A Spanish magistrate has opened an investigation into whether there is a link between the death of a woman and a meal she ate at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Valencia where officials have identified suspected cases of food poisoning. A Valencia court statement Friday said the magistrate is awaiting forensic reports and the results of an autopsy. The 46-year-old woman died after eating with her husband and 12-year-old son, who also fell ill, at Restaurant Riff last Saturday. The Spanish private news agency Europa Press says authorities have detected 29 cases of diarrhea and vomiting among people who recently ate at Restaurant Riff.
Public outrage over surprise medical bills has prompted some states to pass laws protecting consumers. But such laws largely ignore ground ambulance rides, which can leave patients with up to thousands owed in medical bills and few options for recourse, according to a Kaiser Health News review of hundreds of consumer complaints in 32 states.
Patients are often vulnerable because 911 dispatchers pick the ambulance crews, which then pick the hospitals. The sticker shock comes after patients are taken to hospitals out of their insurance network or when the ambulance service itself hasn't joined an insurance network.
Forty years ago most ambulances were free. Now many are run by private companies and venture capital firms.
According to the advocacy group Consumers Union, at least a quarter of their 700 patient reports about surprise medical bills involve ambulances.
