Orlando hospitals will pay medical bills for Pulse shooting victims

The Orlando, Fla., hospitals that treated the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in June will cover all of their out-of-pocket medical bills.

Orlando Health, which includes Orlando Regional Medical Center, one of the two emergency departments clos- est to the mass shooting, estimates it will swallow more than $5 million worth of unreimbursed medical care. Orlando Regional and Florida Hospital treated dozens of victims who were either killed or injured in the June 12 shootings.

Orlando Regional, a Level 1 trauma center just blocks away from the nightclub, treated 44 victims. Florida Hospital treated 12 victims.

Florida Hospital declined to bill the victims’ insurance and will cover all costs of care. The hospital estimates that will cost $525,400, a spokeswoman said.

Orlando Health has looked to state and federal funds, private insurance, disability insurance, Florida’s crime victim compensation program and charity care to help its patients, spokeswoman Kena Lewis said.

Dr. Joseph Ibrahim, trauma medical director at Orlando Regional, during a June 14 news conference described a “war scene” created at the hospital from the amount of blood and chaos that accompanied tending to the wounded.