Commenters slammed a family for expecting their tenant to pay their child's hospital bills after he climbed into the dryer while the tenant was doing laundry, requiring an ambulance.

The Original Poster (OP), known as u/LeatherSeveral7614, posted about the incident in Reddit's popular "Am I The A**hole" forum and received more than 10,300 upvotes and 1,100 comments. The post can be found here.

While ambulance costs vary depending on the distance of the hospital, whether it is privately owned or public, and if the individual has health insurance, the bill is often more than $1,000.

According to a report from Fair Health, the cost of ambulance rides rose 22 percent between 2017 to 2020 to more than $1,277.

Individuals are able to refuse an ambulance ride if they are considered "competent adults" but should be wary of potential injuries—like head injuries and internal bleeding—that are not immediately apparent.

In the post titled "AITA For not wanting to reimburse medical bills for a kid who jumped into the dryer while my clothes were drying?" the OP said they live in a basement apartment shared by the family they rent from.

Both the OP and the family share access to the laundry room which is located next to OP's basement suite. As part of the rental agreement, the family unlocks the laundry room door leading to OP's suite for them to do laundry once a week.

"I put my clothes in the machine, and shut the door to the suite so that I don't hear all that ruckus," the post read.

The OP said there are stairs in the laundry room which lead up to the rest of the house, giving the family access to the room.

"I had my clothes drying in the laundry room," the post read. "All of a sudden I hear yelling from the wife and next thing I know, ambulance has arrived."

Apparently, the OP wrote, the family's 4-year-old kid opened the dryer and climbed in, adding that the dryer was faulty and did not shut off when the door was opened.

"This was last week and the kid turned out to be relatively fine," the post read. "But now the landlord and landlady want me to reimburse their son's ambulance bill and medical bill (they have no insurance), totaling $8477.34. Because it was my laundry that the kid climbed into."

The OP said they shouldn't be held responsible because it was their laundry machine that was faulty and they are not in charge of watching their kid.

"But they insist and I am not sure," the post read. "I went to a forum that was orientated towards landlords to see if I was really responsible...I was told then by the landlords that I should be grateful that they did not raise rent and should pay up to be morally fair. AITA?"

More than 1,100 users commented on the post, many criticizing the landlord for expecting the OP to pay for the hospital bills.

"NTA. You need legal advice, now. Because you aren't responsible, but they are trying to fleece you," one user commented. "And they should contact their homeowner's insurance. It can cover this shit sometimes."

"This is not an 'AITA' topic. As soon as they demanded 4-figure damages, this crossed into legal territory," one user commented. "Two steps: 1. Go get a lawyer. Countersue if you have to....2.Go find a new place to live. Your lease is up in 8 months, but it won't be renewed.

"NTA. Not your kid. Not your dryer," another commented. "It could've been anyone's laundry really, their kid has access to this machine 7 days a week. Get a lawyer if they keep pressuring you."

"Your landlords and the people at the forum are completely wrong," another said. "It was not your responsibility to watch the child. They are the ones who were negligent by not watching their 4-year-old child and having a defective dryer."

Newsweek reached out to u/LeatherSeveral7614 for comment.

In another viral post, commenters were infuriated after an anonymous Redditor shared their nearly $100,000 charge for a helicopter ride to the hospital.

In July, a man was charged nearly $250,000 after being treated for a rattlesnake bite and Another woman went viral after posting a TikTok video sharing her hospital bill after giving birth.

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