Recently in North Dakota, a woman from the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation had severe chest pains and extremely high blood pressure. At a local IHS clinic, she was diagnosed as having a heart attack.
The staff of the clinic insisted she go by ambulance to the nearest major hospital, 80 miles away. She resisted because she knew she would be billed for the trip and could not afford it, but the clinic insisted.
When she arrived at the hospital and was being transferred from the ambulance to a gurney, an envelope was found taped to her leg. In the envelope was a letter stating that the IHS lacked funds to pay for the health care she needed because a ''life or limb'' medical condition was not involved. Really? A suspected heart attack is not ''life or limb''? Fortunately, the individual survived. But she later received a bill for
