Man gets unexpected medical bills

No one likes getting hospital bills, but imagine getting a bill except never getting treated. A Holly Springs man said it happened to him.

David Bivens said he received bills from Grady and Emory health systems totaling thousands of dollars. He believes someone he once knew stole his identity.

Bivens was billed by Grady Memorial Hospital for $7,626 for a March 20 visit, while he was home safe and healthy with his family.

“Never stepped foot in Grady,” said Bivens.

The nightmare for Bivens began last week when his wife woke him up asking him why he had to go to Grady.

“I told her I had no idea what she was talking about. Then she told me we received a bill for $7,000 from Grady Hospital,” said Bivens.

Immediately he is on the phone with the hospital trying to figure out what was going on. But then another bill arrives, this one from Emory for services rendered at Grady.

“Went round and around for three days with the people at Grady and Emory and then finally talked with a supervisor at Grady who told them that the person who received the treatment was brought in by ambulance, received treatment and subsequently arrested and put in the DeKalb County Jail,” said Bivens.

Bivens searched online to see who was pretending to be him. He said it turned out to be someone he knew from 20 years ago.

“It was an old roommate who stole my passport and he’s been using my name every time. He’s been arrested 15 times since 2000/2001. Fifteen times he’s been using my name,” said Bivens.

Bivens showed News Radio 106.7’s Christy Hutchings the arrest records he found online. FOX 5 News obtained the incident report, when Bivens was taken to Grady. The report lists a Miami address, but the real Bivens has never lived in Miami.

“It makes me ill and I just wonder when the other shoe is going to drop,” said Bivens.

Bivens now has to clean up a decade old mess.

“Right now, I’m working on getting police reporter together, primarily getting Emory and Grady not to send bills, and not to blemish my credit report. I want Emory and Grady to know I’m not the man they’re looking for,” said Bivens.