By now, he's an Orphan

[FourScore]

Sun Oct 16, 2011 at 04:09 PM PDT
By now, he's an Orphan
by BlueTexasDem

I haven't posted anything in years but I'm here almost daily keeping up with things. What happened on Friday shook me to my core and made me so mad that I was in tears. I didn't immediately write this diary, in part because I needed an emotional break. But here it goes.

I am a high school science teacher in the DFW metroplex. On Friday, one of the other teachers came to see me about a student of mine, Chris (his name has been changed for the sake of his privacy). About six months ago Chris's father died of a heart attack. He owned a construction company and they were struggling financially. They suspect the chronic stress from his failing business and attempting to provide for his family finally resulted in his death.

I can relate to this because I lost my father two years ago. My father worked in the financial sector. When everything collapsed in 2008 he was let go from his job. He was unemployed for a year and then he found another job, only to be let go 8 month later. Seven months after being laid off and worrying about ever being rehired at 55 and losing his medical insurance, he suffered a heart attack and passed away. I didn't realize how dire his financials were until I was tasked with sorting through his belongings. The daily stress of what bills to pay and what he could defer must have been unbearable. But I digress...

In all of my interactions with Chris, you never would have known that he had just lost his father. He is such an upbeat student who tries hard at every assignment I give him. I get a "thank you" for every assignment I had out and for every question I answer. In the inner city that's rare. He lights up the classroom and is nice to all of his classmates. He never makes a joke at someone's expense and he is the first to help me if I need it. He wasn't in class on Friday.

For the past few weeks Chris's mother had been sick and was getting worse. They didn't have insurance because after his father died his mother simply couldn't afford it. They waited until they couldn't wait any longer to take her to the E.R. After running some tests they discovered that she had Stage 4 cancer and on Thursday they gave her less than 48 hours to live. He spent the night with her at the hospital, refusing to leave her side...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/16/1027106/-By-now,-hes-an-Orphan?via=siderec

[efhmc]

1. I am so sad for this boy and for our country.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

2. Hope he has some other relatives who can take him in.

Prayers for all,
ADW

[tblue]

3. Oh that's horrible! In MEXICO, for creep's sake, she'd be covered.

Health care in Mexico, from wiki: 'The www.internationalliving.com site states that on average, an office visit with a doctor—specialists included—will cost about US$25, an overnight stay in a private hospital room costs about $35.'

What are we freaking doing in this country? We lose our collective minds over the deaths of 9/11 (and pro-lifers over abortions), and yet we allow millions to SUFFER and die from lack of care, SOL because they're unable to pay in a for-profit system.

That poor kid!!!!!! How old is he?

[democrank]

4. I`ll keep this precious child in my thoughts.

Thank you for posting this.

[RC]

5. We need to get rid of the "Your Money or Your Life" health care Star Chambers.

What is really needed is to get the "Your Money or Your Life" health insurance companies out of dictating who lives and who dies, based on their bottom line, their profits.

Every other civilized country has gone to some form of Single Payer, Universal Health Care. We have not. Is it because we are not actually as civilized as we think we are? Our acts of aggression against other countries says no, we are not.

So, here we sit with the cost of health care well up on the J curve and the best we could do was a mandated purchasing of health insurance from private companies?

The bill was so bad, no one, not even the the 'profits first over your life' health insurance companies who helped write the bill liked it, because it would cut into their profits too much.
Get the private, greedy, for profit, Your Money or Your Life health insurance companies out of the Star Chamber business, where your health is concerned.

Single Payer, Universal Health Care is the Civilized way for a nation to care for its citizens.

[slipslidingaway]

6. Another snip ...

"...Our medical care (or lack thereof) is bleeding this country dry. No one should profit off our health because that's something every single one of us will need in our lives. We shouldn't have to watch our fellow citizens die. That's not what a super power does, that's what you see in war ravaged third world countries.

Above all, I'm mad because we failed Chris. We are the adults and it's our responsibility to care for the children. He shouldn't be an orphan. He should still have his mother. What have we become as a society to allow this to happen?"