Botched procedure caused surgery and long hospital stay – who should pay?

A family member underwent an endoscopy, and experienced incredible pain less than 2 hours after arriving home. They went to the ER, where a CT scan showed a perforation in the small intestine. This required a complicated surgery, long hospital stay, rehab, etc.

Accidents happen, and there’s always risk involved when undergoing a procedure, but it seems crazy that they are responsible to pay $10K+ out of pocket in medical bills when it is all a direct result of a mistake/accident made within the same hospital. Looking for suggestions on how best to proceed. Should we reach out to the hospital billing department directly and explain the situation to see if they will zero out the bills? Should we contact our insurance and have them sort it out with the hospital? Is there another entity at the hospital that we should contact first? (Would prefer not to involve lawyers if possible – doctor is a good competent person, not looking to ruin careers.)

In case it’s relevant, this happened in Pennsylvania.

submitted by /u/beckybop123
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