At least $2.5 million, and probably much more, has been spent on medical care for John Baker and 84 other people who were shot during an unprecedented wave of gun violence that followed April's riots. Because few victims had insurance, taxpayers will pay most of the bill.

        University Hospital, which runs the most sophisticated trauma unit in Cincinnati, treats nearly all gunshot victims in the region. It says its bill for 62 victims admitted from Jan. 1 through June 30 exceeds $679,000.

        That's an average of nearly $11,000 per case just for hospital fees, says Keith Staples, the hospital's trauma service line manager.

        Surgical fees average another $6,600 per gunshot patient, according to an analysis of 10 cases by UC Physicians, a specialty physician group affiliated with the hospital. Medication costs, follow-up physical therapy, prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs and other long-term care inevitably take bills even higher.

        The Drake Center, which has provided long-term rehabilitation for about 10 shooting victims, estimates its costs at about $100,000 per person, for a total of $1 million.

        “There's a tremendous cost,” says Dr. Thomas Watanabe, medical director of neurorehabilitation at the Drake Center. “Typically, the victims of violent trauma are young, and some of them will need life-long care.”

        According to University Hospital, the average age of shooting victims was 30. Their average hospital stay was 6 1/2 days.

        About one fourth of victims were injured seriously enough to require an average of a week in intensive care, which costs about $2,000 a day.

        Most shooting victims — 65 percent — were sent home after hospital treatment. About 13 percent went on to longer term in-patient rehabilitation at the Drake Center and other facilities.

        Another 2 percent went to nursing homes, 5 percent went to jail and 15 percent went to the morgue after attempts to save their lives failed.

        Most medical bills will be paid by Medicaid, Medicare, Workers' Compensation, victims of crime programs or a Hamilton County tax levy for indigent care. Sorting out the paperwork can take three to 18 months, Mr. Staples says.

        That means it's too early to predict how much care for shooting victims will be billed to the county indigent care levy, which comes up for a proposed increase Nov. 6.

        But typically, gunshot cases represent a tiny part of the levy's expenses. In 2000, University Hospital billed the fund about $150,000 for 15 gunshot cases, out of a total $10.3 million for 2,053 cases from car wrecks to cancer patients.

        Mount Auburn resident Larry Thompson, 52, says he has been billed for more than $3,000 in medical expenses after he was shot June 21. He says he has no way of paying it off anytime soon.

        Mr. Thompson was hanging out at a park in Over-the-Rhine when two men got into an argument with a man sitting on a bench next to Mr. Thompson.

        The dispute resulted in gunfire. A .44 caliber bullet passed through the leg of his friend, then pierced Mr. Thompson's right leg, just above his knee.

        “There was a hot, burning sensation, and it felt like my knee was going to explode,” he says.

        His employer, a local produce company, does not offer health benefits. Mr. Thompson earns just enough to not qualify for Medicaid, he says. The county tax levy does not cover doctor bills. And a felony conviction for domestic violence prevents him from qualifying to help from a state victims of crime fund.

        Still, Mr. Thompson counts himself lucky.

        “Let me tell you, the angels were with me that day,” he says. “They told me if that bullet hit a quarter-inch lower it would have shattered my knee cap, and I'd be crippled for life.”

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