Scenario is this, person A lives with and is responsible for the care of person B. person A is not married to person B.
Person B gets sick after extended stay in the hospital and dies. Most of person B's coverage was paid for by insurance but that ran out a couple of weeks before person B died.
Anyway about two weeks after person B dies, Person A gets a bill back from the hospital, only it was billed to Person B who is dead!
So my question is what is person A legally liable for.
BTW just in case you're wondering, not that it should make a difference but I am not person A.
Also of note is that person B did not own any property or anything else like a car, etc that could be claimed.
2007-01-09 06:48:08 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Actually one thing I should have included based on some of the answers is that person A "is" a family member of person B (sister in fact). However they are not legal caretakers. AFAIK.
2007-01-09 08:06:05 · update #1
Some bills do transfer after death. The person responsible would be whom ever was noted as the successor in his or her will, but i am guessing seeing you are asking this questions no will was in place. Then it would go to next of kin deemed responsible by the state (unless person A was the legal guardian) along with any positions. If they did have positions (which you said they did not) these would be sold off to cover debt and the existing (if any) after debts are paid would go to whom the state has deemed responsible. After someone passes there is some legal red tap that must be gone thru for things such as the release of the body for burial and any bank account(s), life insurance policies etc. and most all this things would be settled then. If person B died in relation to something like a car related incident or anything else outside natural causes there may be extra things to go thru in this process to cover proper procedure by local authorities. This process can be rather frustrating and i have know it to take several months to get everything straightened out properly if no will was in place. Sorry person A's loss.
2007-01-09 07:08:40 · answer #1 · answered by babygirl21 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Person A is not responsible if they are not married unless Person B is a minor child of Person A. Person B's estate would be responsible for picking up the bill unless Person A co-signed on the bill (this is not usual in medical treatment).
2007-01-09 15:21:03 · answer #2 · answered by msi_cord 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unless Person A has assumed some financial responsibility with the hospital, the bill is the issue of the estate of person b (or his heirs).
Hospital will always try to collect from anyone and everyone they can; general principal.
2007-01-09 14:53:08 · answer #3 · answered by wizjp 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If person A was appointed by a court as legal guardian of person B, then they would be liable for the debt.
2007-01-09 14:53:16 · answer #4 · answered by tootsie1115 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you mentioned it in the first line. If they went to the hospital, the hospital wants to know who the responsible party is so they can collect payment. This is what you get with a same sex marriage- someone is responsible.
2007-01-09 14:54:08 · answer #5 · answered by northville 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Person A is not legally liable for Person B's bills.
Return bill to sender. Mark on bill "Addressee deceased."
2007-01-09 14:52:03 · answer #6 · answered by kja63 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I believe that you should halt all further attempts to publicly display intelligence via the Internet.
2007-01-09 14:56:38 · answer #7 · answered by suburbsformeandme 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No,Person A would not be responsible.B's family would.
2007-01-09 15:37:16 · answer #8 · answered by Jo 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
person b is/was liable. but now the bill is paid by taxpayers.
2007-01-09 14:53:07 · answer #9 · answered by hippiechick 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Person A is not liabel for anything. Person B's estate is.
2007-01-09 14:53:05 · answer #10 · answered by justbeingher 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋