my best bet is to just put the money in savings and wait-and-see.


Jeff, I know you well enough by now to know that there is no way you would keep money that isn't yours; but there are limits to how far you are obligated to go to determine whose money it is. (Bank? Hospital? Insurance company? Some other patient?)

You are doing exactly the right thing by putting the money in savings and waiting. It is a near-certainty that somewhere along the line someone is going to miss that $500, and will devote the required effort to finding out where it went. At that point, you will be obligated to return it.

Meanwhile, just pretend it isn't there. There is probably some statutory period you must wait before you can claim the money as your own. Until then -- don't spend it!

It is perfectly understandable that the bookkeeper at the hospital was not helpful. There really wasn't anything she could do, short of calling every single patient in the system and asking them if they were missing $500. All she had was your name, not the name of the person missing the money. And, since her records showed no such $500 transaction on your account, the chances are very great that the error was not at the hospital, but at the bank, or possibly an error by an insurance company that paid the money into the wrong account.

tanstaafl.