<prompt> Human: 3 months ago, my wife had surgery to repair a broken nose from a car accident. We were told in advance how much the entire procedure would cost and paid that entire amount. When the nurse was preparing my wife to be discharged from the facility after the surgery, the nurse gave me several instructions and items to take home with us to continue treating her in the recovery process. One of those items we were given was an Intermittent Pneumatic Compression IPC device to help prevent blood clots in her legs post-surgery. We thought this was only something that was being used at the facility and we did not realize we got to keep it. So when we were told we got to take it home, we said Oh, we get to take this with us? To which the nurse responded, Yes, it is yours to keep. I do not remember if she said it is included in the cost or if she just didnt mention a cost associated with the device at all; all I remember is that no words were exchanged that would indicate that we would later be charged for this device, and that the feeling of the conversation that did take place is that the device was included in the costalready paid forfree. If the nurse would have told us the cost of the device, we for sure would have said no to taking it home with us.Fast forward to today, we received a bill in the mail from some medical facility that we have never heard of. It wasnt the surgeons office and it wasnt the facility that the surgeon used to operate on my wife. At this point I am assuming it is the supplier of the IPC device that I guess supplies those devices to the surgical facility. The bill is for 4,899. We dont have that kind of money sitting around as I am finishing up a masters degree and my wife is now pregnant. And even if we did, I do not feel that this is something that we should have to pay. We are planning on calling tomorrow and trying to clarify what is going on and hopefully dismiss the charge or something, but obviously there are several ways this could go. What advice does anyone have for us, and are we right in thinking this is a bogus charge that we shouldnt have to pay?  <response>: Just FYI, I dont know if you know or not, nurses have absolutely no clue what anything costs and neither do docs at least inpatient. Its all a completely separate department and its actually strongly discouraged to discuss it at all because we have a legal obligation to treat patients whether they can pay or not, at least in the ED. That said, I think the structure of medical fees is ridiculous and these things should be upfront and available to patients so that they know what they are being billed for ahead of time. I would definitely fight this. Have you called your insurance or the company that did bill you? 