All medical expenses related to the Amish patients taken to Penn State Hershey Medical Center will be covered by the hospital, officials at Hershey announced last week.

Brent Heard, strategic services specialist for Hershey Medical Center, said information pertaining to patient billing is usually confidential, but considering the circumstances of the case, the decision has been made public.

He said the decision to waive the patients' fees was announced "basically because of the intense public information of the story."

Although Heard was not involved in any discussions regarding the decision to eliminate the fees, he said the hospital felt obliged to publicize their financial actions. Heard could not estimate how much the bills would accumulate, but he assumed the hospital would be covering a large amount of money.

"It would be a significant sum, but I wouldn't venture a guess as to how much," he said. "Air transportation and critical care were some of the significant bills endured."

Three weeks ago an armed man, Charles Carl Roberts IV, walked into a one-room Amish schoolhouse and shot 10 Amish girls after sending the boys and adults away.

Three of those girls were transported to Hershey Medical Center in critical condition. One of the girls died shortly after arrival.

Heard said four other hospitals are taking similar action with their Amish patients, including Lancaster General Hospital and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

The hospital would not confirm this information because the family requested privacy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.