Threatened with jail for childbirth bill

FRIDAY, JULY 22: A single mom told how she narrowly escaped jail this week over a $3,000 hospital bill from more than a decade ago.

The woman racked up the bill for a caesarean section on the birth of her child, now 11-years-old. She also owes an additional $1,000 in other medical bills.

She was out of work at the time and had no health insurance to cover the costs.

Ms Smith, who agreed to speak to the Bermuda Sun on condition we use her second name only, was taken to court this week by a debt collection agency.

Child support

She says she was told the case would be adjourned until September, to give her time to try to get a job.

Initially she owed $10,000 to the Bermuda Credit Association, including the medical bill. She told us she has repaid $7,000 but has been out of work since last year and has been unable to continue her payments.

She also claims she is owed $13,000 in child support payments from her son’s father, who has a court order to pay $75-a-week. The last time she received any money was a cheque for $100 in 2008.

“They have warrants out for him but they say they can’t find him. But they want to send me to jail for $3,000,” she said.

Ms Smith, who lives with her mom and receives support from the Coalition for the Protection of Children, is still without health insurance.

She says she gets help from the charity to pay for groceries but cannot afford any insurance.

“If I walk out of here and get run over then I’ll be in the same situation again,” she said. “These fathers think they are hurting the women, but it is the children they are hurting.”

Sheelagh Cooper, Coalition president, said unpaid child support was a huge problem for single moms.

She said there were many women like Ms Smith who were threatened with jail over debts while their children’s fathers evaded the authorities over child support payments.

Ms Cooper added medical bills were one of the biggest contributors to debt for many of her clients, who were either unemployed or worked in ‘marginal’ businesses that did not offer insurance.

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