I can not believe those administrators are trying to bill you. Mn was one of the leading advocates of hospitals and doctors not getting paid for mistakes. What you described is called a "Never Event" Two of them, the first when they left a tool in you that caused the infection, and second the bed sores. Both of those are called "never events" because they are not ever supposed to happen during routine surgery. I think around 12% is the national average for tools and sponges being left inside patients and that is why there is malpractice. Currently Medicare and Medicaid will not pay for anything that happens after one of those "never events" happen and last I knew Minnesota hospitals did not bill for any of them either. Many insurance providers will no longer pay either, there is a list of 28 or 29 "never events" it includes suicide and attempted suicide as "never events" that should not happen at any health facilities, thats how I am aware of this list. I'm on a advocacy and protection board for MI and it has come up at meetings. I can't tell you what to do, but I know your story certainly leaves me feeling outraged and like saying that you should take them to the cleaners for having the audacity to bill you at all. They should have set you up at a 4 star hotel with Rn's to change your dressings and had a full physical therapy recovery plan set up. I'm glad you are angry. When you can write more. I'll be happy to read more.
That aside I can certainly understand your nightmares and sleeplessness. To have gone from a life that was "as it was supposed to be" to the unreal. It has to be hard, to be told all that you thought will not be changed because a team did not do an accurate count. Life must indeed feel as if it is on a tightrope. I hope you have people to who you can talk to, and who listen. Here at PC Psych Central there are many who have been though different forms of traumas and can listen(read) and understand.