Pregnancy & Newborn

Father-in-law paid the hospital bill at discharge and won't let us pay him back

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Our daughter is a month old. At discharge my partner's father went to the billing counter while we were packing up and settled everything, extra days included. We had the money set aside and had planned to pay it ourselves. He waves it away whenever we bring it up, and my partner says to drop it. I'm not comfortable leaving it there. It's a large amount, and he is also at our place most days helping with the baby. For those who've been through this, did you find a way to settle it that didn't offend anyone, or did you let it go?

4 comments

  • breezy_camera_2470

    Let it go. My father did the same for us twenty years ago. A few years later we paid for his cataract surgery and nobody called it repayment.

  • cinnamon_marigold_6521

    I have a daughter. In his place, being repaid would feel like being told it wasn't my business. Put the amount into an account in the baby's name and tell him that's where it went. He gets to have paid, and you don't have to feel you owe him.

  • juniper_gecko_3385

    What exactly is the discomfort? That you owe him, or that he now feels he has a say? Those need different answers.

  • umber_wave_3410

    grandfather here. we paid for our grandson's hospital stay too. if they had insisted on returning it, it would have hurt a little. it was the one useful thing we could do that week

    • plum_pebble_9048

      That's the point. Let him have the bill, and get to the counter first for the naming ceremony.

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