Palm Coast woman faced more than $250K in bills for someone else’s surgeries.

Imagine being rushed to a hospital with a serious injury, only to learn someone else already had a major surgery on your dime, and the thief used your insurance information in another state.

That’s precisely what happened to a Flagler County woman who became the victim of medical identity theft. Her insurance company tried to charge her more than a quarter of a million dollars in bills associated with a leg amputation six weeks after she had surgery on her shoulder. She later learned her medical identity had been used in California, Michigan, Georgia and Palm Coast.

Some thieves steal medical identities for cancer surgeries or open-heart procedures. In the case of one Palm Coast woman, a stranger with diabetes had a leg amputated using the woman’s medical information, which the woman said was stolen from a hospital.

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February 11, 2016 By Tarik Minor, WJXT News 4 Jax/Jacksonville, FL