Hospitals can be scary, we all know that. There are trays full of needles everywhere, and the doctors seem to speak another language when they try to explain what’s wrong with you. Things can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re the one lying in the hospital bed. But one patient was not allowed to feel emotional and wound up getting billed by the hospital for crying during her surgery.
The woman named Midge shared her bill on Twitter and stirred up a storm for being charged an extra $11 for “Brief Emotion.”
“Mole removal: $22. Crying: extra,” Midge wrote on Twitter.
“I didn’t even get a dam sticker,” she said and added, “Is a lollipop too much to ask?”
Social media users went on a rampage with their comments and pointed out the peculiarities of the American healthcare system.
After the strange experience of being charged for her feelings, Midge revealed that the charge wasn’t exactly for “crying.” The bill had printed “Brief Emotion” as a shorthand for “brief emotional assessment,” which she said was nothing more than a few questions on her mental health.
During a routine annual physical, Midge said she received a depression screening test but didn’t know that it wasn’t covered in the insurance. “It was basically 10 (or less) questions about mental health,” she noted.
The viral tweet spurred several people to share their own bizarre experiences that took place within the four walls of a hospital. “I woke up while they were taking my wisdom teeth out. Specifically, I woke up while they were hammering on one of my teeth to split it in half,” one person revealed. “They charged me for the extra anesthesia to put me back under.”
Another commenter said, “I recently had a seizure and was super out of it afterward so I was charged for ’emotional assist’ and when I asked about it the lady was just like ‘Yes it says here you were distressed.’ ‘Dude no s***, you ever have a seizure lady?’ My brain is literally misfiring what do you want.”
Woman charged ‘$11 for emotional distress after crying during medical procedure’https://t.co/22VH3bVmuC pic.twitter.com/PTFhi49Vzm
— The Mirror (@DailyMirror) September 29, 2021