Curious what you think?

[design_mom]

Same thing happened when my DGD was injured on school property several years ago - no negligence, but her parents medical insurance denied the claim and the school was required to pay all of the medical bills.

We had a similar experience. My DD was injured earlier this year on her daycare's playground. From what I can tell, there was no negligence. DD was running, wasn't watching where she was going and ran into the support for the monkey bars. She ended up with a gash near her eye. (DD, my 9yo son and the playground supervisor all told the same story.)

They called and told me they thought she needed to see a doctor (she ended up with stitches). When I arrived to pick her up, they had their liability insurance info waiting for me. (I never asked.) They said "Don't even bother submitting it to your insurance. Send it directly to our liability insurance company."

I do not think they were "at fault," but I think when things happen at a public place/business, the business often ends up covering injuries that occur on their property whether it was a true accident or not.

 

[DMRick]

When my husband got Noro on a Celebrity cruise he was medicated and treated for free.

When I slipped on food on the pool deck, on our one and only Disney cruise and fell and injured my arm with workers as witnesses, and people saying they had pointed the mess out to be cleaned up and it wasn't, the cruiseline charged me. It was a pretty hefty (it included an xray, taken with my arm on the bed..no back panel, no cover up) bill. More than the cost of the cruise. I had never mentioned a lawsuit and had no thought in mind, although I was disappointed that Disney wasn't going to pick up the bill, even though I understand the medical area is not owned by them. It was on my bill, and I was expected to pay it. While waiting to get back on the ship (it was a back to back), one other person waiting to get back on with us asked what had happened to my arm, and I told her and also mentioned my dismay at being charged, when clearly someone had pointed out the mess, and I had a Disney employee who witnessed the fall. I don't know what pull she had, but once we were back in our room, I got a phone call saying my bill had been credited, what else can they do to help me, and they called every day after that. Apparently they had had a hard time understanding that it wasn't my fault, just like what happened to your son wasn't his fault.
I was xrayed again once I got home, and my insurance paid for that.

I think it's just how cruise ships operate.

Once DS had his toes crushed on the gang plank while we were waiting to get on in one of the ports. The boat was bobbing up and down and it came down on his foot. They treated it for free and didn't want any insurance info. (This was on a Disney Cruise).
Once while on Costa cruise I got the dreaded Norwalk virus. Again, I was treated and they didn't want payment.

 

[JessicaR]

When my husband got Noro on a Celebrity cruise he was medicated and treated for free.

When I slipped on food on the pool deck, on our one and only Disney cruise and fell and injured my arm with workers as witnesses, and people saying they had pointed the mess out to be cleaned up and it wasn't, the cruiseline charged me. It was a pretty hefty (it included an xray, taken with my arm on the bed..no back panel, no cover up) bill. More than the cost of the cruise. I had never mentioned a lawsuit and had no thought in mind, although I was disappointed that Disney wasn't going to pick up the bill, even though I understand the medical area is not owned by them. It was on my bill, and I was expected to pay it. While waiting to get back on the ship (it was a back to back), one other person waiting to get back on with us asked what had happened to my arm, and I told her and also mentioned my dismay at being charged, when clearly someone had pointed out the mess, and I had a Disney employee who witnessed the fall. I don't know what pull she had, but once we were back in our room, I got a phone call saying my bill had been credited, what else can they do to help me, and they called every day after that. Apparently they had had a hard time understanding that it wasn't my fault, just like what happened to your son wasn't his fault.
I was xrayed again once I got home, and my insurance paid for that.

Thats very interesting! I'm glad to hear especially since it clearly was not your fault that they wiped out the bill. Interesting thought that they initially charged you.

My sister years ago slipped on the pool deck of a carnival ship and broke her wrist. They charged her for the entire care. Her insurance covered the charges.

BTW since I never mentioned the line, it was NCL, and they handled things top notch.

 

[DMRick]

The person that got back on with us was the wife of a 'higher up'. I definately think she had something to do with the charge being erased. She just couldn't believe it. We saw her later in the cruise and she asked how I was and we told her about the charge being dropped and she said it should never have been on there. We did a 4 and 3 day back to back, so the bill didn't carry over. They had to remove it from my credit card.

I like NCL!

Thats very interesting! I'm glad to hear especially since it clearly was not your fault that they wiped out the bill. Interesting thought that they initially charged you.

My sister years ago slipped on the pool deck of a carnival ship and broke her wrist. They charged her for the entire care. Her insurance covered the charges.

BTW since I never mentioned the line, it was NCL, and they handled things top notch.

 

[bumbershoot]

do you want or plan to sue them?
if not then i don't think it would matter one way or another......

I think she just wanted to make sure they were paid if they wanted to be paid. The lawsuit stuff was sort of extra; the point, as I took it, was that they didn't take payment or insurance info.

Heather, not arguing with you honestly. My sister was billed by Carnival last year so this isnt exactly true.

Heather did say "they do not always bill the passenger for services".

Meaning they sometimes do and sometimes don't.

Since they took no official info from me and told me no bill is due I wont worry unless it actually happens.

I didn't see the italicized bit in your post? Is that what you meant by "...doesn't want anything from me"?

Because the cruise ship has to carry liability insurance - to cover injuries that occur on their "property".. That makes them responsible - regardless of the circumstances.. There is no reason for your insurance to pay the claim because the responsibility falls on the cruise ship.. It would be like a child coming into your yard, falling, and breaking their arm.. Your homeowner's ins. would be responsible for that bill - not the parents health ins.. When my DD cut the tip of her finger off at my parents home, our health insurance denied the claim simply because they knew it was the responsibility of my parents homeowner's to pay the medical bills..

Your medical insurance is not going to pay out one dime that they don't have to - and in this case, there's no reason for them to pay..

Well, it all depends on how good the parents of the "at fault" kid is at being sure to tell the whole story.

When DS was burned by water at home, and when he fell at Target, both times we got letters in the mail asking us if anyone else was at fault. Both times we said *absolutely not*, I remember writing "this was a pure accident" and stating clearly that it was NO ONE else's fault at all.

And thanks to me doing that, we got to pay the high deductibles for the accidents...if only I hadn't been so thorough! But no, really, unless there's a way to sue boiling water (b/c it behaves strangely when you smack a spoon on it), or my husband for thinking a 3 year old should stir pasta while it's cooking, or sue my husband for putting a tight hat on DS when DS hates tight hats, or sue my son for putting on those mittens that were connected together so he coudln't catch himself as he fell while trying to get away from the tickling as DH tried to take off the annoying hat...well there's just no one left. No one else was at fault.

So if people had been clear with the insurance company that this was NO ONE else's fault, it's very likely the medical insurance companies would have paid (and if you guys had just signed up for high deductible plans, like we had just done with BOTH accidents, you would have had the pleasure of paying all that money as well!).

We had a similar experience. My DD was injured earlier this year on her daycare's playground. From what I can tell, there was no negligence. DD was running, wasn't watching where she was going and ran into the support for the monkey bars. She ended up with a gash near her eye. (DD, my 9yo son and the playground supervisor all told the same story.)

They called and told me they thought she needed to see a doctor (she ended up with stitches). When I arrived to pick her up, they had their liability insurance info waiting for me. (I never asked.) They said "Don't even bother submitting it to your insurance. Send it directly to our liability insurance company."

I do not think they were "at fault," but I think when things happen at a public place/business, the business often ends up covering injuries that occur on their property whether it was a true accident or not.

Darnit, if only I hadn't been so clear with my insurance company. Sigh. If only Target's employees had said that instead. But we were so specific about how it happened, they didn't do anything but get us a red washcloth to put on DS's head (as we waited for the ambulance) when the paper towels were attracting the attention of fellow shoppers as they turned red... OK they also called 911 for us, and got me water (I went all woozy not b/c of blood (I'm OK with that) but because DS's mental state went all strange and I was thinking the worst while trying to care for him while we waited). And asked 18 thousand times if he had fallen from the cart. As did the EMTs. As did the ER nurse and doc. Over and over. Guys, write it down, stop asking that, it's annoying. (we understood why, but after the 20th "no, he was standing on the ground, we never put him in the body of the cart but he wasn't in the cart for this fall anyway", it got old)



OP, glad your son is OK, hope you don't get a bill from the cruiseline!

 

[JessicaR]

I think she just wanted to make sure they were paid if they wanted to be paid. The lawsuit stuff was sort of extra; the point, as I took it, was that they didn't take payment or insurance info.




Heather did say "they do not always bill the passenger for services".

Meaning they sometimes do and sometimes don't.

This is what I was referring to - I'm not following this whole line of thought here.

The cruise ship will NOT BILL YOUR INSURANCE, period, they do not do that.


I didn't see the italicized bit in your post? Is that what you meant by "...doesn't want anything from me"? Not clear on what you mean by this.




Well, it all depends on how good the parents of the "at fault" kid is at being sure to tell the whole story.

Actually the 17 year old was asked the questions, especially since I wasn't even there.

When DS was burned by water at home, and when he fell at Target, both times we got letters in the mail asking us if anyone else was at fault. Both times we said *absolutely not*, I remember writing "this was a pure accident" and stating clearly that it was NO ONE else's fault at all.

And thanks to me doing that, we got to pay the high deductibles for the accidents...if only I hadn't been so thorough! But no, really, unless there's a way to sue boiling water (b/c it behaves strangely when you smack a spoon on it), or my husband for thinking a 3 year old should stir pasta while it's cooking, or sue my husband for putting a tight hat on DS when DS hates tight hats, or sue my son for putting on those mittens that were connected together so he coudln't catch himself as he fell while trying to get away from the tickling as DH tried to take off the annoying hat...well there's just no one left. No one else was at fault.

So if people had been clear with the insurance company that this was NO ONE else's fault, it's very likely the medical insurance companies would have paid (and if you guys had just signed up for high deductible plans, like we had just done with BOTH accidents, you would have had the pleasure of paying all that money as well!).



Darnit, if only I hadn't been so clear with my insurance company. Sigh. If only Target's employees had said that instead. But we were so specific about how it happened, they didn't do anything but get us a red washcloth to put on DS's head (as we waited for the ambulance) when the paper towels were attracting the attention of fellow shoppers as they turned red... OK they also called 911 for us, and got me water (I went all woozy not b/c of blood (I'm OK with that) but because DS's mental state went all strange and I was thinking the worst while trying to care for him while we waited). And asked 18 thousand times if he had fallen from the cart. As did the EMTs. As did the ER nurse and doc. Over and over. Guys, write it down, stop asking that, it's annoying. (we understood why, but after the 20th "no, he was standing on the ground, we never put him in the body of the cart but he wasn't in the cart for this fall anyway", it got old)



OP, glad your son is OK, hope you don't get a bill from the cruiseline!

Thanks so much. Positive a bill will not be forthcoming.

 

[design_mom]

I'm not sure I understand your tone, Bumbershoot. I don't think anyone was advocating not being truthful with the insurance company. That would be fraud. I was completely honest at all times.

In all cases (except the one where the daycare told me to send the bill directly to their company), my insurance company paid my claim...eventually. But they held payment until I answered a lot of questions about exactly how the accident happened. I suspect withholding payment was to "motivate" me to provide details. It was then up to the insurance company to decide if the were going to try to subrogate it and try to recoup what they paid (to me) from some other party's insurance company. In the case of my falling on the street, I suspect they ultimately didn't find anyone else at fault, but it was a pain to deal with it at all.

One thing I've noticed about several stories -- CAnn's granddaughter at school, my DD at daycare, the OP's son at the teen club -- all were in the care of someone else at the time of their injuries. Your son was in your care at Target. Maybe that makes a difference?

 

[Amelia Peabody]

It was my understanding that cruise doctors are independent contractors. So any billing etc would be with them. Maybe he just felt like it was no biggie to him, the end of the cruise and all, and said don't bother to charge.

 

[JessicaR]

I'm not sure I understand your tone, Bumbershoot. I don't think anyone was advocating not being truthful with the insurance company. That would be fraud. I was completely honest at all times.

In all cases (except the one where the daycare told me to send the bill directly to their company), my insurance company paid my claim...eventually. But they held payment until I answered a lot of questions about exactly how the accident happened. I suspect withholding payment was to "motivate" me to provide details. It was then up to the insurance company to decide if the were going to try to subrogate it and try to recoup what they paid (to me) from some other party's insurance company. In the case of my falling on the street, I suspect they ultimately didn't find anyone else at fault, but it was a pain to deal with it at all.

One thing I've noticed about several stories -- CAnn's granddaughter at school, my DD at daycare, the OP's son at the teen club -- all were in the care of someone else at the time of their injuries. Your son was in your care at Target. Maybe that makes a difference?

I'm thinking along the same line.

 

[JessicaR]

It was my understanding that cruise doctors are independent contractors. So any billing etc would be with them. Maybe he just felt like it was no biggie to him, the end of the cruise and all, and said don't bother to charge.

That's an interesting thought Amelia, I have no idea if that is a fact but it does make sense. However it was the "nurse" that originally treated my son that at the end of the visit just said, no no insurance info is needed/wanted.

I am now wishing I had the hindsight to question a few things prior to leaving the center. But truly, they took wonderful care of my son and wanted nothing from us in the end.