Hospital board waives unpaid charges for 14 injured in Texas mass shooting

A hospital board has voted in favor of waiving any outstanding charges for more than a dozen people injured Aug. 31 when a gunman opened fire on bystanders at random in Odessa and Midland, Texas.

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In a statement obtained by the Odessa American, the Ector County Hospital District's Board of Directors announced that on Tuesday they approved of absorbing all hospital charges for victims of the Aug. 31 mass shooting in Odessa and Midland.

"Any charges not covered by the victims' insurance will be absorbed by Medical Center Health System," the board said in the statement. "Those victims will not have to pay anything for the care they received."

Russel Tippin, president and CEO of the Medical Center Health System, said the decision was made "to make sure that none of the victims experience any medical financial burdens from this horrible situation."

"MCHS is a partner with our community and we want the victims to know we care about them and pray for their continued recovery," Tippin said.

The hospital system treated 14 of the 22 people injured in the shooting, which began after a trooper tried to pull over a 36-year-old man for a routine traffic stop.

Odessa police said the gunman, identified as Seth Aaron Ator, killed seven people between the ages of 15 and 57 before he was shot and killed by police.

Cox Media Group