Gabe.Grall@f18.n382.z1.fidonet.org (Gabe Grall) (08/10/90)
Index Number: 9663
[This is from the Chronic Pain Conference on Fidonet]
Please don't dump on me for this post. I have been reading your
notes about settling your case and how the Insurance company and
your lawyer are not treating you fairly.
I work for an Insurance company, settling auto insurance claims.
I have been doing this work for some time. One thing that has
amazed me is the way that some people believe that money can relieve
pain. It can't.
I have been in pain myself, and when I have pain, I want drugs not
cash. The amount of pain a person is having/has had/will have will
not be effected one whit by a large amount of money. If you had a
compound fracture of your leg, and were taken to an emergency room,
suppose your choices at the moment were Demerol or Cash. Which one will
releive the pain? I don't know about you, but the majority of injured
folks in ERs want the dope.
It saddens me to see cases with serious injury, death, paralysis, head
injury with brain damage, amputation etc. Those cases invariably take
more money than is available. The sheer medical costs of some injuries
is astronomical. If all the policy provided for was $100,000 and that
won't cover the costs, what is the person to do?
In other cases, people have minor injuries (compared to the above) and
they usually settle for an amount that will pay their bills, give the
attorney a stack of cash, and leave a little left over for them. And a
year later, the money is gone and they are still in pain, the light
bills still have to be paid and nothing is different. Don't you realize
that money is not the answer to your problems? There are rich people who
have pain, you know. Sure, you should be compensated, I am not arguing
that. I just want to make the point that the money won't solve your
problems. I don't intend to defend every insurance company in the world,
I just wanted to put my two cents in .
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!382!18!Gabe.Grall
Internet: Gabe.Grall@f18.n382.z1.fidonet.orgLiz.Petry@f1.n3801.z1.fidonet.org (Liz Petry) (08/14/90)
Index Number: 9801
[This is from the Chronic Pain Conference on Fidonet]
Point taken...but niether one worked..I used an attorney in my first
case, and even after all of the PT, I was left in worse shape than
ever...(it took 10 months to settle this one..)
Second...it took 7 months to get the current one settled...I just
got the settlement...I am tired of fighting..I have fought for the
last 1 1/2 years...I have lost more than money....
....I have lost relations with my family, and friends...I even lost
my best friend because....they couldn't handle it...
I am not condoning your opinions...but some of us have bett things
to do with our time than to be taking drugs...I am heavily involved
the theatre, I am a part-time grad student, as well as a romance
writer. I cannot afford to be on "drugs"...I am exercising, going
out with my girlfriends for lunch, auditioning for plays..(I just
made Fiddler on the Roof) and I am not going to "waddle on the pity
pot" just to satisify others.
I was recently called MANIPULATIVE AND THOUGHTLESS....I would prefer
to be called other names...my other friends don't believe those 2
words, and if I stayed the same, I would never grow as a person. If
people don't change...then I would assume that all recevering
alcoholics and drug addicts will drink and get back ont he needle..
I have better things to do than to fight insurance companies...THIS
DOESN'T CONSTITUTE ME AS A QUITTER...but I would rather be a
WINNER...
....especially in LIFE!
Elizabeth
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!3801!1!Liz.Petry
Internet: Liz.Petry@f1.n3801.z1.fidonet.orgEd.Dobie@f175.n120.z1.fidonet.org (Ed Dobie) (08/21/90)
Index Number: 9904
[This is from the Chronic Pain Conference on Fidonet]
I have a little girl (age 9 now) that was injured in a car accident last
Thanksgiving. She is now a complete quad. (C1) & vent dependent.
She has been held hostige in the hospital waiting for a settlement from the
insurance company an housing. She was been waisting =MANY= months in the
hospital and literally hundreds of thousands of dollars (BIG $$$!) Why
couldn't the insurance company spend this money on Jill rather than the
medical center? We could build a nice modest house for $500,000.00. <not
grinning> Now I really understand why insuance rates are so high.
Ed
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!120!175!Ed.Dobie
Internet: Ed.Dobie@f175.n120.z1.fidonet.orgera@ncar.ucar.edu (Ed Arnold) (08/28/90)
Index Number: 9992 In article <13609@bunker.UUCP> Ed.Dobie@f175.n120.z1.fidonet.org writes: |Index Number: 9904 | |[This is from the Chronic Pain Conference on Fidonet] | |I have a little girl (age 9 now) that was injured in a car accident last |Thanksgiving. She is now a complete quad. (C1) & vent dependent. | |She has been held hostige in the hospital waiting for a settlement from the |insurance company an housing. She was been waisting =MANY= months in the |hospital and literally hundreds of thousands of dollars (BIG $$$!) Why |couldn't the insurance company spend this money on Jill rather than the |medical center? We could build a nice modest house for $500,000.00. <not |grinning> Now I really understand why insuance rates are so high. I think it's amusing that the insurance companies have been trumpeting "lawsuit abuse" all during the 80s, while earning very high profits and paying little federal income tax. For instance, State Farm had 1986 net income of $1.6 billion, and paid *zero* income tax. Recently, AETNA and several other companies have been sued by several states (including the one in which I live) for violating anti-trust laws and conspiring to restrict the availability of liability insurance. Another stupid thing they have done is to squeeze the medical profession with ever higher and higher malpractice rates, without forcing the profession to retrain or remove from practice the approximately 20,000 negligent or incompetent MDs in the country. (Those estimates from Peoples' Medical Society and S.H.A.M.E.). Again, they've tried to blame it on the consumers who get hurt, but the Harvard study released in Jan. 1990 shows pretty clearly who's lying. The stupidest thing they've done, however, is to continually force persons with disabilities and serious illnesses out of the system with "preexisting condition" clauses and the like. This is making people so mad, that they may eventually *demand* Canadian-style medicine over the objections of the AMA and its PAC war-chest, and the insurance industry. In this case, the insurance companies will have cut their own throats for the sake of short-term gain. Anyone who hasn't heard enough, read "The Crisis in Health Insurance" in the Aug/Sep 1990 issues of _Consumer Reports_. I recommend that you fast for at least 12 hours before reading it. -- Ed Arnold * NCAR * POB 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000 * 303-497-1253(voice) 303-497-1137(fax) * era@ncar.ucar.edu [128.117.64.4] * era@ncario.BITNET era@ncar.UUCP * Edward.Arnold@f809.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG
Andy.Liddiard@f168.n257.z2.fidonet.org (Andy Liddiard) (10/18/90)
Index Number: 11180
[This is from the Chronic Pain Conference on Fidonet]
I'm T6 paraplegic. I have an independent life ahead of me. Anyone
who is C1 does not have this hope. To be kept alive in this state is
just 20th century barbarity. I''m deeply upset by situations like
these & forgiveness for the culprits is very hard to find. I can say
no more, I'm just angry.
Love to you - Andy
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!2!257!168!Andy.Liddiard
Internet: Andy.Liddiard@f168.n257.z2.fidonet.org