the father works part-time. mother's a cashier in a supermarket.
ah, mr. and mrs. archibald. rebecca payne, hospital director. this is doctor turner, head of our cardiology department.
please sit down.
wait a second. there are other options.
to do nothing. medicate him. keep him as comfortable as possible. you need to start thinking about quality of life now.
i know it's difficult, but you must face the fact that your son may not have much time left. you might want to make it a happy time. say goodbye.
and transplantation is a high risk operation. you could lose your son on the table. you may not want to take that chance.
mr. archibald.
it's not that simple. there are other considerations before a prospective recipient is placed on the donor list, mr. archibald. the cost of transplant surgery is expensive. in most cases, prohibitively so.
actually, we've already checked with your carrier. there's no provision in your policy for a procedure of this magnitude.
what about you, mrs. archibald? do you have coverage?
i see that you don't own your own home. no investments, stocks, bonds. and you have a little over one thousand in savings.
that may very well be, but you'll have to check with your carrier on that. in the meantime, i'm afraid we're going to have to treat you as a cash account.
transplant surgery, doctor fees, post operative treatment and immunosuppressant drugs, you're looking at two-hundred and fifty-thousand dollars minimum.
we have treated him. we continue to treat him. now i understand how upset you are, sir. but with other options available, we are not obligated to cover a procedure this costly. if you opt for replacement surgery, that's your choice. but the hospital maintains a very strict policy with respect to cash patients. we require a down payment before the patient's name can be placed on the receiver list.
thirty percent. seventy-five thousand.
yes, it takes money to provide health service. it's expensive for you and for us. my job is to keep this program alive. for everyone. now, i'm sorry, but we need you to guarantee payment before we can place your son's name on the list.
no, no, no. you filed an appeal? an appeal is for an already existing claim. what you needed to file was a grievance. you'll have to resubmit. but that could take up to thirty days.
i know that.
mr. archibald, your hospital bill is in excess of thirty thousand dollars. so far, we haven't received any kind of payment. we have bent over backward to help you.
yes, sir, that is right. but there is a limit to this hospital's generosity. once and for all, you are not covered by insurance. we will need to guarantee payment.
that's him. his name is john archibald. his son's on the fifth floor, pediatric icu.
don't you dare try to blame this on me. you think mr. archibald is the only one with a sick child? try the hiv ward. there's a whole floor full of them. people get sick. they die. that's the way it goes. i'm faced with tough decisions every day.
the fact is there are fifty million people in this country without medical insurance, sir. and there's one of me in every hospital. that's not my fault. it's just the way the country's set up. you want to change it? write your congressman.
you want me to put his name on the list, fine, but it's a mistake. you give in to this man, there's going to be guns in every hospital in america.
no matter how many times i see it, this is the part i always hate.
no. no i don't.
mrs. archibald.
i've decided to put mike's name on the organ recipient list, mrs. archibald. the hospital will pay for everything.
excuse me?
are you sure?
well, i'll be damned.
i may be a lot of things, lieutenant, but i am not a liar.