Why is the man's wife worried about being sent to collections? She owes nothing to the hospital, the dead man's estate owes money. Let the hospital line up with the other creditors. She shouldn't be paying her late husband's hospital bills out of her own funds.
I don’t think she likely had to pay a dime and wouldn’t have faced any consequence besides a few months of annoying calls. Her credit score wouldn’t have even been impacted.
A lot of people are unaware of who is responsible for what, and may be convinced to pay debts they don't owe. And creditors absolutely take advantage of this. Any debt collector worth his salt will hound everyone they can identify until they are told to stop in the particular way the law prescribes.
