Makena is NOT Mario

On February 13th I received a bill from San Francisco General Hospital, where I gave birth to Makena. It says I owe $56 for the newborn hearing test that was preformed on January 20th for Mario Salas.

But Mario is not my baby. So I called and left a message explaining there was a mistake. And I called again a few weeks later when I got the same bill again. And then last week I got a final notice bill. I left 4 or 5 messages (during business hours!) and never heard back from anybody.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to request a copy of Makena's medical records, and the hospital isn't responding to the messages I keep leaving. Her pediatrician was supposed to be faxed a copy of them after her birth, and he still hasn't gotten it. We should have received a copy of them in the mail within 6 weeks of her birth, and never did.

I don't know her blood type, or the results of the newborn screening blood tests they did when she was born.

Today I finally got a hold of someone at the billing department about the mix-up.

The conversation went something like this-

"Hi, I'm calling about a bill I keep receiving but it's not for my baby." I give the account number and the lady says in a quite rude tone-

"Well you still have to pay the bill."

"But it's not my baby."

"But YOUR name and address is listed so YOU'RE responsible for paying it."

"No, you don't understand. I gave birth to a different baby that day, there has been a mix-up somewhere My baby's name is Makena, not Mario. I had a girl, not a boy.

"...I'm sorry, what did you say?"

I explained again and she got quiet for a few seconds and asked me if what I was saying is that I gave birth to a different baby than the one listed on the bill. Yes. Exactly.

She gasped, then in almost a whisper she said, "Ohmygod. This stuff only happens in Lifetime movies, not real life! Omg, I don't know what to say!"

She pulled up the record for baby Mario and said something about him being from out of the country (what?) and then asked for Makena's information. I gave her full name and date of birth and she paused and said "Well. Now that's weird. We have no record of her birth."

Oh really? I spelled her name over again and she looked up my file and confirmed I gave birth to a baby girl and then couldn't find any of Makena's file.

She was totally bewildered and I could tell she had no idea what to do or how it happened. Said she'd have to talk to her supervisor and see if the records department had any information and call me back.

So that explains why we never got her results in the mail. How insane is that?!?! When we got her birth certificate we brought with us the form from the hospital that clearly stated that she was born at their facility. So I think her records are somewhere...but attached to Mario's mom's file! UGH! What a crazy mistake!!!!

Of course they didn't call back but I'm going to be on their case if they don't get back to me tomorrow. Pain in the butt!