His backpack got stolen in San Francisco. Then he got a hospital bill for $52,310.

The man pictured stole another man's identity to get an expensive medical procedure, according to the Daly City Police Department. The man pictured stole another man's identity to get an expensive medical procedure, according to the Daly City Police Department. Photo: Daly City Police Department Photo: Daly City Police Department Image 1 of / 25 Caption Close His backpack got stolen in San Francisco. Then he got a hospital bill for $52,310. 1 / 25 Back to Gallery

It's well documented that emergency room surgeries can be shockingly expensive.

That fact was driven home recently for one Daly City man who got a call from the billing department of Seton Hospital asking if he needed help paying off a $52,310 bill for an emergency room medical procedure.

The man was floored; he'd gotten no such procedure and had no idea what the hospital employee was talking about.

The problems began when the man's backpack was stolen from a car parked in San Francisco, according to Daly City Police Sgt. Ron Harrison.

"In his backpack he had credit cards, passports, a bunch of stuff," Harrison said.

The victim set up an Equifax fraud alert and was alerted to some fraudulent activity shortly after the theft, then thought the problems were behind him.

Then he got the call from the hospital. Apparently, the thief used the victim's identity to get the expensive surgery on Sept. 2 and stuck him with the bill.

"It's something new — you don't see that very often," said Harrison. "Usually with identity theft you see people fill a bunch of vehicles with gas, buy goods, electronics."

Harrison said the victim won't be responsible for paying for the surgery, but the hospital may be stuck with the cost. The exact nature of the surgery was not disclosed.

Police ask anyone with information on the suspect to call their anonymous tip line at (650)-873-2467 and reference Daly City Police Case No. 17006868.

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on Twitter