I'm looking for personal opinions and/or legal opinions.

Backstory, my wife took our daughter to the ER a few months ago. She was screaming in pain. They sat in the waiting room for 3 hours, daughter crying in pain the whole time. Finally they gave her a wristband and took her back to a room. Waited over 30 minutes until a nurse stopped by, took her temp etc, and left. Nurse came back, said she is burning up and the doc wants her to take a fever reducer, but the nurse didn't bring any with her. Another hour passes and the nurse still hasn't come back with the medication, the doc hasn't even peeked his head in. At that point it was 8 am so my wife called her pediatrician and they could get her in right away. My wife left, told them why she was leaving, and they acknowledged, then proceeded to bill for full emergency room visit even though the doctor never showed up, nor saw the patient. They said as soon as she is given a wrist-band and taken to a room she has been "seen" even if she NEVER sees a doctor the entire time she is there.

I can't help but think that if I go to a restaurant, wait 4 hrs to be seated, the waiter takes our drink order and never comes back with the drinks, and never takes an order for food, and I get up and walk out, and tell the manager why, I'm not on the hook for the cost of the drinks. So why, in the medical industry, am I on the hook for their services that were not actually rendered?

I would fight that bill. (in court if need be)

Court

What services were you charged for? Wristband? Sheets?

Is this under insurance or out of pocket?

As mentioned, insurance billing is a scam.

It's hard to tell because of the way they code things. I'll have to go back and look. Wristband and sheets don't cost north of $1k; it was billed through insurance, they say I still owe $400 after insurance paid $800+.

I'd tell them, No thanks, and I'm a physician.
A call to the Administrator or Risk Manager of the hospital should tidy things up for you.

I'd also contact your insurer.  They shouldn't be paying that full bill either.

Go to the hospital records department, ask for a copy of the records associated with this visit and sign the release of records. You'll probably get charged per page, which is legal and there is usually a legal maximum charge. 

Look at your hospital EOB (explanation of benefits) and find the charges. If you can't find them, ask the records department for an itemized bill. 

Start with this. 

(ER and UC doc)

Here's a description in Indiana's charges (OP's state). 

http://www.lamblawoffice.com/indiana-medical-records-copying-charges-law-statute/ (I know nothing of this particular attorney and haven't independently verified his info).

@Luckyducky. As an attorney, what do you actually end up paying when you request records? I'm not trolling. I actually am interested to know. 

Thanks for the advice... trying to find contact info for somebody in the administration has become a ridiculous goat-rope. It's like they are intentionally hiding that. And unfortunately there aren't many other provider options locally so I have to play nice.

I decided about 3 years ago that my insurance can eat shit and die when it comes to that regards. I had a disputed amount with a provider and when I spoke to the lady she said, "do this, that, and the other, and if none of that works, call us back, we will assist you in disputing this". When I called back I was told, "oh, we don't do that, who told you we would help you with that?"

If they aren't going to help me dispute fraudulent medical bills then why should I help them?