My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Texas
I will try to make this as short as possible. I brought my niece to a hospital for a medical emergency. I made it very clear at the time that I was not a parent or legal guardian and was not responsible for her medical bills. The child was, and still is, covered by CHIP insurance. I did not have her exact insurance information, but I gave the hospital all the information they needed to use their database to look the information up. I told them on multiple occasions, I was not the financially responsible party.
The billing representative for the hospital brought a consent for treatment form which she told me I was required to sign before they could treat the child. At no time did she indicate that signing the form would make me financially responsible, only that my signature was required in order for the child to be treated for a medical emergency. I did sign the form, but I did note my relationship with the child, a relationship that was clearly one where I was not financially responsible for the child's medical bills.
I recently received a detailed bill from the hospital. I called the billing department to rectify the problem. Initially, I couldn't recall off the top of my head the street number for the patients address so the hospital refused to speak with me, however, they said I could pay the bill if I wanted to. I was not asking for any patient information. There was no risk of a HIPAA violation. I called back with the correct information. They have the insurance information and all the information for the person that is legally responsible for the child's medical bills, but they refuse to remove it from my name or even resubmit the bill to CHIP.
The only options they are giving me are to call the insurance myself, which I have tried to do, but since I am not the child's parent or legal guardian, of course they won't give me any information or assistance of any kind, or I can have another person call them and take responsibility for the bill. getting the person that is legally responsible for the bill to call them is not a possibility at this time and no sane person is going to just accept responsibility for a bill that is not theirs. At this point, I don't know what else to do. I'm not a legal novice, but this is something I don't even know where to begin with.
The bill is still with the hospital and not in collections, but I can't just sit back and wait for this to escalate. I worked very hard for many years to rebuild my credit after a nasty divorce. I have 2 children of my own in college so the ability to take out loans with a good interest rate is paramount for me at this point. A collection account would be devastating for me and for my children.
The billing department at the hospital admitted they made a mistake and that I should have never been listed as the guarantor for the bill, yet they refuse to rectify the situation. I am a single mother with 2 children in college, I do not have the time, money or patients to deal with this. I need to know if I have any legal avenues that I can pursue to fix this situation, a situation that I did not cause, a situation that the hospital has admitted was THEIR fault. Any assistance or guidance will be greatly appreciated.

