hot_jobs_searcher asked:


A friend recently fell from a third-story balcony while at a party and somehow survived, but now has a brain injury.

He already had a serious physical defect from birth that caused him not to be able to do many jobs. He was very independent and found jobs he was capable of doing, lived on his own, etc. His employer did not offer health insurance or disability insurance.

The brain injury now causes him to not be able to do the type of job he used to do, but doctors say it might pass in the next few months and he could be fine. In the meantime, he needs a source of income.

He was not on the job when he fell (so he won’t qualify for Workers’ Compensation) and there was nothing wrong with the balcony (so it would be hard to start a lawsuit against the property owner based on negligence.) It is unclear how long he will be unable to work, but it’s a good guess that he will probably not be disabled for more than 4-6 months best case scenario, which means he would not qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (which requires that he prove he will be disabled for at least a year.)

Are there any sources of aid for my friend? He has no savings, no car to sell, nothing.
I should mention that I have not talked to his doctor personally. I do know he was in the hospital over a week and was told he nearly died.

Regina asked:


Rear ended in car accident six weeks ago. CT scan showed brain injury, neck & back injury. Have received physical therapy for back & neck injury, but lawyer has not approved to cover costs for Neurological consult & diagnostic testing. Symptoms… headaches, nausea, projectile vomiting daily, generalized acute body pain, pain scale-9, confusion, blurred vision, bags under the eyes with dark circles, unsteady gait, slurred speech, falling, poor cognitive thinking, can’t finish a thought…All symptoms worsen after physical therapy. (dictating to my niece)

Robin W asked:


When I was in labor with my son, the nurses at the hospital told me I had to wait till the my doctor got there befor I could give birth to my son[now eight], he was in the birth canal for at least 45 min. The doc was there when I first got there, she broke my water and left to go home[this was hours befor.] When she finally came back to the hospital I gave birth to my son, but he was dry and white[pale], I was told he was breathing in the birth canal, really he was suffocating, he had a point at the top of his head, my mother was in the room with me, she was very angry at the doctor and the nurses, now I find out my son has some brain damage due to injury that may have happened at birth his ”new doctor told me”, what should I do about this??? Is it because they made me hold him in for all that time

jeremy l asked:


While the national headlines focus on efforts across the country to force Wal-Mart to pay more for its workers’ health insurance, an obscure story in Missouri reveals just how “sick” Wal-Mart’s health care policies can be. The story involves a former Wal-Mart worker who received some medical care benefits from Wal-Mart, but now the retailer, which made $10 billion in profits last year, is suing the disabled worker to get the company’s money back. According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, last June Wal-Mart decided to sue Debbie Shank, who stocked shelves at night at a Wal-Mart in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, so she could spend the days with her three kids. Debbie was in her minivan in 2000 when she was hit by a truck. She suffered severe brain stem damage, and has been left totally disabled. After the accident, her Wal-Mart health insurance paid for her medical care. But when Debbie sued the trucking company, and won a financial settlement of roughly $900,000, Wal-Mart decided it wanted Debbie to pay Wal-Mart back. But Debbie’s husband says the money they received from the lawsuit has been used to set up a trust fund to help pay for Debbie’s care, since she now requires expensive nursing home care. Wal-Mart says it has a legal right to try to recoup its medical expenses from Shank, once she won her lawsuit. “This is a very sad case, and I think many people naturally have an emotional and sympathetic reaction,” a Wal-Mart spokeswoman told the Post-Dispatch. “But the reality is that we are required to protect the assets of our health plan so that it can pay the future claims of other associates and their family members. Unfortunately, it’s just not feasible to start making individual exceptions.” But Wal-Mart knows that to the public, it will appear that they are trying to get money from a disabled woman, her three children, and her husband. Shank is confined to a nursing home, and will not work again, and cannot financially help her family out by working nights at Wal-Mart. So Wal-Mart is worried that its lawsuit against a disabled woman will not seem right. “Not everyone will understand this,” the company spokesman admitted, “and I’m sure that we will get a fair amount of criticism.” Debbie Shank’s lawyer said, “If somebody got some money from a lawsuit and used it to buy a new home they didn’t need or a European vacation … that’s one thing. But that’s not the situation we’re dealing with here. In view of the unfavorable publicity that Wal-Mart is getting around the country …I’m surprised they’re pursuing this against their former employee, particularly since she remains so devastated and so in need of these funds.” Shank’s husband, Jim, says his wife is still so mentally confused that she can’t always identify which son she is talking to, and that she is wheelchair bound, and, due to her brain stem injury, can only move one arm and two fingers. The Shank family got around $417,477 from the lawsuit, and that money was put into a trust to pay for Shank’s future medical bills, which will be very substantial. But Wal-Mart wants to get their medical expenses back, so they can deposit them in the company’s Health and Welfare Plan. Shank says that if his wife loses her case to Wal-Mart, she will lose more than money. She will lose her private room at the nursing home, her wheelchair-accessible van and the personal care worker who helps her with her activities of daily living. Jim Shank has health insurance, which pays for some of his wife’s on-going medical bills. Shank works at several jobs to make ends meet, including real estate sales, and work at a local department store.