Friday, August 03, 2012

Save a Life only if you have money to pay the bill!

In America everything comes with a price tag, even performing acts of kindness and bravery. Even if you save someone's life you have to pay a price for it. This is what a young American found out recently. I read about this lifeguard on Yahoo News. He rescued a drowning boy off the west coast of America and was promptly slapped with a $2600 hospital bill. It is routine in the US that everyone is taken to the emergency after the slightest adverse event. This lifeguard was also transported in an ambulance, even though he was fine, uninjured and he was the rescuer not the one who was drowning. After a few weeks he got a bill from the hospital. Of course there are enough generous souls in the US and someone footed the hospital bill. Instead of commending him for saving a life and giving him some kind of a bravery award, he got a bill from the hospital. It does really sound absurd to me. Next time I see a drowning person I should think twice if I have the money to pay the hospital, before jumping in to rescue.