‘Moonshiners’ TV star Josh Owens hurt at Daytona Bike Week, claims Halifax Health booted him for lack of insurance

News-Journal (Daytona Beach, FL)

March 28--DAYTONA BEACH -- A cast member of a docudrama TV series claims that after being hospitalized at Halifax Health Medical Center for injuries from a motorcycle accident during Bike Week, he was subsequently discharged because he lacked insurance.

But Halifax Health officials, who could not speak to the specific case because of patient confidentiality laws, said a patient's ability to pay is never a factor in the health care services they provide or discharge decisions. The 558-bed facility is the only public hospital in the area.

Josh Owens, who stars in the Discovery channel show "Moonshiners," said his care at the Daytona Beach hospital was stellar until a female employee inquired about how he intended to pay and that "his insurance had run out."

Owens, 40, of Asheville, North Carolina, said he was surprised by the statement since he has not had any insurance coverage since he was 21. Less than a day after the encounter, Owens said he was discharged from the hospital.

He added that he didn't expect a handout from the hospital just because he lacked traditional health coverage. "Send me a bill and I would pay what I can," Owens said.

"I was too screwed up to ask a whole lot of questions. I was in the hospital for a few days before they said anything about insurance."

Owens was taken to Halifax Health by ambulance on March 16 after he was thrown from an antique motorcycle while preparing for an exhibition race at the New Smyrna Speedway. He was expected to participate the next day in Billy Lane's Sons of Speed Vintage Motorcycle Race.

Owens said the accident broke all but one of his ribs, punctured a lung, broke his collarbone and shoulder blade and stripped the skin off one of his pointer fingers down to the bone. He said he initially spent five days at the hospital.

In response to an inquiry from The News-Journal, hospital officials said they could not accurately say how long a patient might stay in the hospital for broken ribs. The length of stay, officials said, would depend on other injuries, age and various other factors.

Taking all these factors into consideration, a patient's hospital stay could be for one day or as long as 10 days, said Ann Martorano, a Halifax Health spokeswoman.

"People break their ribs all the time. Some of them are never admitted to the hospital; it's just a matter of taping them up," Martorano said. "It's all based on the total picture of the patient."

Owens, who has been a presence on the docudrama series about the history of moonshine production since 2012, claims his treatment changed after the female employee -- he said possibly a nurse or case manager -- left the room after asking him about insurance coverage.

Owens said hospital personnel stopped giving him medication for nausea and he was switched from a Dilaudid IV drip to a Lortab pill. Dilaudid is considered one of the more potent opioids used to treat pain.

Martorano, while not referring specifically to Owens' case, said such a switch in medication might be made to prepare a patient for discharge.

Owens said at the time of his discharge he was complaining about blisters in his throat and he felt his condition was worsening. "I wasn't physically ready to leave," he said.

The hospital discharged him on March 21, Owens said. He wound up going to nearby Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center where they gave him steroids to relieve the blisters, Owens said, but did not admit him as a patient.

He added that he continues to stay with a friend in the Daytona Beach area who picked him up from the hospital because he's too sore to make the trip back to North Carolina.

Local hospitals are routinely busy during Bike Week, which attracts motorcycle enthusiasts to the area from nearby cities and outside of the state. The influx of people usually means higher-than-normal patient volumes in medical facilities where they treat everything from falls and road rash to more life-threatening traumatic cases.

Owens was doing practice laps at the track on a 1919 Harley-Davidson motorcycle when his front tire exploded, he said, and his body "pile-drived" the pavement.

A spokeswoman for New Smyrna Speedway said the organizer of the event at which Owens was injured -- Billy Lane who stars in Discovery channel's "Biker Build-Off and Monster Garage" -- leased the facility and did not have any insurance on participants. A spokeswoman for Lane said everybody in the infield, including riders, signed liability waivers for the event.

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