Ryan Grassley, a Utah father, said he has to pay the hospital bill worth $39.35 before his child can be held in his arms. He posted online a snapshot of a hospital account from Utah's Utah Valley Hospital with a caption, "I had to pay $39.35 to hold my baby after he was born." He refers to the fee of the "skin to skin" contact.
Grassley, a new father from Spanish Fork, Utah, welcomed his son last Sept. 4 at Utah Valley Hospital together with his wife. After the baby was out through a Caesarian section, Grassley said a nurse in the operating room asked them if they wanted to follow the "skin to skin" practice, according to CBS News.
The "skin to skin" practice is when the bare skin of a newborn is put on the skin of the mother to make them bond, KUTV.com noted. This "skin to skin" time is believed to bring several benefits.
"Skin-to-skin is a best practice with proven benefits for both mom and baby. We do everything possible to allow skin-to-skin after both vaginal and C-section births," the hospital said, as per RT.com.
Ryan Grassley, however, did not expect the hospital to charge them $39.35 for the "skin to skin" practice, as seen on the hospital bill the new dad posted on Reddit. Grassley initially thought the charges was a big joke and decided to post it and share it to other people.
"I posted the bill to Reddit because I thought it was funny," Grassley said to PIX11. In his post, he wrote, "I had to pay $39.35 to hold my baby after he was born."
Grassley even shared that he formed the account GoFundMe in order to accumulate the cost charged for the practice. As of 5 p.m. on Oct. 5, 2016, the account has already accumulated $5.CBS News reported the picture of the invoice has already been viewed over 4 million times in Imgur.com and upvoted more than 6,200 times in Reddit.
Meanwhile, Grassley stressed that did not post the photo of the hospital bill to cause damage to the hospital. As a matter of fact, he admitted that he and his wife have a "very positive experience" and praised the hospital staff for their efforts during their son's birth.
As for the hospital's side of the story, Intermountain HealthCare's Utah Valley Hospital spokesperson Janet Frank explained the charges was not for holding the baby. In fact, it was for the additional caregiver aasigned to the mother and the baby to ensure the safety of both patients.
