Long story short, our 1-month old was urgently called to Primary Children’s on Christmas morning at 5am after a blood culture showed growth. He had more tests, a lumbar puncture, a round of antibiotics, and was admitted. An hour after admission the visiting doctors told us after further evaluation, the bacteria that grew was common on human skin and was almost certainly a contaminated sample. We were then discharged 30 minutes later.

Today I got the bill for our 7 hour visit and 1.5 hour admission. $5,000 for the admission, another $3,000 for the ER visit, tests, etc. After insurance, we’ll be responsible for $800 of it. I know these things happen and I’m only frustrated it happened on Christmas morning and kinda ruined the day, but definitely wasn’t expecting to get stuck with the bill.

Do we have any recourse to get this bill waived since it was caused by hospital/human error?