A mother who posts on TikTok as @livinlavidallorca said a hospital sent her a $10,000 bill for her daughter’s emergency room visit. She said the bill arrived nearly two and a half years after the visit.
She said staff at the hospital told her young daughter she was pregnant and said the girl was having s–. The mother said later exams showed her daughter was not pregnant.
In a TikTok video, she described the visit, her complaint to the hospital and a phone call with her insurance company about the bill.
Mother Said Her Daughter Had Severe Stomach Pain
The mother said her daughter messaged her one day a few years ago to say she had severe abdominal pain. The pain was right above her belly button, the mother said.
Her first thought was appendicitis, she said. “Oh, maybe she has appendicitis. I need to take her to the hospital,” she said.
At the emergency room, a nurse practitioner was assigned to the girl. The nurse practitioner ordered blood work, an ultrasound and a urine sample to check for appendicitis.
The mother said she agreed with the plan. “Okay, do what you gotta do, baby. Find out what’s wrong with my little girl,” she added.
Mother Said the Ultrasound Technician Went Quiet
The mother said the ultrasound technician was friendly at first. She said the technician talked and laughed with them, then suddenly went quiet.
The mother said she did not comment because she did not want to worry her daughter. She said the technician later wheeled them back to their room and spoke to her directly.
“I wish you all the best. Good luck,” the mother said the technician told her.
She said she became nervous but tried to hide it from her daughter.
Mother Said the Nurse Practitioner Told Her Daughter She Was Pregnant
The nurse practitioner returned with another woman. The mother said she could not remember the woman’s title.
The nurse practitioner asked the mother to step out of the room. She assumed they wanted to ask her daughter privately about drug use.
After a while, she went back in and found her daughter crying on the bed. She said she asked the nurse practitioner what was happening.
The nurse practitioner told her that her daughter was pregnant. The mother said she disagreed because her daughter had just finished a full menstrual cycle. She asked to speak to the doctor above the nurse practitioner.
The exchange left her doubting herself. She said she asked her daughter, “Did somebody do something to you, baby?” She said her daughter was always with her and her daughter said no.
The mother said her daughter then spoke to the nurse practitioner through tears. The girl said she had never done anything.
The mother described the nurse practitioner as condescending. She said the nurse practitioner replied, “Well, it’s because you’re having s–.”
Mother Said the Doctor Told Her Other Providers Disagreed
The mother said the doctor was “super nice.” She said the doctor told her she did not think the girl was pregnant. But three other providers on the case did.
The mother said the doctor told her the urine and blood tests showed her daughter was not pregnant. The doctor also said something had been seen in the girl’s uterus and that the family needed to see an OB-GYN right away.
She said the OB-GYN on the case believed her daughter was “six weeks three days” pregnant. The nurse practitioner and another provider who reviewed the ultrasound agreed.
The family left that day with a paper telling them to return in two weeks “to assess the viability of the fetus.
“There is no freaking fetus. She’s not pregnant,” the mother said.
Another OB-GYN Said the Girl Was Not Pregnant
The mother said she called repeatedly that weekend and got her daughter in to see an OB-GYN on Monday morning. She said that the doctor told her the girl was not pregnant.
She was angry because her daughter was so young. “How you gonna tell my daughter that she’s pregnant and that she’s having s–, when none of that was true?” she said.
She said she filed a grievance and took it “all the way up the chain” at the hospital. The hospital sent her an apology letter.
Hospital Sent a $10,000 Bill Years Later
The mother said that almost two and a half years later, the hospital sent her a bill for $10,000. She called to ask why.
The hospital told her the insurance company had not covered the ER visit.
She said she then called her insurer. “Ma’am, we don’t cover minor pregnancies,” she said she was told.
“She wasn’t pregnant,” the mother said.
