Wisconsin woman faces bankruptcy after having cardiac arrest and faces mounting hospital bills

A cardiac arrest that stopped Megan Rothbauer's heart for nearly an hour was an experience she never thought she would have. Now, the Wisconsin woman is facing bankruptcy from medical bills after being taken to the wrong hospital while suffering from a heart attack. 

Megan Rothbauer now faces $250,000 in hospital bills after paramedics took her to a hospital not covered by her medical insurance.

 Rothbauer, 30, told WISC-TV that she technically died of cardiac arrest last September, and was taken to St. Mary's Hospital, where she spent the next ten days in a coma.

Blue Cross Blue Shield, her insurer, eventually agreed to pay its in-network rate of $156,000 to offset the bill. And St. Mary's negotiated to reduce the remainder of the bill by $98,000.

As a result, Rothbauer is now left owing more than $50,000 instead of the $1,500 maximum out-of-pocket fee that she would have had to pay at an in-network hospital that was just three blocks from St. Mary's.

"I was unconscious when I was taken to the hospital," she pointed out. "Unfortunately, I was taken to the wrong hospital for my insurance."

"I was in a coma. I couldn't very well wake up and say, 'Hey, take me to the next hospital.' It was the closest hospital to where I had my event, so naturally the ambulance took me there. No fault to them. It's unfortunate that Meriter is in network and was only three blocks away from St. Mary's."

St. Mary's says they've knocked off such a large amount from Rothbauer's bill that they don't plan to negotiate further.

'It's unfortunate that Meriter is in network and was only three blocks away from St. Mary's,' said Rothbauer, who is now desperately researching ways she might stave off bankruptcy and live the life she sees friends her age leading instead of grappling to get out of medical debt.