It Costs $20,000 to Amputate a Leg

In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, a lot of victims are facing medical bills that include costs near $20,000 for leg amputation. How can it cost 20,000 dollars to cut off someone's leg? Most serial killers throughout history would do something like that for free. Not only do these victims of the bombing have to deal with the trauma of being attacked for no reason, but they have to decide between keeping their leg and possibly dying or having their leg amputated. Normally having your leg chopped off would be bad enough, but charging anywhere near $20,000 is the literal definition of adding insult to injury.

The victims are receiving donations from good people, but why don't the hospitals just have leg amputations on the house? That would be a great gesture of kindness. I guess since they're a hospital who saves people all the time they have no need to impress people by doing charitable things, that's how they can get away with charging people 20 grand for leg removal. It just doesn't make sense. People were amputating limbs back during the Civil War with hacksaws. I'm sure if you charged folks even a nickle for that they'd want to shit on your face, that's all I'm saying.