Took on a medical bill or a collectorMedical bills$1,100
Billed for a Surgery She Never Had, Then Chased by a Debt Collector
A California woman got a $1,100 bill for a Florida shoulder surgery that belonged to another patient with her name, and the debt was sold to a collector. The segment shows how she pushed back and what finally stopped the letters.
Video by CBS MorningsPublished December 27, 2022Breakdown updated September 15, 2026
Key moments
“Bill of the Month: Woman mistakenly charged for shoulder surgery she never had” by CBS Mornings. We didn't make this video; it loads from YouTube when you press play.
Where Grace started
Grace, 31, received an $1,100 surgery bill from ShorePoint Health in Venice, Florida, thousands of miles from her California home. The surgery patient was an 81-year-old woman with the same name, and the hospital still had Grace's information from a 2013 visit. The debt was later sold to a collection agency, which kept billing her.
What Grace did
- 1
She first wondered whether the bill was a scam, then called the hospital and worked out that it belonged to someone else.
- 2
The hospital told her it had fixed the error, but the debt was sold to a collection agency anyway.
- 3
She appealed to the collection agency twice and was turned down both times, and the collector told her to take it up with the hospital.
- 4
Using the other patient's records the collector sent her, she found the woman and let her know her personal information was out there.
- 5
After months of frustration, she asked Kaiser Health News to investigate, and the hospital sent a written apology.
- 6
A hospital privacy officer confirmed in a letter that her information had been removed from the hospital's and the collector's records and that she hadn't been reported to credit agencies, and the collection letters stopped.
What you can learn from it
Call the provider when a bill looks wrong
Grace's first move was to call the hospital, which is how she learned the bill wasn't hers. That call also settled her first worry, that the bill might be a scam.
A hospital fix may not reach collections
The hospital acknowledged the mistake, but the collection agency kept billing her and denied her appeals. It took a letter from the hospital's privacy officer to confirm the correction reached the collector's records too.
Check your patient portal for errors
Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal of Kaiser Health News recommends looking through your patient portal and starting early to fix any mistake you find. Under HIPAA, people can ask a provider to amend information in their medical and billing records.
Know where to escalate
Rosenthal's advice is to be very persistent and, if that doesn't work, to call your state consumer protection office, since she sees this as a consumer issue.
In their words
“I called the hospital, and we figured out that it wasn't my bill.”
“The debt collector told me, we can't speak to you about this account. You need to talk to the hospital.”
“We're coming on a year later, and it's wasted a lot of my time.”
Before you copy this path
Grace's case was resolved after reporters got involved, which most people can't count on. The segment's comments on how credit bureaus handle medical debt reflect plans announced in 2022, so check your own credit reports to see what's listed today.
Medical debt basicsCommon questions
What can you do if a debt collector is billing you for a debt that isn't yours?
The FTC's guidance is to send the collector a dispute letter within 30 days. Once the collector gets the letter, it must stop trying to collect until it sends written verification of the debt.
Source: consumer.ftc.govCan you ask a hospital to correct your medical or billing records?
Yes. Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, individuals have the right to ask a covered provider to amend information in their designated record set, which includes billing records. The provider generally has 60 days to act, with one possible 30-day extension.
Source: law.cornell.eduHow can you check whether a medical collection is on your credit report?
All three nationwide credit bureaus let people check their reports from each bureau once a week for free at AnnualCreditReport.com. The FTC suggests contacting both the bureau and the business that supplied the information to dispute mistakes.
Source: consumer.ftc.govSources
By DebtCheckUSAEditorial Team. This is our summary of a video we didn't make, and nobody paid us to include it. It's one person's experience, not financial, tax or legal advice. Advertiser disclosure
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