Reply #76: Almost no free clinic would treat an ACL injury

[metalbot]

ACL surgery is generally considered an optional surgery, since the ACL isn't critical - it's a ligament that prevents the knee from further injury in the cases of rotation.

Regardless, the man was not a good candidate for ACL surgery. The first thing a good surgeon would tell him would be "lose 200 pounds, then we'll talk". For an ACL surgery to be successful, the patient has to be willing to put in the effort to properly rehab the knee. That means time on the exercise bike, moving up to lots of walking and some running, and non-trivial strengthening exercises for the knee that lead up to plyometrics. Given his physical condition (and willingness to rely on being miraculously healed), it's a safe bet that he would not have done what he needed to do to rehab the knee, and would have taken up free clinic resources that could have gone to someone else.

This guy was nuts (and paid for it with his life).