Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
225.7K
27-Hour Hospital Stay Leaves Parents Of A Killed One-Year-Old Not Only In Grief But Also In $175k Of Medical Debt
The American healthcare system has been refusing to leave the top of the headlines recently. But not for good reasons. Just think about it—the woman who was mauled by a bear said that the worst part of the horrific ordeal was dealing with health insurance providers. What about the time when someone shared an invoice of $39.35 for holding her own baby right after he was born? There have been one too many failed American healthcare stories that make our blood boil, but unfortunately, we seem to be far from the last one.
This time we are covering the horrifying story of Michelle DuBarry, a Portland-based writer, that shows how supposedly the greatest country on Earth failed its citizens at the darkest point of their lives. After DuBarry’s 1-year-old son died after being struck by a careless driver, she “sat at his bedside, his tiny, stitched-together body hooked to a million incessantly beeping machines, straining to recall what our deductibles were.”
Read DuBarry’s heartbreaking Twitter post below that will make you question everything you took for granted in life.
More info: Twitter
RELATED:
The woman shared her personal story on Twitter
Image credits: DuBarryPie
Image credits: DuBarryPie
Image credits: DuBarryPie
Image credits: DuBarryPie
Image credits: DuBarryPie
Image credits: DuBarryPie
Image credits: DuBarryPie
Image credits: DuBarryPie
Image credits: DuBarryPie
Image credits: DuBarryPie
Image credits: DuBarryPie
Image credits: DuBarryPie
Image credits: DuBarryPie
Michelle DuBarry tells her story in detail on her personal website. “In 2010, my husband Eric and our son Seamus were struck by a careless driver in a crosswalk near our home. Eric sustained minor injuries, and Seamus died the next day after enduring two surgeries and a night in intensive care. Our hospital bills totaled $180,000, and though most of it was covered by health insurance, we still had thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket medical expenses.”
The family “soon learned that our health insurer was entitled to reimbursement out of these funds, effectively reducing our settlement to $0.” As a result, DuBarry initiated a bill that would match the laws in many other states where the injured party is “made whole” for all damages from the at-fault party’s insurance before the injured party’s medical insurer gets paid. The bill was signed into law last year on the 20th of June and now stands as Seamus’s legacy.
People around the world were left speechless
Image credits: alverz2007
Image credits: KashJackson2018
Image credits: SydneyNudist1
Image credits: FarlaneTeri
Image credits: shroommuse
Image credits: jljacobson
This is what people had to say
What do you think ?
ADHORTATOR 4 years ago
My mother is in intensive care for a month, and it will last at least two months...we have to pay 0 (in letters: zero). The advantage on a good european health system.
Seff Ka 4 years ago (edited)
I went to a hospital here in Strasbourg for a simple operation. The doctor did not finished it in a first run, telling me that he knows better what to do, so I had to come again, a week later, for more serious operation. During the waiting for the anesthesy drug to kick in I spend around 15 minutes in a bed. I was bored so I've tried to occupy my mind by reading everything around me. Well, almost all of the tubing on all apparatus in my vicinity had a sign that it should be replaced two years ago. I've tried to point it out to the medical stuff and I believe it started a big commotion there. Anyhow, I was presented with the excuses of the doctor who did the first operation (you can imagine how good are those) and the bill for 3000 and something that I had to send to my insurance company, which covered about 90% of the bill. Not exactly 0 as some of us describing it here. I am not saying it is bad though.
Load More Replies...
Emily Softley 4 years ago
As wonderful as our healthcare in Europe and other counties can be, can I point out how it must feel to be an American reading about our £0 bills while going through this. My deepest sympathies to anyone fighting with insurance over healthcare - you deserve better!
NeverGoWoke 4 years ago
Exactly, our health care in Europe and Canada may not be perfect but everyone in America deserves so much better.
Load More Replies...
ADHORTATOR 4 years ago
My mother is in intensive care for a month, and it will last at least two months...we have to pay 0 (in letters: zero). The advantage on a good european health system.
Seff Ka 4 years ago (edited)
I went to a hospital here in Strasbourg for a simple operation. The doctor did not finished it in a first run, telling me that he knows better what to do, so I had to come again, a week later, for more serious operation. During the waiting for the anesthesy drug to kick in I spend around 15 minutes in a bed. I was bored so I've tried to occupy my mind by reading everything around me. Well, almost all of the tubing on all apparatus in my vicinity had a sign that it should be replaced two years ago. I've tried to point it out to the medical stuff and I believe it started a big commotion there. Anyhow, I was presented with the excuses of the doctor who did the first operation (you can imagine how good are those) and the bill for 3000 and something that I had to send to my insurance company, which covered about 90% of the bill. Not exactly 0 as some of us describing it here. I am not saying it is bad though.
Load More Replies... Emily Softley 4 years ago
As wonderful as our healthcare in Europe and other counties can be, can I point out how it must feel to be an American reading about our £0 bills while going through this. My deepest sympathies to anyone fighting with insurance over healthcare - you deserve better!
NeverGoWoke 4 years ago
Exactly, our health care in Europe and Canada may not be perfect but everyone in America deserves so much better.
Load More Replies...
Related on Bored Panda
218
218