'AITA for not paying my nephew's hospital bill? My sister is saying she'll sue.'
"AITA for not paying my nephew's hospital bill?"
I have 4 kids, Alexis (15), Lucas (12), Ronnie (11), and Allie (8). Alexis has a lot of health issues. We’ve been in and out of the hospital for months.
Something important to know is that Alexis has a picc line (big take home iv) and is getting blood thinner injections every day so we do have needles and vials around the house. She also occasionally gets pain meds through her picc line.
My sister has 2 kids, Andrew (12) and Alyssa (9). She brought them to the house to play with my kids not too long ago.
Alexis had a minor procedure a couple days before they came. I was showing my sister a video of Alexis at the house right after the procedure. She was still very high and it was hilarious (she’s fine with me showing family these videos). Andrew came into the kitchen, heard the video, and asked what it was. I said that I was just showing his mom a video of Alexis after she got some pain meds.
A few hours later the kids were grabbing a snack and Andrew took the container with needles and vials of the blood thinner out of the pantry. He asked what it is and I said it’s Alexis’s medicine.
My sister and I left to take our dogs for a walk and I wanted to get a snack out of the pantry when we came back. I noticed Alexis’s medicine box was moved so I looked at it and one of the blood thinner vials was a lot more empty than before and a needle/syringe was missing.
Sister and I interrogated all of the kids and we found out Andrew gave himself a high dose of the blood thinner because he thought it was her pain meds and he wanted to take them.
My sister rushed Andrew to the hospital and he stayed overnight. Now she’s sending me the hospital bill because I was the one that left the medicine where he could get it. I’m refusing to pay because if my 11 and 12 year old boys and 8 year old girl know not to touch other peoples medicines, her 12 year old should be able to see a vial and syringe and not drug himself.
She’s threatening to sue and I really don’t want to go the legal route with this. AITA for not paying the hospital bills? Edit: I would like to clear this up. This is an injection, not an infusion. All you need to do is inject it into the subcutaneous tissue and I don’t even know if he did that correctly.
Here's what people had to say to OP:
North_Badger6101 says:
NTA. "I’m refusing to pay because if my 11 and 12 year old boys and 8 year old girl know not to touch other peoples medicines, her 12 year old should be able to see a vial and syringe and not drug himself."
Yes, exactly. Your sister has a huge problem and it has nothing to do with a 12 year old who doesn't know not to touch other people's medicine. No, it's worse than that. Andrew knew what he was doing was wrong, but was motivated to do it anyway.
That tells me this is not Andrew's first experiment. His experimentation is totally fearless, which indicates he has a problem which could have started years ago. The blood thinner he took is the least of that kid's problems. It's time to start testing the boy's blood. He's got issues.
Poumy says:
YTA, this is why you keep medication like this out of a child’s reach, in court you would be held liable for putting potentially dangerous medication in a place where a child can easily reach it.
The kid is 12. There’s a reason most medications have safety bottles cuz kids are stupid. As a parent YOU need to keep ur child’s medication in a safe spot where other children can’t reach it. The fact is that this would have been easily avoided if YOU actually took basic child safety precautions.
hospitalbillpost OP rsponded:
They put the safety bottles because toddlers are stupid. He’s 12. 12 is old enough to know now to touch any medicines.
InnocentaMN says:
Huge YTA for giving her a picc line unless she is terminally ill. Your med storage and handling is unsafe, and you’re refusing to take any responsibility for it - which is about what I’d expect from someone who is over medicalising their kid like this.
hospitalbillpost OP responded:
Look, we really tried to hold off on the picc line but her veins are horrible and getting an iv a couple times a week was making it worse. It got to a point where the only people that could get her iv were NICU nurses.
The hospital was pushing for it, Alexis was begging, and it was something we were able to do to make things easier on her. I am aware of the risks and the decision was not made lightly.