@losgatan
vol . 4, no. 47 : july 23-29, 2025 : losgatan.com
chez philippe’s bastille day p6 : tesla opens to protests p7 : quakes rookie p8 : police blotter p14 Dinah Cotton.
LOCAL MOM’S SAGA SHEDS LIGHT ON HIGH COST OF EMERGENCY ROOM VISITS Family was surprised by a $30K hospital bill following bike accident with only minor injuries to her son Drew Penner, Managing Editor
A Los Gatos mother is raising the alarm about Good Samaritan Hospital billings after receiving a nearly $30,000 invoice following her son’s short hospital visit. Christine Sterpetti, 59, says she and her husband brought her son (who was in 8th grade at the time) to the emergency room to get checked out after he fell off his bike and landed on his tailbone near Union Middle School, Oct. 2, 2023. “He wasn’t in a wheelchair. He wasn’t having to be assisted into the hospital,” Sterpetti told the newspaper in a telephone interview. “It was just a precautionary visit. It wasn’t like he was scraped-up or anything like that.” But then, around a year later, a bill for $29,825 was generated and sent to Sterpetti’s husband's insurance company Meritain Health (the son is on the father’s insurance plan). A medical record obtained by the Los Gatan, dated Nov. 11, 2024, lists $7,914 for “Room and Care,” $4,950 for X-rays, $16,945 for “LVL 5 EMER DEPT,” and $16 for a 200mg ibuprofen tab. ➝ Good Sam, 12
SURVIVOR’S TALES Hannah Haworth has published eight books since her breast cancer diagnosis.
CANCER CAREPOINT OFFERS MOM SUPPORT Hannah Haworth was a new mom and was looking forward to her daughter’s first birthday, not a breast cancer diagnosis By Dinah Cotton, Contributor
Ha n n a h Ha w o r t h , a n e w mother and an author of 10 books, was looking forward to her daughter’s first birthday.
At age 40 she thought it might also be a good time to have a mammogram. Her medical insurance plan had been suggesting it for months. Five days after her daughter’s first birthday she went in for her first mammogram. Without any symptoms, and without any family history of cancer, a tumor was diagnosed. Devastating results. This was not on her agenda. She was a writer. She was doing well with
her book series. She has a loving husband. Her daughter, Lynlee, needed her. There was simply no time to “have” cancer.
Subscribe.
Reluctant client becomes a thriving client
During Haworth’s treatment and recovery, her husband met representatives from Cancer CAREpoint (CCP) at her ➝ CAREpoint, 12
If you read the Los Gatan please support it. And recieve it at home, every week.
LGSubs.com