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Regardless of the damages collected from the wrongdoer, there is every possibility for a person who has suffered a personal injury to witness a hospital lien. Typically, hospital lien claims do occur when an individual lacks insurance to fully cover their treatment for the emergency care they received after experiencing a mishap such as a slip-and-fall or an auto accident.

Navigating this problem cannot be easily achieved without the help of an experienced personal injury attorney in Florida. Due to the highly inflated nature of the claimed charges for the lien, it is usually important to do this. Health care providers and hospitals may not have to lower the amount even though they are legally permitted to execute these liens.

The good news is that a personal injury attorney in Florida can help fight the course of the patient negotiating and arguing for what is truly fair. Depending on the state involved, there are different ways to handle these matters. Recently, a Florida Supreme Court had to determine whether patients receive the full, undiscounted bill from hospitals or do hospitals accept the discounted amounts as full payment.

According to the court, it all began when the plaintiff was involved in a fatal car accident in 2010. While seeking damages for the injuries obtained and alleging negligence the plaintiff, along with her husband, filed a lawsuit against the other driver. The complaint revealed that nearly a $53,000 worth of medical bills were presented by multiple care providers.

The defendant argued that the bills should be excluded and deemed irrelevant as only $18,300 was paid by the plaintiff’s health insurer. But the plaintiff, on the other hand, argues that she was billed $53,000 which should be the received amount. This led to the invitation of several healthcare providers and doctors who had to testify on the reasonableness of the submitted charges for the plaintiff’s medical care.

Obviously, the initial bills were unreasonable, as determined by the charges and accepted amount of the debt. Since the discounted amounts accepted by the provider were not visible, it was evident that the defendants were seeking to suppress evidence of the bills, the plaintiff obtained.

All evidence of the undiscounted medical bills of the patient was excluded by the trial court. Still, on this issue, an interlocutory appeal was filed by the plaintiff to the appellate court in the state and it was reversed. The court held that the decision of the West doesn’t apply to cases that have to do with personal injury.

To this end, an appeal was made to the state supreme court which both affirmed and reversed the case. While supporting the decision of the trial court, it affirmed that the expert witness testimony may be refuted by the admissibility of the evidence.