Las Vegas hospitals waive some medical costs for mass shooting victims

Hospitals in Boston also waived out-of-pocket costs for victims of last year's mass shooting

Drapes billow out of broken windows at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip, following the deadly shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas (AP)

Several Las Vegas hospitals are helping to cover the medical costs for uninsured victims of the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

University Medical Centre, Sunrise Hospital and Dignity Health-St Rose Dominican have said they will assist the victims by waiving various amounts of their hospital costs.

Dignity Health-St Rose Dominican has said it "does not intend to bill or require payment from any patient victims of this tragic event."

A spokeswoman told the Las Vegas Sun the hospital's focus "remains on the immediate medical and supportive care needs of the injured as well as their long-term healing process."

Instead, the hospital will look to recoup some of the cost by billing any third-party payers and accepting donations from the community.

Sunrise Hospital would be "extremely sensitive to the financial status" of patients involved in the shooting, a spokeswoman told the paper.

University Medical Centre, which treated more than 100 victims, has said it received a number of donations since the attack.

It will using that money to cover the bills of those who are uninsured or would have out-of-pocket expenses, a spokeswoman for the hospital told Newsweek.

The hospital is hoping to "cover as much of the uninsured expense as we possibly can," Danita Cohen told the magazine, adding that donations were still coming in.

After the mass shooting on Orlando, Florida, last year, the two major hospitals treating victims waived all out-of-pocket medical expenses, worth at least $5.5m (£4.1m), the Orlando Sentinel reported.