$538 hospital bill triggers legal action

A few weeks after Allison Zaromb took her 4-year-old son Meir to see a dermatologist in an outpatient office at the SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center campus, she received separate bills from the doctor and the hospital. The cost for a 3-minute procedure to treat Meir's warts totaled $538. Zaromb is now suing SSM Health Care Corp. and Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center in a proposed class action lawsuit on behalf of other patients. The lawsuit, filed in September in the state Circuit Court of the city of St. Louis, accuses the non-profit hospital system of deceptive business practices - in particular, violating a Missouri consumer practices statute - in failing to fully disclose the costs.