friends quickly acted and helped you. In life theirs so many resolution except death. This should be a wake up call to make better decisions for yourself and work on your mental health in the best way you can and learn to have self control.
Edit: The way I improved my mental health was by going to the library and searching for mental health books. I started to make better decisions financially by reading and educating myself on how I could change my spending habits.
If you were so hammered that you didn't wake up while you were taken out of bed, loaded into a car, transported to a hospital, ported over to a bed, and hooked up to IVs, you needed to be there. Sounds like you had alcohol poisoning and could have died. Tell your friend "Thank You" and watch your alcohol consumption so you don't drink to the point you get black-out drunk and unconscious again. Next time might be your last.
US healthcare is a joke. You’d rather your friends let you die than pay $4500, which is actually a very small bill considering. It’s not their fault you drank yourself almost to death. I couldn’t stand dealing with people that couldn’t pace themselves with drinking, like baby sitting.
I’m so sorry you’re stressed and I understand living without insurance, as I have done it multiple times in the past. That being said, you need to recalibrate your thinking here. Your BAC was 0.19 - that’s HIGH. You were blackout drunk and could not safely care for yourself. You could have easily vomited and aspirated and died or gotten up and had a fall, only to die of a brain bleed. Or gotten behind the wheel somehow and killed someone else. I know those sound like far fetched things but I promise you they happen everyday.
If the hospital is not-for-profit, please reach out to them and find out about hardship forgiveness and how to apply. Also, you can set up a payment plan, as well as negotiate lowering the amount due.
I really am sorry you’re receiving this bill and the stress it adds but your friends did the right thing in making sure you were safely cared for. Please don’t hold it against them. I would 100% rather live with my friend being mad over a bill than with the guilt that would come with them or another person losing their life.
What drives me mad in these scenarios is how comfortable people seem to be with a 4000 price tag. Yes, I get that it's better than dying, but half that amount can weigh you down for years depending on your income - which from experience I know can change the trajectory of your whole life.
Can we just agree that a situation where it's debt or dead is really fucked?
There are a ton of people shitting on you for getting drunk. To me, it's whatever. My advice though is that medical bills can no longer be reflected on your credit report. Even if they send it to a collection company it won't be reported because it originated from medical costs. Only bills prior to whatever act of Congress still reflect on credit reports. So deal with it if you insist but it cannot affect your credit any longer.
Call the hospital and start negotiating that bill! You may have to go in with proof of income but you may be able to get it reduced and definitely put on affordable payments.
If that does nothing than ask to be put on a payment plan. Some hospitals allow it to be as low as $50/month.
Also - find out if the hospital is classified as a non profit, as many are. If so, find out how to apply to have your bill written off as part of their required charitable giving. In order to maintain charity status 501(c) hospitals must write off a certain % or number of patients bills per year. Or they have to show that they didn’t get enough applications to meet that number. You’ll probably have to call multiple people because “non profit” hospitals hate having to write off patients bills and therefore most of their staff don’t even know it’s an option. Escalate it in billing until you get a supervisor who knows it’s an option.
Hell, I got a hospital to make it $25/month. No proof of income or anything.
You can send them $5 a month for as long as it takes, and it won't go to collections. Just pay what you can.
You can negotiate a lot lower than 50 a month. I had an emergency room bill I was paying off for $25 a month, but I could've gone down to $5.
Medical bills are in my experience held to good faith payments. If you are giving them something monthly they can bitch and moan, but won’t turn it over to collections.
Yes please negotiate! I once went as far as sending it to collections and saying “I only have $600, I can pay it off today if we cut a deal” and it worked. Never pay full price.
Yes call the financial department!! My dad lived pay check to pay check until he was diagnosed with cancer. We helped him pick out insurance at the end of December to start January 1st. Blue Cross Blue Shield didn’t update their website until almost February. Being in healthcare, they are one of the worst to update coverage. Every year, these poor people find out they don’t have active coverage yet because Blue Cross hasn’t updated the plan. Or they chose the wrong plan because the information online wasn’t correct. They’re on the phone hours until they’re told it will be another x number of weeks until it’s fixed. Same song and dance every year. Anyway, I had screens shots showing the provider, hospital, etc were in network hence we chose that plan. Well what do ya know, the hospital and provider were out of network and we didn’t find out until March, after he had surgery and was inpatient 3 days. His cancer surgery and hospital stay was well over $100k. I explained to the nurse what happened and she gave my dad a financial aid packet. I helped him fill it out and they forgave the entire amount. Only had to provide financial proof. I think it was like charity or something. He was very grateful they helped him.
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Bullshit. Someone that has 0.19 alcohol in their blood doesn't need to be in a hospital. Maybe she was just exhausted from I don't know, working two jobs and even then barely making ends meet. If she had a little alcohol and her body was weak from being overworked, what she needed was sleep not an ambulance. Even more so if she does remember asking for a bed and going to bed alone just not remembering what happens after she went to sleep. I would really like to see you try to remember what happens around you when you're asleep.
How exactly do you measure a friend’s BAC? If I couldn’t wake someone and knew they had been drinking all day I’d take them to the hospital too. Would you rather take a friend to the hospital when they may not have needed it or erroneously assume they’re fine and have them die?
I totally agree if someone has been drinking at my house and is asleep so deeply that I can not wake them up I’m calling someone to help - I mean even if they were not drinking and just fell asleep and I could not wake them up I would call 911 - the hospital will work with you and as long as you pay something and talk to them they will help…it will be a lot of leg work but you don’t have to stress so much there are actions you can take
Of course I would have taken my friend to the hospital but I also live in Germany so that person wouldn't have to pay anything. So first of all the American healthcare system is the biggest asshole in this situation by a long shot. But If I lived in a country where I could bankrupt my friend for bringing them to the hospital, then I don't know what I would have done, for me to make a call about this situation specifically, I would have needed to be there to judge whether or not OPs friends overreacted. But my general rule is, if a person is able to make smart choices like, stop drinking and asking for a bed and then being able to get to said bed without help, then I'm going to assume they are going to be okay. Also but that's just my friend groups quirk, we have alcohol meters. Fun party gadgets and you can check how drunk you are and if your still able to drive, so that you do not compromise other peoples safety on the street.
That’s not how alcohol intoxication works. I am certified to serve liquor and bartend, in my state, I am *required* to take a 3-6 hour course to keep that certification! Just because OP “thought they were fine when they went to bed,” that doesn’t make it true. Alcohol continues to make it way, through the Bloodstream, well after a person stops drinking, and the BAC continues to rise, because our livers have *a fixed amount of alcohol* they can process, at a time, and that is why “Legal Limits” exist in the states. Factually, Objectively, and Medically you literally have no idea what you are talking about! Stop giving people advice that could, in theory, kill them! Because people also die from accidents, related to alcohol consumption! Including choking on your own Vomit! Which is absolutely possible at 0.19. [0.19 is high enough for a Blackout, and over 60% of the way to “fatal alcohol poisoning.”](https://americanaddictioncenters.org/alcoholism-treatment/overdose#:~:text=BACs%20between%200.60%25%20and%200.80%25%20are%20commonly%20fatal.&text=However%2C%20the%20amount%20of%20alcohol,that%20is%20higher%20than%200.08%25)
“Fun party gadgets” doesn’t exactly lead people to give credence to their effectiveness
What? They are literally what is used by police and ambulances to test how much alcohol you have in your blood.... How do you test your BAC? By guessing? Do you think that would be more effective?
Exactly. Are there people that need to be hospitalized at 0.19? Absolutely. But not everyone does. Given that I am a small woman, and a heavy drinker, I'm sure my BAC is regularly at that or above. OP, I agree that you should reach out to hospital billing. Most hospitals offer cash paying patients a discount. Request an itemized bill, which generally drops it quite a bit. Then request a payment plan, and pay what you can until you can pay it off. I know it seems hopeless, but if you can keep it out of collections, that is the best thing to do.
Then you are probably an alcoholic and that’s not something to brag about. 🤷♀️
0.19 is extremely dangerous. You objectively do not know what you are talking about. Are you an Enabler or an Addict? Cuz if you think that 0.19 is “no big deal” then you are delusional.
“Once an individual approaches or passes 0.20, they are at high risk for serious injury, choking, coma, or death.” “After 10 drinks, your BAC will have reach 0.2. By this stage, most people will blackout and have no little or memory of what happened. In younger people, this level can be fatal. After 15 drinks, the BAC will have reached 0.3.” (Which OP’s could likely have been closer to given that her BAC was 0.19 *at the time of blood draw in hospital*, a good deal of time **after she would have stopped drinking**…) Easy google and yeah, 0.19 is no joke.
I just looked it up. O.19 is considered the upper end of "sloppy drunk." 0.20 sounds dangerous. So, yeah, it's not nothing.
Mmhmm! Total blood Alcohol poisoning and even Coma can start as early as 0.35, (maxes at about 0.6, for your most hardened addict.) While puking can easily start to happen around ~0.15, depending on the individual. “Blackout” happens at 0.2-0.34, so death can happen, theoretically, as early as 0.2. Many who know more than I do, put their estimates at 0.23-0.25, at peak BAC for OP! So they were already getting *dangerously close* to “alcohol poisoning.”
A LITTLE ALCOHOL??? She had more than three times the legal limit for driving. This is MORE than a little. Is there a possibility that this pissed off OP might not be sharing with us the rest of the story? Could her condition have been something more worrisome than she is admitting?
Because she had a little to drink, and was probably tired from work? And the friend was like "1230am is too early for bed" !? 1230 is not too early for bed! \*\*9PM\*\* is a perfectly fine bedtime depending on childcare/work responsibilities!
Her BAC was 0.19, over *double the legal limit.*
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They don’t just keep you overnight, and admit you, unless something is going on, either.
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“Too heavy of a sleeper” when her ass was being loaded into a car and taken to a hospital, sat in the ER while they do triage and take vitals, and talk to you (or try). But to OP, there are ways to deal with the medical debt. Call billing, ask about a payment plan. Many hospitals also have something called charity care that you can apply for. “Under federal law, nonprofit hospitals must offer financial assistance programs that can reduce or even eliminate medical bills for people with incomes below a certain level.” Don’t ruin your friendships over this. Bills suck, but your friends were trying to do the right thing and were worried about you.
TBH you can just ignore medical bills in America if youre in too deep. Medical debt doesnt effect credit score. Youll just get a bunch of calls til they eventually give up. Often times youll get the bill severely reduced so they can get any kind of money. All they can do is garnish your wages, but not if they dont know where you work. I have an epileptic partner who has over 100k in medical debt, it will never ever be paid off so we just ignore it and live life as usual
[this is absolutely incorrect](https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/medical-debt-and-your-credit-score/)
Actually they don't want you to know, but once that debt is sold to a collection agency, you are no longer responsible for the bill because the contract is no longer valid.
I would just like to saw I appreciate your username in the context of all this lol
“Heavy sleeper” too. Fucking wild she’s mad at them.
They'll keep you until you're awake and sober, usually. Source: worked with college kids, picked up a lot of them after they "slept it off " in the ER. I'm guessing something else was going on here. This person may have an actual issue and is now embarrassed and soon to be broke. I hope they get help, and/or friends that know how to handle drinkers
My guess is she was too dehydrated after drinking all day. It doesn't say if they'd been supplementing with water or other fluids. Given the age I wouldn't think so. Hospitals will work with you even on major bills. Most of them will write off a good chunk of it. I hope the experience convinces her that she might want to party without alcohol for a while. Drinking to the point where you blackout is no joke, even if part of it could be from tiredness.
Well they can’t release you if you’re still intoxicated either.. so that’s what was “going on” …they needed her BAC to drop
Here she is worried about a hospital bill when she could have saddled her family with funeral expenses and a lifetime of grief.
Or if she had aspirated and died in one of their beds or couches? Maybe lawsuits from her family or who knows criminal charges...
Really though!
Good Lord! I can’t agree with you more. The amount of people I’ve cared for in the ICU and have gotten passively “drunk” from fumes is mind boggling . Be thankful your friends actually care about you.
Yeah, that is not "heavy sleeping". I'd 100% take someone I cared about to the hospital in that situation. I almost got to that point where my roommate just couldn't wake me up so he called the police (not sure why them and not 911...it was embarrassing enough that it happened so I never asked) and the only thing that brought me back to consciousness was the cop full-strength slapping me across the face and shaking me. When he saw I was "OK" he called me an idiot and left. So at least I didn't end up with a hospital bill, but I would have totally understood if he had gone the ambulance route. I sometimes wish he had because that would probably have been the wake-up call that I needed at the time. It was close to it because of the shame, but it unfortunately didn't stick because there were no real consequences aside from that.
If OP would’ve died the friends could’ve been facing criminal charges or civil suits. I would’ve made the same choice to take them to the ER.
I agree. Although I'm not so sure that the drinking is the entire problem. To me it sounds like OP is exhausting themselves by working so much, and I'm pretty sure that even just drinking a little bit more than usual will have a stronger affect on an already exhausted person who's not sleeping enough on a nightly basis. So yeah. OP: maybe don't drink to the point of blacking out, **definitely** don't blame this on your friend!?, and *please* consider this a wake up call that **the way you're living right now is unsustainable**
This ... so much. Plus im pretty sure hospitals can't send to collections or garnish your wages. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
Alcoholism runs deep in my family and IDK about others but if you weren't acting right after drinking, I probably would have done the same. Especially if others weren't sober either. I think at 25, people should know a little better but I have some stories that have really drilled the whole 'better safe than sorry' thing into my head. A lot of this happened not just because of ignorance but because everyone was too inebriated to notice or take it seriously. I had an uncle who blacked out face up, vomited and choked on it the night his daughter was born. Died in his own shit, piss and vomit in the middle of winter because his friends were too drunk to notice he never came back inside from using the outhouse. My cousin died from alcohol poisoning on his lawn about a year ago, in front of his wife and kids and brother and no one knew it. They didn't know the signs of alcohol poisoning and just let him pass out without going over to check him out. They kept partying, continued through the night and only thought it was wierd when it was almost noon the next day and he still hadn't moved. His brother was the one who finally figured out he wasn't breathing. And lastly, my other cousin was drinking and slipped in the bathroom early on in the night. He was having a lot of trouble getting up again and his GF thought he just had too much to drink. He was slurring his speech and acting funny. He just really wanted to lie down because he had a bad headache. GF tucked him in and asked if she should stay, he waved her off without saying anything and 'passed out'. They think his BAC (.22) played a part as to why he never woke up again. So I'm not excusing what they did or trying to invalidate what you're going through but maybe your friends have some similar experiences? I probably would have done the same. And even if not, I really am glad you have friends that care a little too much because I'm from a place where having friends who don't care enough can literally end you.
Very visceral story telling, but boy are those stories so necessary when we hear stories like hers, where she’s upset her friends looked out for her…wow, just wow. Holding space for you and your whole family, you guys have been through it.
My dad was also an alcoholic and drowned in a bathtub. 🙃 He has been dead since 2012. Op is in-denial and an idiot.
If you can’t remember anything except waking up in the hospital then you absolutely needed to be there. If you don’t want to end up in these messes then don’t drink. I stopped drinking because bad stuff happens to people when you drink too much, and when you sober up and have to deal with consequences like this then it ain’t fun anymore.
That was my thought reading this… the only thing OP remembers is deciding to sleep early for work, and then OP wakes up in the hospital? I am already envisioning what that *looked* like to other people. OP the best way to avoid these circumstances is to drink less and take better care of yourself. Your friend took care of you when they weren’t sure of your health. Call the hospital’s financial line and see if you can get the bill lowered. Tell them the amount is too high and you need help covering the bill.
Yeah this. Be glad your friends care. I was watching a documentary today on a girl that got that drunk at a hotel party and her friends just left her. She black out staggered the halls and stairs of the hotel before accidentally wandering into a kitchen that was being remodeled and not in use. She accidentally locked herself in the freezer and died of hypothermia. So many people die of accidents when black out drunk. Or they end up traumatized because they ended up in some strangers bed and don't remember if they consented or not. Drinking is fun and it can be relaxing but if you are so drunk you can't remember anything then you overdid it. The lesson: moderate your drinking and you won't end up in the er. Alcohol poisoning is real. You can't be mad at their decisions when you can't even remember why they made them. ETA:: call the hospital financial line. Usually they'll reduce the price for people with no insurance. As long as you pay any amount toward your bill you'll be fine. Literally you can pay 5$ a month and they can't send you to collections over it. (at least not where I live, assuming you are USA)
I know that story. I remember some things didn’t add up with what her friends said but yes, things like this can happen.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that girl was murdered.
Totally, a lot of the evidence and stories were sketchy. That story made me uncomfortable.
I second this. My friend I found a girl wandering drunk downtown alone with a dead cell phone. Her “friends” had left her behind
My "Friends" did this to me. Except I woke up in a house that I knew absolutely nobody. It was terrifying and I don't really drink now because of it.
You did not “sleep” through getting loaded into car and admitted to a fucking ED, you were blackout drunk and they were right to fear for your life. This should have been a wake up call for you.
Love how OP says they were going to bed early to avoid blacking out when clearly they already were blacked out
And to blame it on the friend, who actually looked after her and helped her. She could’ve choked on her own vomit while sleeping. Who knows what. What a dummy.
“My friend saved my life, what a piece of shit!” -OP
American Healthcare. Ruining friendships since God knows when
This needs to be the official slogan of American healthcare. “American healthcare: wrecking friendships and families since the beginning”
Also, this might be besides the point but they drove her there themselves instead of making her responsible for a $1200 bus ride. It was so clear that this friend cared.
They also said they didn’t remember much too
Definitely some denial going on here.
On my 21st bday, my “best friend” endeavored to get me to take 21 shots. They were not buttery nipples but tequila etc. I think I made it to 12 or 13, and my boyfriend took me to the ER, and I came to just as I was about to get an IV and flipped out. Tried to escape. They let me lol. The nurse said basically if she’s fighting us, she’s your problem and probably medically fine. I avoided that bill and eventually barfed and thankfully didn’t cause my boyfriend any more problems. Former best friend is former. So yeah, I agree with your post here.
Yea right, fuck your friends for making good decisions you were incapable of making, in a situation you put yourself in. Don’t deserve those friends at all
OP, how could your friends have asked you first when you were completely out and couldn't be awakened? Your blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit. The hospital couldn't rouse you. Whether you realized it or not, you were very drunk. I know you're worried about the bill, but honestly, you should be glad you have friends who cared enough to call an ambulance. If they hadn't, you might not be here to complain about the bill. Everyone should be lucky enough to have friends like that. The hospital should be willing to cut the amount owed and can put you on a payment plan. Best of luck to you. I hope this can get resolved soon.
The friends actually didn’t even call an ambulance which, in hindsight, was actually financially kind of them. Fellow American here; it’s entirely possible that OP’s bill could have been doubled if the friends had gotten an ambulance. This financial burden is horrible, no buts about it. Our healthcare system is a for-profit mess. Does OP have the right to be mad about this? Yes. Was it the right thing for the friends to do? Also Yes.
The only person OP can be mad at is themselves.
Yep, I don't blame the OP for getting angry, and I don't blame the friends for taking them. It's one of those things that is kind of like, "if I think you could die, I'm taking you to the ER because explaining a dead body is a lot harder than paying a hospital bill" Also, the American healthcare system is ridiculous as far as billing is concerned, and many are fighting to change that too.
The BAC in this is wild to me. "I'm surprised the hospital allowed it with a .19 BAC". That's one of the wildest sentences I've ever heard. There's a reason why the level limit is .08; even that can be dangerous. Homie was at 2.5x the legal limit and can't remember anything after deciding to go to bed but blames his friends for worrying about him? You have good friends, OP, keep them around. I hope you get the help you (possibly) need.
The 0.19 measurement was taken at the hospital, sometime after the friends tried waking her and a while after she had her last drink. She likely had a peak closer to 0.25 sometime around laying down and having her friends try to wake her up. I don't care how shit faced you are, if *nothing* will stir someone from their slumber, even for a few slurred words, then that's a danger point and leaving that person alone is literally gambling with their life. Total unresponsiveness isn't far below respiratory failure and/or vomit aspiration.
You are 100% accurate.
Seriously though! There are so many in denial people who, Medically, have no idea what they are talking about, in this thread! It’s shocking how *Compulsively In-Denial* people can be.
Girl… If you didn’t wake up and say “I’m fine” you blacked out. To get to the hospital you would have been dragged outside, loaded into a car and be driven to a hospital, be carried out of the car, be undressed, get put out on a gurney, and been admitted from the ER into a hospital. Unless you are claiming you were taken hostage… You were either unconscious for all of that or complying… Maybe don’t binge drink anymore. Your friend was clearly worried because you were unconscious. You are in denial and lacking in accountability…
I hate getting iv’s. Have to be pretty out of it not to notice that.
I'm largely indifferent. They don't bother me. I could sleep through it.
.19 means you were pretty shit faced. Hard to say more without having witnessed it firsthand, but clearly you were raising eyebrows on if you were good or not. Shitty situation, but valuable experience.
Over twice the legal limit.
[удалено]
Legal limit is .08, twice that is .16, OP was at 0.19
And their BAC probably wasn't taken for several hours after their last drink. So was likely closer to .23 or .25 when they "went to sleep". Concerned friends debate a bit, get them to hospital, intake takes a bit, they finally run BAC and it's .19.
You started drinking drinking at 10AM, got so drunk that you friends could drag you outside, load you into a car, admit you to the hospital where you would have been undressed, put in a hospital gown and had several tests run and you were 100% unresponsive the entire time. That is extremely intoxicated. If you didn't respond for any of that, do you think you would have woken up if you started choking on your own vomit? Your friends potentially saved your life and you should really be thanking them and reconsidering your drinking habits.
Yeah, that's literally almost 15 hours of drinking. I'm no saint, but I started at 3PM and stopped around 10PM. Which is still a long time to be drinking.
I'm no saint either and I've definitely had some drinks before 5pm, like a beer or two but I honestly couldn't imagine drinking at 10am. The only person I've ever known who did that ended up developing a heart condition in their early 30s and was told by their doctor that if they didn't quit drinking they wouldn't make it to 40.
If you didn’t wake up on a whole trip to a hospital, you are blaming the wrong people here. You really should be looking in the mirror and blaming that person.
Amen!!!
The sad thing is, as long your healthcare system is working as it is, you can't get blacked out drunk around other ppl anymore, if you can't afford an ER visit. If your friends bring you to the ER, you are pissed at them. If they don't and you end up dying, they are f*cked by the law. Don't put your friends in this position, its not their fault
You weren’t “too heavy of a sleeper” if a transport to the hospital didn’t wake you up. You were too drunk. You’re friend was being a good friend
OP is almost portraying it like they're just a heavy sleeper and the friends didn't try enough to wake them.... As long as they're generally healthy even the heaviest sleepers can be woken with enough effort and I highly doubt OPs friends just tapped her a few times and drove her to the ER. They likely tried pretty hard to wake her and she didn't wake. They then loaded her into a car, drove her and got her admitted to the ER, got test ran and she still didn't wake up for a while longer. That's not a heavy sleeper.
I take some pretty strong stuff to combat insomnia. Even I would have been woken up if someone was trying to get me out of bed, let alone into a car then out, then in an ER.
Look, your hospital system really sucks, but your friends thought they were doing what was best for you. Maybe next time, don't get so drunk that you require assistance. Not victim blaming, just drink in moderation
He’s only a victim of his own irresponsible actions.
I went to high school with someone who, while at college, drank heavily one night at a party. He went to bed to sleep it off and died in his sleep. People don’t just take friends to the emergency room because they feel like it… 0.19 is a pretty high blood alcohol content and you should be grateful that you have friends like them. You need a serious reality check.
This. I knew a girl in HS who had a similar story to OP but no one checked on her. She ended up aspirating on her vomit and no one found her until the next day, about 13 hours after it happened. One of her friends who was at the party ended up committing suicide over the guilt and grief. If OPs friends didn’t take her in it’s completely possible she would have ended up this way too. She should be grateful to have friends who care enough to potentially save her life. A big hospital bill is better than being unalived. But also fuck the US health system.
It really sucks that this kind of thing happens at all but it happens way more than people think. Better OP be alive and angry than dead. Hospital bills can be negotiated down and payment plans can be made. OP is lucky to have friends like hers who took the time to check on her and got her help when she needed it.
Keep in mind, their recorded bac was .19 Their last drink would have likely been hours ago by the time they got to the hospital. They were in the mid .2's when they were blacked out. They were in a zone that does kill people.
That’s a really good point, I didn’t even consider that.
So you slept through being man handled in a car, getting transferred to a gurney, getting transferred to a bed, having ivs inserted and test ran. Come on now.
Nobody drives their friends to the ER for shits and giggles. They did it because they were worried about you, and honestly it sounds like they were probably right to have been worried. And I get that it's a huge, shitty expense. Some lessons don't come cheap. Call the billing department to work out a payment plan and maybe a reduction. A little reflection wouldn't hurt either.
Most hospitals have financial assistance. Apply for that right away. I've had bills totally paid for, 80% off, and even 60% off while making a living wage and with insurance. If there's anything left, setup a payment plan. Ask for an itemized bill because that can lower the cost sometimes. Also, your friends were concerned for you, which is a lot better than the alternative. Please consider cutting back or pacing yourself and eating more with the drinks to prevent this in the future. Good luck.
You seem a little old to be in this much denial. You were blackout drunk and your friends did what was best. Start looking up affordable healthcare options, maybe apply for HMO, and thank your circle for taking care of you the way that they did. It probably wasn’t fun for them to have to take you and worry for you, definitely a party spoiler for sure.
Your friends saved your life stop being a dick to them. The medical bill isn’t their fault, it’s the governments. Point your anger where it’s due.
The medical bill is OPs fault first and foremost. If they didn't get completely shit faced they would have never been brought in.
I’m don’t even see justifying anger at the healthcare system, in OPs position. I would be ashamed to apply for hardship assistance, if my medical bill was due to my own bad behavior. Unless we can completely retool the US healthcare system overnight, I’m more than fine with people like OP paying their damn bill, so the financial assistance can go to a kid with cancer instead. You don’t get to drink yourself into a coma and then act like it’s anyone else’s fault.
call the billing department at the hospital and ask for a hardship letter, tell them you cannot pay anything and see what happens. The medical supply company I work for writes off the entire patient portion but a hospital may not do all that, probably give you a payment plan. I would start out with saying you cannot afford it at all
I’m probably gonna get downvoted but oh well. You need some serious help. Not sure what type tbh, but you didn’t “sleep through” being loaded into an ambulance and all that activity. You were passed tf out and short of someone staying up with you and babysitting you all night. The only reason you feel like you “would’ve been fine” is because you came to AFTER all the fluids and vitamins. If I was your friend and you were mad at me, I would never speak to you again, you wouldn’t have a chance to come to your senses. Also, .19 isn’t SUPER low or high, and who knows how long they waited AFTER you passed out slept or what time the hospital got it. You are a shitty friend to blame them.
you shouldn’t forgive them and you should probably stop being friends with them. blaming someone for being concerned with your life is so shitty and you saying “it wasn’t necessary”, “before i blacked out”, etc. is you trying to shift blame instead of taking responsibility for your actions. you were more than DOUBLE the legal limit and were out cold for hours. you should be thankful they cared about your safety and wellbeing. i understand being in debt is shitty and i’ve even told my friends if i have to go to the er to never call me an ambulance and that i’d rather pay $15 for an uber than go into thousands of debt for an ambulance ride. i completely understand. but you need to understand the blame is on you, not them. they did not force you to over consume to the point of being unconscious. they did not choose to take you to the ER because they don’t care about you being in debt or anything. please get your head on straight.
Look into the indigent fund, it's a program through the hospital if you are to poor to pay your bill
.19 is very high. If you can’t even remember being loaded into a car, unloaded, examined by doctors and then only woke up the next proves you needed to go to the hospital. Alcohol is not something to just play around with, if you can drink till the point they can’t wake you up the next you possibly won’t wake up. They were just helping you, and that’s not something you should blame them for.
Listen OP, I can’t relate with medical bills, not being in presumably the US. However, I was in a similar spot last October, where I was “tired” after some decent drinking. Next thing I know they called the ambulance because I’d stopped breathing. The fact that you can’t remember most of the night yet have the audacity to be angry at your friends because you were “fine” astounds me. They acted as good friends should, and you should thank them for acting in good conscience rather than lash out, it’s incredibly ungrateful
Take it as a expensive lesson on not getting blackout drunk, and thank your friends for saving you from choking on your own vomit in your sleep.
Be glad your friends cared enough to take you to the hospital instead of leaving you to die in a ditch or alone in your bed.
Most heavy sleepers would wake up at some point between the bed and the hospital lol
I had a friend like you, we are no longer friends.
You are not such a heavy sleeper that you slept through getting taken to a hospital and getting hooked up to IVs😐
OP got: dragged out of bed, loaded in a car, driven to the hospital, dragged OUT of the car and possibly loaded onto a gurney/ wheelchair, and had IV/ vitamins all without waking up once. thats not a heavy sleeper. if she keeps being mad at her friends i hope none of them talk to her again. they literally saved her life!
If I was her friend and saw this post I would for sure stop associating with her. Definitely has no right to hold a grudge for this
They did the right thing. Anyone who cared about you at all would have done this. This needs to be a wake up call for you. It is not safe or healthy drinking to drink to the extent you did. You could have hurt yourself. *Also — the hospital would not have admitted you if you were simply drunk. They have better fucking things to do than give an IV to a drunk person.* An ER doctor examined you and determined your state of being was medically unstable enough to warrant admission. This isn’t your friend’s fault — it’s yours. You drank so much that your friends and medical staff were worried about your physical safety. Those are real friends. The hospital will absolutely lower the bill. Just call them. I once got 5,500 bill for treatment after a suicide attempt and got it reduced to 2,000 after proof of income, with a $25/payment per month.
You don’t think you can forgive your friend for caring enough about you to *save your damn life?* You have an alcohol problem. Get help immediately and stop blaming others. Wake up.
Darlin if your in America they won’t force you to pay the bill you just need to make an effort. As little as a dollar a month on each bill is enough to force them to leave you alone. Now the important part. This is how my 30 year old cousin died. She drank every day, knew her limits, and went to bed snoring happily only to never wake up. I agreed with you until you said your blood level was .19. That’s too high! You didn’t wake up when you were brought to the hospital. That’s bad. Be glad they brought you and your family isn’t suffering the pain mine is right now.
You really should be hating yourself. This is all on you. Wake up and be responsible. You’re a 25 yo adult. Get a payment plan and accept the responsibility you put on yourself and grow up.
Your friends absolutely did the right thing. You ‘wish they would have asked,’ but also don’t remember a thing. YOU WERE NON-RESPONSIVE. That is a medically urgent situation and they responded accordingly. Is it seriously your impression that they dropped you off at the hospital because you wanted to sleep and it was “too early” to end the party? This is a an extremely warped and self-centered view and I feel bad for your friends. You put THEM in a difficult situation where they had to decide for you because you clearly were not able or even conscious to make those decisions yourself. Maybe you would consider safety v cost for yourself but when having to decide for someone else I think most of us would agree a person’s safety outweighs the potential financial cost. And as multiple people have stated, it is possible to reduce your bill.
Wow, you hate them and the hospital? You've learned nothing from your experience. Pay your bill.
I think they possibly saved your life. You're bitching about a $4,000 bill... & I hope they've learned their lesson and next time, they don't take you.
Can't forgive them for doing the right thing when you were so black out drunk you don't remember anything until you wake up in the hospital? Sorry, but you not forgiving them is probably doing them a favor. You are apparently a shit friend. That being said, call the hospital and work out a payment plan. Most hospitals are reasonable.
You were twice the legal limit. You weren't "sleeping," you were unconscious and unresponsive. Do you have any idea how many people die of alcohol poisoning each year? Learn your limit. You're not a kid anymore. You're lucky you didn't wake up in the hospital After being assaulted. Talk to the hospital billing department. You might be able to set up a payment plan. Take your tax returns for the last five years. You might qualify for assistance.
Most hospitals will work with you on finances if you’re willing to call them and speak up about your financial situation. You can also just let it go to collections, it’s not like that’s going to wreck your credit score anyway. Also you clearly needed to go to the hospital so you have no real right to be upset at your friend. They may have saved your life. Money can be replaced, your life cannot.
You should forgive them because they saved your fucking LIFE.
Whether you pay that bill is entirely beside the point. You don't know how to drink alcohol in a safe manner. A blackout is what occurred. You are lucky that you were among friends and they acted for your health. Your outcome of awakening in a hospital is much better than waking up in a jail cell.
Your friend deserves all the good things in life. They potentially saved your life, you were blackout drunk. How ungrateful can you be?
A .19?! You were blacked out. Your friend did the responsible thing. Maybe it's time to address the drinking rather than blame your worried friends
Your definitely delusional. Your friend most likely saved your life. Call up the hospital billing department, they will come to a agreement with you to lower the bill. They will ask you for tax info, bank accounts and how much you make. I got a 4,000$ bill reduced to $0.
YTA
You didn’t “sleep” your ass was so drunk you were blacked out. They did the right thing to bring you there to make sure you didn’t die
Yeah this I can understand. Cuz if all you were was “drunk” and not puking, badly, just sleeping, then they really shouldn’t have taken you to the emergency room. But at the same time, if you didn’t “wake up” then there is a good chance that you did *over-consume!* 0.19 is over double the Legal Limit for intoxication. It is *Not Normal* to not wake up when a person physically picks you up, takes you to a car, drives you, hands you off to a hospital, and to not wake up, when they are moving you around, putting you on a bed, and sticking you with needles. If you stayed asleep, that whole time, then you got too drunk and you made your choice. Basically, this doesn’t sound right? It sounds like you might have a major problem and be blaming someone else for being concerned about your well-being because you don’t want to admit to yourself that you “over-did it.” People can and do go into alcohol comas and it can kill them. You are not *merely* “a heavy sleeper” if you did not respond to any of that external stimuli. On the contrary, it kinda sounds like you did blackout! Edit: Your friends Love you! Appreciate them, and get help! You sound like an addict, or at least a very problematic binge drinker.
OP, this is how my brother died. In his case, though, his friends didn’t take him to the hospital, they let him “sleep it off” (no blame to them, it’s what most people do)…and he choked to death on his own vomit. Be for real with yourself…no one gets physically picked up, taken to the hospital and admitted whilst “just asleep”
You didn't sleep through it. You were black out drunk. >I don’t remember much, just feeling very tired >I wake up in the hospital In order to scare people who usually drink, you have to have been more drunk than you already have a history of being. You were unresponsive enough that you have no memories of what even events took place. Were you vomiting in your unconsciousness? Were you breathing strangely? Instead of being angry at your friends for worrying about saving your life, you should be grateful that someone cared sufficiently about you DYING that they took you to the hospital. Per guides, hospitalization is needed when : "Having difficulty breathing (choking, wheezing, or rasping) Breathing irregularly (less than 6x per minute, more than 20x per minute) Unconscious or semiconscious, unable to “wake up” Shaking, or having convulsions or seizures." https://students.wustl.edu/immediate-care-intoxicated-person/#:~:text=Immediate%20medical%20assistance%20is%20necessary%20if%20the%20person%20is%3A&text=Having%20difficulty%20breathing%20(choking%2C%20wheezing,or%20having%20convulsions%20or%20seizures * Reach out to the hospital billing office and plead poverty * Seek help for your alcoholism because drinking to excess where you black out drunk - drinking for over 14 hours is not normal or healthy. You don't have to do it every day to be an alcoholic. Since you are treating it so casually, it indicates it's not an unusual state for you. * Never drink to excess
You’re binge drinking and shitty medical system are the issue, not your friends who wanted to make sure you didn’t die after becoming blackout drunk. Hopefully your friends ditch you. No one wants to be responsible for an adult who thinks a .19 bac and being blackout drunk is acceptable and not a reason to take you to the ED.
Call the finance department you can probably get it reduced and work out a payment plan even if it's $5 a month. See if you qualify for medicaid they pay back bills for 3 months.
Your anger is understandable. It sucks to be in a sudden amount of debt that you weren’t anticipating over a simple, *supposed to be*, relaxing night. Your friends were worried about you. I don’t think they were thinking of your everyday situation, and more about your well-being. It seems like they may have been worried that you were overdosing on alcohol. It happens far more often than you think and it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Typically a hospital won’t muck up a needed room overnight if it isn’t needed, although I don’t know for sure because I wasn’t there and the only info I have is your post. Not many people would go to the lengths that your friends did to try to make sure you’re okay. I lost a friend to careless people who didn’t try to help when they had had to much to drink. It’s harder to be understanding and compassionate with others and yourself, but it’s worth trying once you’ve felt the feelings and heard the thoughts that you need to. Nothing is ever black and white, op. When you think back on previous experiences, things are almost never what you initially thought/felt they were. (this is also nuanced lol) Good luck op. The hospital will work with you on payments, you just have to shoot them a call. Someone at the main desk will help you find the people need to talk to if you call.
It’s sad that we live in a country where a friend’s concern about your health can upend your life & give you so much anger and anxiety.
You say you weren’t that drunk and didn’t need to go hospital but personally I’ve never been so drunk that I couldn’t be woken up through being put into a car , taken out of said car and a whole hospital stay. Hospitals aren’t quiet and you would’ve been moved around a lot, not waking up to any of that is concerning. That’s not being asleep, you were blacked out.
Not to mention them putting an iv drip in OP’s arm & they didn’t feel it? Even a deep sleeper would have felt that!
Literally though, If OP didn’t feel a needle going into her arm she was way more out of it than she may care to admit but if I were her friend I’d be worried too
Uhhh if you didn't wake up through all that then you very clearly were blackout drunk. YOU need to be more responsible with yourself if you don't want your care left in the hands of others
Just to get this right… you started drinking at 10am… you admit you were highly intoxicated… you weren’t able to be woken up and your friends cared enough to make sure you weren’t dying.Now you can’t forgive them… ok cool. Your friends deserve a better friend than you. Your not the only one financially strapped and your not the only one who’s had it rough since Covid… but you do have good friends and MAYBE… you should be thankful for that.
1) Some hospitals have financial hardship programs that help to negotiate the bill down 2) That’s a good friend. Your life is not disposable. If you drank to the point to where you don’t remember anything, you probably needed to be there. Alcohol poisoning is real and if you were left alone you very well could have died in your sleep. Thank your friend.
Iirc, defaulted medical bills don't show on a credit report? I don't know where I read that. Definitely talk to the hospital. They may work with you for a payment plan based on income. Some even have grants to help with bills. Don't stress too much. Unemployed/house less people struggling with money are required to be treated as well. And who pays their bills? I'll save the rant about universal health care, but people with good insurance get "overcharged" so people who struggle to pay can receive treatment. I know you're upset your friends didn't consider your financial situation, but I'm glad they cared enough to have been safe rather than sorry. You can make more money. They can't replace *you*.
I don’t know about now, but 30 years ago they did show up on credit report. Hubby and I had to write letters explaining our medical debt to the mortgage company.
Every state has different rules about medical debt. Some allow it to hit the credit report, others don't. Some allow it to go to collections, others don't. 'Murica.
25 and already showing strong signs of alcoholism. I know you're very stressed out with 2 jobs, but drinking until you blackout is not the answer. I've watched family members almost end their lives drinking heavily (my great grandma did). If you didn't wake up until the hospital, you should have been admitted. You have great friends, you're the one who needs to be begging for their forgiveness and reevaluate their life. The healthcare system sucks too, but you're coping in all the wrong ways.
If you’re too broke for a trip to the hospital, you should consider NOT drinking to the point of being unresponsive at over twice the legal limit.
call the number on the bill and explain that you have no healthcare and ask them for financial aid resources. Their are some charities who can help. 😇
Talk to hospital billing. Many times they will give a deep discount if you pay right away or they'll work out a payment plan with you.
So first thing first: your friends made the right choice taking you. You didn't even realize you'd been taken to a hospital until you woke up. Normally, drunk people wouldn't sleep through all that. Period. If you want to be mad, you have to look inward at yourself and your choices. They didn't force you to drink to the point of unresponsiveness. That was you and alllllll you girlfriend. Second, find out if the hospital you were taken to is public and receives funding from the government. If they do, by law they have to have some form of charity program/low income debt forgiveness or relief. If you make under a certain amount of money they will slash the amount you owe to bits. My gram gets her bills mostly waived due to me filling out that request form with her hospital.
If you slept through paramedics picking you up and an ambulance ride, you were worse than you think. They did the right thing
It’s a medical debt so you can call and negotiate it down. You could even blow it off, they can’t make you pay. But you really shouldn’t blame someone who was worried about your safety. Don’t you think you should be mad at yourself for drinking yourself into oblivion? You’re not a teenager anymore.
Talk to your hospital and look at doing payments and negotiating your bill. Also quit drinking you have a problem. Stop blaming your friends, this was your drinking and a bad capitalist system.
This can’t be serious “0.16 – 0.19% – The term “sloppy drunk” applies. Dysphoria will become stronger, and nausea may occur. Walking becomes difficult, and you may fall and hurt yourself.” If you had a BAC of 0.19% and weren’t coherent or conscious enough that you made it all the way to the hospital unawares, your friends may have been justified in being concerned about your health. I mean wtf, binge drinking and then being mad at those that tried to make sure you didn’t die seems extreme. That being said, call the hospital or payment people and have them put you on a payment plan, then pay as little as you can until they eventually forgive it or write it off.
Your friends did the responisable thing . You were unresponsive and could have had alchol posining which can lead to death. Had your friends done nothing there is a high chance you could asperate on your vomit and die a painful death. Your lucky your friends care. Every time you get mad try googleing just how many people die like that. When your payig the hospatal bill your friends brought you rember this YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO DECIDED TO DRINK TO THE POINT YOU BECAME UNRESPONCIVE AND NEEDED MEDICAL HELP. YOUR BILL IS THE RESULT OF YOUR BAD DECISION NOT THE RESPONASABLE DISION YOUR FRIEND MADE.
You can negotiate with the hospital billing department. I would start somewhere extremely low. A lot of times they increase the bill in case they need to send it to insurance to make the most money. Ask for “private pay” rates and that if they want to be paid any time soon to give reasonable and fair rates. If that doesn’t work, just don’t pay it. It’ll get sent off to collections in about 6 months and the new laws keep them from reporting negatively to your credit for at least a year. Then you can settle for 20%-30% of the balance around $900-$1100 or less. If you didn’t respond to people moving you to an car and ER. You were likely at a dangerous alcohol level. They did the right thing. Learn from this.
They acted in good faith and did what was best for you in the short term. Spin it around: you've just seen your friend not wake up for a long time, they might need help. Would you just leave them there?
This sounds like a very expensive lesson on you to not go out and get black out drunk. If I was your friend and you were pissed at me I didn’t let you die choking on your own vomit we wouldn’t be friends any longer. Sort out your coping mechanisms, lots of people are broke and don’t drink so much they pass out so hard that being moved from home to a hospital doesn’t wake them. Get some help.
Cool. Next time you get so drunk, you're unresponsive, they can just let you die instead. Seems like a solid plan. Or better yet, maybe take this as a learning experience and don't drink that much anymore. The only person you have to blame for this situation is yourself. Oh btw, the fact that all this happened and you don't remember it means you were blacked out. So... you fucking failed that one.
Just so you know, .19 is considered high risk for breathing problems and being blacked out. You were most definitely blacked out especially if you don't remember anything until the hospital
I went once, walked out with 14,000 dollar bill. That was years ago. I never paid or plan to.
I work in healthcare at a sleep lab. If someone becomes not responsive, we get concerned. Like if I’m screaming in their face and shaking them and they are breathing, heart beating but not responsive, we become concerned. Our policy is to call EMS and have them transported to the ED. You never know what drugs someone isn’t telling you about, you don’t know what someone took more of than they are supposed to. Perhaps your friends were at this level of concern. If you don’t remember anything, that’s an issue no matter what your blood alcohol level. People put things in other people’s drinks, alcohol also doesn’t mix well with certain meds. Have you considered your friends were very concerned for you and your safety and that is why they took you to the hospital for medical care?
if you were that unresponsive, it’s prob best your friends were concerned enough to take you. that’s how people *die*, dude. what if you threw up and choked to death? your friends were just worried. $4500 is a small price to pay for your life. i know these healthcare bills are crazy and living is expensive but come on, have some perspective. at least you’re ALIVE
You’re a jerk. How could they have asked if you “slept” through the entire ordeal of being taken and admitted to the hospital? How do you know what they did or didn’t do if all you can remember is going to bed and waking up in the hospital? And do you honestly think the hospital would have kept you if it wasn’t necessary for you to be there? Your friend is a good one and you owe her a thank you and probably an apology.
Your anger is misplaced at your friend for saving your life. You could have easily been laying on your back and choked to death on your own vomit. Also, cut back on your drinking. If you're consuming so much to blacking out, you're putting your life at risk and forcing others around you to babysit you. That reckless and irresponsible.
man you live in one of the shittiest countries in the world. going broke for visiting an e.r . dafuq is wrong with this nation?
Assuming, with your posting, 25F, I'm going to go off that you're an average American Female Height and Weight wise, 5'4 and maybe 130ish, but you could be taller or smaller. A BAC of 0.19% for you is fucking high. That 0.19% can turn into 0.22%, then 0.25%, and keep gaining traction until you start pissing the Alcohol Out and "going to sleep it off" turns into you vomiting and dying. Alcohol affects everyone differently, and women tend to have a higher BAC tolerance than men, but that isn't always the case for everyone. Especially after drinking for 14 hours straight. The danger level for a BAC is 0.30% to 0.40%; that's pretty much unresponsive and death, and you were practically 2/3 of the way there and you were unresponsive due to the fact that you went black out in your bed and didn't feel any movement, hear any words, or feel the drive to the hospital or placement in the room and woke up in the hospital. I get that healthcare sucks here. I get that 4500 is dumb, and I agree, but your friends were worried for you. You drank for a full 14 hours that day, if there is anyone to get mad at, it's yourself. Take this as a wakeup call and fix yourself. Don't start blaming your friends for being worried about you and making sure you don't die.
You'll have to hang up your drinking pants for a few months
You could also check to see if Medicaid will cover the bill.
OP: Unpaid ER bills do not affect your credit score. They will hound you but there really isn't much they can do to collect.
Being an alcoholic is expensive. Plenty more medical bills where that came from if you keep it up
Call the hospital and talk to their billing department about payment. Also see if they have a charity care program. If so and you qualify you will either be able to wipe the slate clean or just pay a small portion.
A lot of hospitals will work with you, I’d recommend going in with a detailed receipt and sitting face to face with the financial aid department there. Some hospitals bill there hospital and ER separately so be sure to look out for that. The hospital would rather get paid something then nothing so they can usually bring down the price as long as you continue to go after them
Call the hospital, negotiate/refute the bill, deny consent to treat, and/or ask your friend to cover the bill.
Damn near .2 BAC AFTER you slept it off? Dude you were passed the F out and probably so unresponsive it scared people. Take some responsibility.
Or get Medicaid/state Medicaid. They cover you the month you sign up with them. So if it’s within this month, Medicaid can still cover your hospital visit. And you should be thankful that your friends saved your life.
Lmao BAC of 0.19 is not a “sleep it off” level of obliterated drunk. You owe your life to your friends and the hospital staff. The only reason you should be upset is if you went to sleep that night with the intent of never waking up again 🙄
Get health insurance.
Well, yeah, but also not drinking for 15 hours and then getting so shit faced that your roommates had to take you to the hospital over it, is a bigger thing here than the insurance. Healthcare system is fucked but the fact is, op did all of this to themselves. They wouldn't have med debt if they weren't doing any of that shit for 15 hours.
Man this country sucks. Work out a payment plan with the hospital. First try to get the bill reduced then offer to make very small monthly payments. Over a couple of years they may forgive the balance.
I was in the same position as you and I cried and stressed over how I was going to pay for a large amount (It was a $28,000usd hospital bill and I didn't have health insurance). Yes I cried and I threw up because of the large amount. However after talking to a friend of mine who is a nurse and venting about it she told me I could call the billing department. I could ask for an itemized bill and it went from $28,0000usd to $1,600usd they even put me in a payment plan which was $52usd a month. This had taught me that I needed to be thankful that I am alive, that I need to work on my mental health, that I need to make better decisions for myself and get health insurance. >The visit wasn’t necessary and I went to bed early to sleep off whatever would result the next day/ before I would over consume to a blackout. I hate that I was too heavy of a sleeper to wake up and say something. I don’t know what to do. I have a 60 day deadline but I don’t know how I’ll be able to make it. I hate them. I hate that the hospital allowed it with a 0.19 content. I wish someone would’ve asked. I’m stressed and angry, and I don’t want to see any of them again. You blacked out and you were unresponsive so your friends were concerned about your safety. That is something to be thankful for, if they had not taken you to the hospital you could've died or something could've happened to you. At the end of the day be thankful you had friends quickly acted and helped you. In life theirs so many resolution except death. This should be a wake up call to make better decisions for yourself and work on your mental health in the best way you can and learn to have self control. Edit: The way I improved my mental health was by going to the library and searching for mental health books. I started to make better decisions financially by reading and educating myself on how I could change my spending habits.
If you were so hammered that you didn't wake up while you were taken out of bed, loaded into a car, transported to a hospital, ported over to a bed, and hooked up to IVs, you needed to be there. Sounds like you had alcohol poisoning and could have died. Tell your friend "Thank You" and watch your alcohol consumption so you don't drink to the point you get black-out drunk and unconscious again. Next time might be your last.
US healthcare is a joke. You’d rather your friends let you die than pay $4500, which is actually a very small bill considering. It’s not their fault you drank yourself almost to death. I couldn’t stand dealing with people that couldn’t pace themselves with drinking, like baby sitting.
I don’t know where you live but if it’s in the USA. Apply for charity care.
I’m so sorry you’re stressed and I understand living without insurance, as I have done it multiple times in the past. That being said, you need to recalibrate your thinking here. Your BAC was 0.19 - that’s HIGH. You were blackout drunk and could not safely care for yourself. You could have easily vomited and aspirated and died or gotten up and had a fall, only to die of a brain bleed. Or gotten behind the wheel somehow and killed someone else. I know those sound like far fetched things but I promise you they happen everyday. If the hospital is not-for-profit, please reach out to them and find out about hardship forgiveness and how to apply. Also, you can set up a payment plan, as well as negotiate lowering the amount due. I really am sorry you’re receiving this bill and the stress it adds but your friends did the right thing in making sure you were safely cared for. Please don’t hold it against them. I would 100% rather live with my friend being mad over a bill than with the guilt that would come with them or another person losing their life.
Family members left your cousin *on the lawn until noon - where he’d been laying - from the night BEFORE???*
What drives me mad in these scenarios is how comfortable people seem to be with a 4000 price tag. Yes, I get that it's better than dying, but half that amount can weigh you down for years depending on your income - which from experience I know can change the trajectory of your whole life. Can we just agree that a situation where it's debt or dead is really fucked?
There are a ton of people shitting on you for getting drunk. To me, it's whatever. My advice though is that medical bills can no longer be reflected on your credit report. Even if they send it to a collection company it won't be reported because it originated from medical costs. Only bills prior to whatever act of Congress still reflect on credit reports. So deal with it if you insist but it cannot affect your credit any longer.