A parent in Virginia took her daughter to an emergency room where she was diagnosed with appendicitis and had an appendectomy. For the medical care, the mother has no complaint. However, the hospital somehow made a mistake with the billing address and the mistake caused the initial billings to be rejected by the insurance carrier. It took a ridiculous amount of effort for the mother to get the billing straightened around, even though it seems like it would have been a simple mistake to fix.
Now the mother has discovered that there are two bills on her credit report, from outside providers who provided services during the child's hospitalization. When the mother investigated, she found that they were given the wrong address by the hospital, but that they were never given the corrected information. The amounts add up to just over $500.
What should the mother do? Would it make sense for her to hire a lawyer, or should she just pay off the debts?

