RAPID CITY, SD – Rapid City Regional Hospital has been hit with a sweeping lawsuit that claims the nonprofit institution overcharges its uninsured patients, requires emergency room patients to sign a payment pledge before treatment and uses “aggressive, abusive and humiliating” collection tactics against those who don’t pay.
Those policies and tactics are contrary, the suit says, to Regional Hospital’s obligation to provide fair, affordable medical care to all patients ? an obligation the hospital took on in exchange for its exemption from state and federal taxes.
The suit was filed last week in U.S. District Court in Rapid City on behalf of Brett and Deborah Burgher of Rapid City. They and their son were treated at various times between 1999 and 2003. The uninsured couple was forced into bankruptcy by hospital bills that, with interest and fees, totaled more than $100,000, according to the suit.
Although the suit names the Burghers, their attorneys seek class-action status, which would mean any former or current uninsured patient could become a party to the suit.
Stanley Siegel of Rider Bennett law firm in Minneapolis, with local attorney Don Shultz of Lynn, Jackson, Shultz & Lebrun law firm, filed the suit against Rapid City Regional Hospital. The same two firms have filed similar suits against Avera Health and Sioux Valley Health Systems, both in Sioux Falls.
In fact, the suit appears to be part of a nationwide trend ? led by well-known Mississippi personal injury lawyer Richard Scruggs ? of litigation against nonprofit hospitals. The claims in the other suits are similar to those in the local case.
For this complete story, please visit Another Hospital Sued Over Billing and Collection Practices.
