First let me say that I'm very sorry for your loss and all you and your wife went through. Sometimes it seems everyone is corrupt. Institutions are generally more corrupt than individuals, or get away with it more often, but individuals can still be corrupt. Yes, the hospital is absolutely wrong for demanding far more than they were entitled to. But the woman highlighted in this OP obviously intended to stiff the hospital of legitimate charges. If she had paid the bill, or made payment arrangements, that would have been the end of it. I guess she wanted to receive the hospital's services for free and pocket a nice windfall settlement. Evidently she was not penniless or destitute either, because the hospital put a lien on her property. Such legal action doesn't happen overnight. I'd guarantee that the hospital made many, many attempts to collect what was actually, legitimately due them. (BTW, who do you think ends up paying for hospital losses? Although I don't know this as fact, I'd bet that every single hospital bill has 'padding' of some sort to factor in losses from people who can't, or don't, pay.) In addition, many people think it totally acceptable to "double-dip" -- for example, receiving compensation from both workman's comp and an insurance settlement -- for the same thing! Workman's comp (in your case) is corrupt for expecting reimbursement for not only their legitimate claims, but additional, illegitimate ones as well.
My point is that there's more to this story than 'big, bad hospital rips off poor, defenseless victim.'
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