The Daily Populous Monday September 15th, 2025 night edition
Authored by abc7news.com and submitted by GoodSamaritan_

Bay Area family gets $5,000 bill for sitting in an ER waiting room. Here's how 7 On Your Side helped

A South Bay viewer says his family received a bill for $5,000 after a trip to the ER for his son, who didn't actually make it past the waiting room.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- A South Bay viewer says his family received a bill for thousands after a trip to the ER for his son, who didn't actually make it past the waiting room.

In May, 11-year-old Nathan Jachimiec's son Ian broke out in a rash.

"He's never had anything like this before so this was new for us as parents," said Jachimiec.

The couple gave him Benadryl and brought him to the Good Samaritan Emergency Room in San Jose out of an abundance of caution.

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Jachimiec says a doctor never evaluated his son, they just sort of waited, and while they did, Ian seemed to be getting better.

Enough so, that the family tried to leave the ER.

"He says wait, wait, you just can't go," said Jachimiec.

They received written instructions which basically said Jachimiec should continue giving his son Benadryl.

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"The triage nurse then gave me this printout and then we left and went home," said Jachimiec.

Not thinking much of it until the bill came.

"My son was never even seen by that doctor," he continued.

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Out of frustration trying to fight the bill, Jachimiec reached out to 7 On Your Side and we reached out to Good Samaritan Hospital.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson writes in part, "Once we were made aware of the patient's situation, our team acted quickly to resolve the matter."

Jachimiec told us, the hospital wrote off the bill.

"I'm glad that 7 On Your Side was there in this case, thank you," said Jachimiec.

Good Samaritan hospital tells us it is committed to transparency, compassion and fairness and takes concerns like these seriously.

Take a look at more stories and videos by 7 On Your Side.

7OYS's consumer hotline is a free consumer mediation service for those in the San Francisco Bay Area. We assist individuals with consumer-related issues; we cannot assist on cases between businesses, or cases involving family law, criminal matters, landlord/tenant disputes, labor issues, or medical issues. Please review our FAQ here. As a part of our process in assisting you, it is necessary that we contact the company / agency you are writing about. If you do not wish us to contact them, please let us know right away, as it will affect our ability to work on your case. Due to the high volume of emails we receive, please allow 3-5 business days for a response.

SomeoneNicer on September 14th, 2025 at 17:27 UTC »

> > "the hospital wrote off the entire bill"

So apparently it's $0 if you contact the media, otherwise it's $5000. Something is seriously messed up. Is there anything else in the history of the world that has worked like this?

Miss_Speller on September 14th, 2025 at 17:23 UTC »

The hilarious thing is that the place was called Good Samaritan Emergency Room - in the Bible story, the Samaritan is the guy who pays for the injured traveler's care. I guess their management never actually read that part of the Bible before doing the exact opposite...

GhostWrex on September 14th, 2025 at 17:16 UTC »

It's HCA, a for-profit system. They are a business that happens to traffic in healthcare, not a hospital system that tries to turn a profit. If leadership there figured out a way to make more money by shutting all their facilities, they would in a heartbeat