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The real cost of giving birth: '$40 to hold my newborn baby'

Holding your newborn baby for the first time is said to be one of life's most precious moments. But how would you feel if you were charged for the privilege?

That was the experience of Lidia and Ryan Grassley, whose baby Samuel was delivered by Caesarean section at a hospital in Utah in the US on 4 September. When they received their hospital bill for more than $13,000, proud new father Ryan was surprised to find it included a $39.35 charge for "skin to skin", or holding the baby, immediately after the delivery.

Amused rather than annoyed, he posted a photo of the Bill on Imgur with the caption "I had to pay $39.35 to hold my baby after he was born."

"I was able to hold the baby on my wife's chest," Grassley wrote in the post, that has been viewed more than six million times.

"Her arms were tied to the table and the nurse was there to remind me not to let go so the baby didn't fall. She actually took my camera from me and started snapping pictures for me. It was a positive experience for sure. We just got a chuckle out of seeing that on the bill."

Whatever Ryan's intentions the image resulted in a heated, often strongly worded, debate about the cost of US healthcare.

This story caught my eye as it was rather bizarre and crazy to think that a hospital would charge for a mother/father to hold there son/daughter for the first time, personally that would annoy me, however they took quite a light hearted approach to it which is quite nice to see and the fact that they didn't complain makes this story quite a good one.