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Arrested for Not Paying a Medical Bill? - YouTube
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137 million Americans have faced
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financial hardship this year due to
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medical costs people across the country
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struggle with these often unexpected
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expenses but could you be arrested for
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failing to pay a medical bill we're
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getting to the bottom of it in our
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series money vs. medicine have a look
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medical bills can be unexpected and
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extremely high in some places across the
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country patients who are unable to pay
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these bills can be sued by their local
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hospital physicians or ambulance
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services for medical debt if they fail
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to appear in court framed debtors exam
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the debt collector can ask the judge to
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issue a warrant for the person's arrest
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they can then be arrested and jail many
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claim that they did not receive the
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summons can't afford to miss work and
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some are even too sick to attend if a
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debtor is jailed and posts bail the
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collector can allegedly get part of the
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bail money are these arrests necessary
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to keep the system working or is it a
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roundabout way to punish people that
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can't afford their medical bills join us
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to discuss is creditors rights attorney
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Randall Lindley also attorney and expert
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in consumer protection law peterhall and
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both joining us via Skype and Randall
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I'll start with you as we dig deep into
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this because I'll openly acknowledge
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that we have been trying to dig through
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this figure out how it's possible in our
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system that someone can ultimately be
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arrested and potentially even go to jail
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for not paying a medical bill how does
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that happen well let's start off with
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the law does not allow someone to be
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arrested for failing to pay a debt
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there's there simply is not a debtors
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prison people are not put in jail for
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failing to pay a debt what they they do
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is they get put in jail for failing to
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disobey a court order whether it's a
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medical data or some other type of debt
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the creditor files a lawsuit to enforce
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the obligation to pay and the failure of
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that person to pay that that debt
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results in a judgment so the judgment is
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rendered against the debtor and once the
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judgment exists against that debtor then
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the court will be asked by the creditor
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to enforce that judgment
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well the first most logical step for the
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creditor is to ask for the debtor to
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come to court or come to the creditors
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attorney's office and produce documents
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to explain how they're going to pay for
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the debt so it's called the debtors
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examination and they examine the assets
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that the that the debtor has and the
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ability of the debtor to pay the debt so
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through that process the court will
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order them to appear and it's at that
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point in time when they don't appear
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that the court will issue this writ of
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attachment to have them arrested and
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brought before the court but they're not
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being put in jail for failing to pay a
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debt they're disobeying a court's order
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that is the trigger for the arresting
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and the incarceration
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I mean Randall you're right on debtors
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prisons were abolished in 1833 in this
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country but to me it sounds like this is
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just a loophole and end-run that you're
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you're still being arrested and put in
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jail okay the paperwork that was a
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process but if for some reason that
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didn't happen they didn't get the
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paperwork they didn't get the notice to
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appear and they end up in jail I mean I
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I find this hard to believe but whether
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it's a medical debt or any other type of
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debt that's not that's not what happens
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what happens is the court goes above and
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beyond in all the cases that I've been
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involved with to make sure that debtors
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receive notice of these requirements
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meaning they receive notice of the order
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to appear and I want to interject
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because Peter you've had a bit of a
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different experience with this loophole
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where people are indirectly arrested if
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you will for failing to pay a medical
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debt and so I would I would love for you
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to respond in terms of some of your
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experiences what's happening around this
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country is there are people it's called
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sewer service where they didn't get any
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notice let alone not even the lawsuit
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let alone of some arrest warrant in fact
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there was a case in New York a hundred
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and ninety thousand judgments were
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vacated based on sewer service and you
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know sewer service means
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that somebody swore under oath that they
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served lawsuit papers on somebody they
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filed an affidavit with the court saying
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that that's known as the process server
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but in fact that didn't happen and it's
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a it's a ubiquitous problem across the
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country
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you
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