Mr. and Mrs. Lamber have a sick child. Once, their child needed a treatment offered at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. They were not from that area, but they decided to undertake the trip to help their child. Mrs. Lamber tried to arrange insurance coverage for the treatments. The fees would be unbelievably high – $900 for each appointment!
The family set out on the trip to Philadelphia. They hadn’t heard from the insurance company, but this was their child’s chance, and they were taking it. Half-way to CHOP, Mrs. Lamber got a call from the insurance company. “Your coverage has been denied,” the agent told her.
“We might as well turn around and go home,” she told her husband, her heart aching with disappointment.
“We’re not turning around,” he replied. They were facing a lifetime of medical debt, but what wouldn’t they do for their child? At CHOP, they realized immediately that it was an excellent hospital. Because they had no insurance, they had to sign many documents promising to pay the bills. They didn’t know how they’d do it, but they knew they had come to the right place.
The last doctor they saw was a frum man named Dr. Grossberg. Soon after the Lambers met him, Dr. Grossberg left the examining room, and his nurse came in.
“Can you sign one more paper?” the nurse asked. “What else is there to sign?” Mrs. Lamber asked. “This says that Dr. Grossberg is waiving his fee,” the nurse answered.
The Lambers could barely believe it; the doctor would see their child for free! They both started crying. How beautiful it was that someone who had never met them waived his fee just to help his fellow Jew! A long time later, Mrs. Lamber found out something that made Dr. Grossberg’s kindness even greater. Doctors at CHOP were not allowed to waive their fees. Dr. Grossberg had paid the fee from his own money!
Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation
