Please say a prayer for Rose

Source: none

Today I found out that a good friend lost her son. David was a 23 year old young man who had a minimum wage job here in CT and was trying to get ahead. Apparantly David got sick and developed pneumonia. Since David did not have medical insurance he stayed home hoping to get better - minimum wage won't really pay for a doctor visit these days.

When my friend Rose finally found him and took him to the hospital it was too late. He suffered 4 cardiac arrests while in the hospital and died on Friday night. He was 23! Rose and i went to high school together and is one of the most wonderful people I know. Divorced an abusive husband and made a career of teaching elementary school. Her sense of humor was fabuloua. I am dreading the wake and funeral. I am in tears typing this,

My point being this. I have been trying to explain to my son (16 y.o) that while I have been a democrat for my entire life, I dont "just vote democratic because I always have". I believe in equal rights for all, I believe in a living wage, I believe we all DESERVE MEDICAL CARE - NOT JUST MEDICAL INSURANCE. And I believe that fighting a war of lies is wrong. I believe with my whole heart that the Constitution of the United States is a sacred document that should be revered.

I believe in justice, I believe in truth and I believe in leaving a better world behind for my children and grandchildren. I believe that, while i dont like paying taxes any more than anyone else, it is my duty to help those less fortunate than me.

I vote Democratic because the Republican party has completely opposite beliefs

My beliefs have been tested in the past 8 years. I pray with all my heart that this changes in November.

peace to all my DU brothers and sisters

BigScott

No link yet.

prayers.

I wish this story was unique. It is not!

I know it is too common - I guess when it hits close to home it hurts all the more

peace

S

Medical care is as important a right as any.

You know we all know the numbers by heart of how many soldiers have dies because of this war that is based on a lie. But how many more have we lost because of stories like this. That's a number we will never know.



I know a lot of people like to base their vote on social issues, and I want to respect that, however, we have way to much at stake in this election to vote based on one polarizing view, over another. We would be wise to focus on what's at stake as a whole in this election. It's a fact a depressed economy drives up the number of abortions, think how many babies you can save if you vote for the candidate that wants to guarantee unborn babies will have health care, with out it being a financial stress strain of struggle.



Think of Rose she lost her son, a son she loved, because he couldn't afford to go to the hospital, a hospital that gets to make a profit on David whether he lives or dies. And now who pays that bill. Rose does she now have to assume the responsibility of that bill? Or do we pay it? Like it our not whether we have a health care system that is guaranteed or not.



We are already pay for health care. Only we pay for a system that only benefits health insurance Companies and doctors charging too much. Our tax paying money goes to cover unpaid medical bills everyday. When someone loses their home because of mounting medical bills, WE pay for that. The interest we pay on our homes goes to pay down Our national debt. We have over 1 million foreclosed homes this year alone.

Think about it like this, my husband and I pay about 20,000 thousand a year just in interest, and we have a small mortgage compared to the national AVG. Now image the 1 million homes now in foreclosure. That's 1 million loans no longer going toward the national debt. Multiply 1 million dollars by $20,000 , that now $20,000,000,000 that is no longer going towards paying off the national debt.

The Biggest mistake of the Republicans is that they don't realize we are all connected. We Raise and Fall by the strength of our Weakest link.

I didn't mean to turn this Post into an issue of money, it still about Death

How many more babies David was Rose's baby no matter his age, how many more of our babies have to die, because people insist on supporting the selfish "Me only" platform of the Republican Party?


Rose, I have not experienced the pain of losing a child, but I am a mother and I understand that is a loss that I would not be mentally able to handle ever, my heart, and prayers and love from one mother to another goes out to you and your family.

**********************************************************
If I am mistaken about what the interest on our Loans pays for please correct me
thanks. I do know it doesn't all go to the banks, which is why it's a tax deduction.

He died so others may have new yachts.

What a travesty.

I know how an why David did what he did - I was similarly sick yeas ago and ha no medical insurance and it led to a very long hospital stay. I was lucky.

This is a Republican murder.

I'm deeply sorry.

one dying for lack of adequate health care. I feel for Rose.

to death and to hear of it happening so needlessly...

I pray for Rose but all the prayers in the world will not restore her son to her or stop her heart from breaking and I am so damn sorry.

We can work on their being fewer grieving parents who have such unbearable lost for such a stupid reason. Uninsured in this country! For one thing under Obama's plan adult children can be covered on their parents policy until age 26 whether in college or not. That matters because so many starting out can't get insurance through employment right away and in addition they often don't worry about it, the 20's just feel so healthy and invulnerable.
I wish so much that had been the case for David.
So many uninsured who get very sick worry about what an emergency room would cost and want to wait it out and get better. That usually works...but God knows not always.

My son was at a bank recently and someone had left behind part of their pay stub. He looked at it and saw the person made $8.00 an hour, more than minimum. He saw the total after taxes for full time work for two weeks and was aghast at what that would leave after rent and utilities...
It doesn't leave room for medical care, it just doesn't.

To a better country, to fewer grieving parents.

My heart and prayers go out to Rose.

You, Rose and your families have my sympathy.

I knew I would find some comfort from my friends here.

Peace
S

complications related to pneumonia. He had the best health care money could buy.

To think that people in the US die of pneumonia in 2008 is beyond me. A former co-worker of mine was diagnosed with lung cancer two years ago and because her husband has an awesome UNION SPONSORED health plan she is still alive. She knows she will die eventually but in the last year they've been to Europe at least once and are planning on returning in November, if her "health" allows. All of this because, again repeat after me....A UNION SPONSORED HEALTH PLAN.

This is truly a story that needs to get out to the larger population. I know your friend Rose is hurting more hurt than a mother ought to hurt. There is NOTHING natural about a mom burying a child, it's just not how things are supposed to happen. He was supposed to bury her. Please, after she has had time to mourn and get back to a new normal, ask her if she would grant permission to include this story as part of a letter to the editor or to let Michael Moore or any one of the single payor advocacy groups use this story. It would be a way of allowing David to help others.

So, so sorry to hear of Rose's loss.



:cry: :grouphug:

Deaths from Pneumonia: 61,777 people died from pneumonia in the US 2001 (Deaths: Final data for 2001, NCHS, CDC)


A very common way to go.

I got it when I was like 33 - ironically the second winter I lived in Califonria. Those Midwestern winters never affected me like the CA winters and the constant rain did.

Told by Stanford Hospital to go home and drink fluids and rest. Not to worry - nature would take its course. (they billed my insurance for about $ 800 worth of X-rays - apparently their natural course didn't include leaving my insurance tab alone.)

After ten days of getting worse, I realized one of the natural ways that nature takes its course is not the outcome I was hoping for.

Went to a different doctor, immediately got on antibiotics. I lost ten pounds and felt like hell for about anotehr six weeks, but I lived.

I wondered often if anyone died from Stanford's "natural" approach.

in what we are being told is the "Greatest Country" When we allow our citizen's to die without medical treatment, it is just wrong.

:hug: :hug: :loveya: :hug: :hug:

For Rose, and you.

Just like Rose's son: in fact, I was in exactly the same situation, with a series of low-wage jobs, most without any healthcare at all. You get used to the idea that medical care is something for other people, and you just don't get sick. That's not a real option, of course, but when you're young and poor, that's what it's like in this country. Now we have a chance to change that.

Not to slam doctors, but I know lots of folks who have no health insurance. Almost all doctors have fancy cars, lifestyles, etc. The average doctor is more likely to drive a luxury car than the average poor young person is to have health insurance. They can charge what they charge because the system is designed to maximize their profit.

The Doctors who belong to our HMO are rushed through 4 patients an hour and are mostly responsible for their own liability insurance.

The system is designed to protect THE INSURANCE COMPANIES..

:cry: :hug:

his 16th birthday from a heart problem that the doctor's knew nothing about in this area since it was not really heard of much. We found out 3 years later when it happened to my 15 year old nephew. By then the doctor's knew of this disease. Fortunately my nephew survived. My son died playing soccer at his high school. We are fortunate enough to have health insurance but pay a hefty price for it. No one in this country should have to suffer or die because of not being able to pay for care. This is a country that needs to learn it has to take care of it's own before it takes care of other countries! Know that I feel for this family and certainly feel their pain. It is a pain that it is the worst!

No parent should have to go through this. Unfortunately, I know too many who have.
Peace.

about where our resouces should be going. "This is a country that needs to learn it has to take care of it's own before it takes care of other countries!" I'm researching medical treatments for a family member, and the doctors that I'm talking to are telling me that this country is behind in medicine/science by ten years compaired to other countries.

And give folks like David mine so he could have had healthcare and at least a chance of surviving.

To Rose, my thoughts are with you. RIP David.

Mark.

he didn't deserve to die like this. not in the 21st century. amen

I am so sorry.

We ARE working to make it different.

...behind my work for election reform.

Without the election fraud that has taken place over the past eight years on federal, state and local levels, we would have been well on our way to universal health care or may have already had it by now.

:(

Do you know many people that age who can afford to pay over $600 a month for a "continuation of coverage"?.. That's what our HMO will charge our oldest boy in a few months...

Our Country has abandoned us.

:hug:

My condolences to your friend. The sorry fact is, because of the way our healthcare is delivered, it can happen to any of us, insured or not. If a person with insurance gets a serious illness and maxes out their policy, they, like the uninsured, are on their own. They might last longer on this planet because they're insured, but I'm betting they worry every single minute of their last days whether or not their family will be left living in a box on the street. This one reason alone is what puzzles me about people who vote Republican. It can happen to them, too. Sometimes the bootstraps break.

I have a minimal policy that I can just afford. It doesn't pay for a lot of things.
I am avoiding things I should do too. I'm just playing the odds and hoping I don't roll
snake eyes. I am prone to pneumonia.
It is criminal that a 23 year old can die like that!

my daughter is the only person in her group of 10 friends that has insurance. they can`t find work or work at jobs that have no insurance.

peace

Why pray for anyone without health insurance? Of course, I am a cynical agnostic who is pragmatic rather than spiritual.

To quote Frederick Douglass

"I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs"

We should all do whatever we can to get Obama elected President, and to send people who believe in Universal Healthcare to Congress. I will think of people like Rose and her son let them be my inspiration and motivation.

The work of all of us is required, but we mustn't lose sight of the human need for emotional support from others. If prayer annoys you to the point of snarking at someone who writes through tears, just stay off the thread. It's kinder.

Hekate

I just sent this one to someone who just this morning sent me a bullshit chain email about Cindy McCain. I love this person -- she's an elderly relative and as much as I disagree with her political perspective, I love her. I'd finally had it so I initially responded to her email with a polite request for her to stop sending me her political emails -- I feel forced to be polite about it when what I want to do is respond as I usually do to those emails, which is counteract the chain email bullshit with referenced facts -- I send my response to the whole email list. I just can't do that with this relative. Then I read your post and I just had to send it on....with a couple of articles about McCain's health care policy (or lack thereof) to my relative. I know she won't send it on to others but I had to make your very powerful point. I know she volunteers in a hospital and has seen some of this and has been hit by some high health care costs herself.

My heart goes out to Rose. RIP, David -- you deserved FAR better.

My condolences to you and to Rose. It's every mother's nightmare. And you're correct. We all DO deserve medical care AND insurance. It should be a public utility, not just another chance for an pirate-opportunist to make a buck - off of someone else's misfortune (sickness and disability).

are many people out here who are sharing in her grief. Big hugs to her; this should never have happened in this country, and you know it happens more than anyone admits.
I pray Americans are smart enough to wake up before it's too late.

NO it's criminal. Dead at 23 for a lack of health care in the richest country on the planet. :cry:

My deepest condolences go out to your friend Rose.

I hope your sons are listening to you.

Her daughter was 25 or 26. Minimum wage job. Got sick, no insurance. Died from pneumonia. It was absolutely heartbreaking.

...or a letter to the editor.

David personalizes the problems with our health care system. No one should die because they can't afford
health care.

I am so sorry about what happened. This family sounds really wonderful. I am sure you will be there for Rose--now, and after
everyone else has gone back to their lives. That's when she'll really need you.

After some time has passed, I would strongly consider crafting David's story for publication--as a guest editorial in your local newspaper--with Rose's
permission of course.

"We need health care reform" is so abstract. David demonstrates that this issue is about fairness and equal rights--for all--not just the rich
who can afford to see a doctor.

You should send this story to Physicians for a National Health Plan. They are a group that are advocates for national health care. They document stories like this. The website is: http://www.pnhp.org

Also contact Congressman Dennis Kucinich's office. He would like to have this story to document his efforts to get HR 676 a single payer universal health bill that is sitting in Congress passed.

desk right now. He has vetoed it twice. Even if you are not from Ca., call him and urge him to make history. 916-445-2841

Same cause, sick and got pneumonia and died because didn't have insurance and didn't want to bother doctors and go into debt more.

Rose is comforted knowing people care - and so am I

peace and love to all of you

S

for her terrible loss. There are no words that can possibly bring any consolation for suffering the loss of child, much less one so young with a future ahead of them and a preventable loss. I don't know what else to say but I wish her peace through this terrible time.

other smaller countries have better health care including psychiatric health care, we are always castigated as whiners when we ask for basic health care while the wealthy, big oil, big pharma and the military industrial complex take the pie. The same thing for education, if we want to stay competitive, we have to improve education, the same old crap no longer works and has not worked for a long time. Rose as a teacher should have had the best safety net and not fallen through the cracks.

Poor Rose, I will pray for both her and her son.

:cry: too many people vote for their party just because it's their party..I believe that you shouldn't vote for someone just because they're a democrat or a republican.People think that democrats and republicans think the same. and that they should vote for them.Whoever you think is best is who you should vote for.:patriot:

... go through some needed medical tests, paid for in part by insurance. We struggled mightily to get that insurance, but that's another story.

To even contemplate the idea of losing a beloved child because this country is so benighted that it denies basic human rights to its citizens is unfathomable.

Please know that prayerful thoughts follow, but first I have to say that my anger makes it hard to find a quiet space in myself for contemplation. In instances like this (and there are many), I remember that Gandhi was *first* angry before he started his nonviolent peace and justice movement.

Yes! Let there be peace (and help) on Earth, and let it begin with me (and a strong Democratic Congress and Presidency).

:(

My prayers and thoughts are with Rose.

This should NEVER, EVER have happened.
Let's get a Democrat in the WH to make sure it
doesn't happen to anyone else!

I share your beliefs too.

:hug:

for a week before his sister told me and I insisted he go to the hospital. He had to have surgery with pins, etc., to put it back together. And we aren't supposed to say "Goddamn America" when this shit happens to our family? Grrr. I am livid someone died over such a simple thing.

And you know, the feed store has antibiotics too. And they work just fine.

Goddammit.

I hope this woman focuses her anger on getting this story out there.

My condolences for the loss of your friend and a good young man gone before his time. I am outraged that this can still happen in America. Peace.

The loss must be even harder to bear (can anything be more than infinite?) because it was so unexpected and so unnecessary.

My heart breaks for David and for Rose. I am so, so, so sorry.

What a terrible thing, to lose a child, especially to something as preventable as this. Our heath care system is in shambles, and people such as this young man are paying the price, with their lives. I, too, pray that November brings big changes and the start of a better America for us all.

I especially liked this sentence:
"I believe with my whole heart that the Constitution of the United States is a sacred document that should be revered."

Last week, I had a stomach virus. It was awful, and I had to call in sick two days. Phenergan, the prescription I normally take for nausea or vomiting, wasn't helping at all, so I called my doctor and asked him to call in some Zofran. When I had surgery five years ago, I was given Zofran in my IV to prevent the anesthesia from making me sick. It worked, so I remembered that name. My mother also took it after her last colonoscopy, when she got sick from the anesthesia, so I knew it also was available in pill form. She also was given a shot of it in the hospital after her last surgery to stop vomiting. All I knew about it is that it's really good stuff.

Because I have health insurance, I paid $5 for 20 pills. I took one, and it stopped the vomiting. But when I was reading the patient information sheet, I discovered what Zofran normally is used for: It's for cancer patients after chemo. No wonder it works. What really shocked me was the part that told me how much my insurance saved me: $505! That's obscene! I don't think those little pills would cost that much if they were made from gold.

How do people without health insurance afford a drug like this? And if you're sick enough to need it, you're sick enough to pay the price and go into debt. My virus lasted two days. But cancer patients have no choice. They'd have to have medication after chemo.

This happened on the day Obama accepted the nomination. Queasy as I was, I listened (though watching motion on top of the sound was too much). It really brought home to me the necessity of universal health care.

Our prayers

at least it would be if the constitution were followed.

:(

Sending prayers to Rose and her family...and to you for being there for her.
I'm so very sorry....a tragic and unnecessary loss....

peace~

When I read stories like this I don't know why everyone is signing up to go canvass voters or do other work to secure the election. Hugs and prayers for Rose.

Your talk about care is on the money. It's crazy that folks have to CHOOSE between care and suffering in a world with so much medical capability at hand. In fact, it's criminal when you get right down to it!
I just lost my favorite cousin because the hospital said "bye-bye!" when they realized he was self-employed. Didn't matter that he COULD HAVE paid off his debt and would have in time - they told him his pains would eventually subside. Friends found him slumped over his desk four days later. His heart had been squeezed to a stop by the swelling in his chest. It didn't have to happen, but the hospital's judgement that he was a risk for payment was what sealed his fate.
This kind of thing has to stop!

(even though he could have gone to the VA) and I always resent the fact that he didn't go. How much worse for those who do not have the choice! And to die so young.

For anyone else who has a friend like this--go to the ER. Of a private (but tertiary care center or teaching) hospital. Not for profit if possible. They have to treat you. And if you have no money, most of them write off a certain portion of their bills as charity each year. They can afford to since they are often endowed by a church and by wealthy donors. Bypass any public or county hospitals that have been in the news for substandard care. They will kill you--and if you work, they will send you an inflated bill for thousands of dollars for the most basic services, because they jack up the price of everything so that they can recoup their actual costs from Medicaid and Medicare.

If you are not sick enough to need an ambulance, do not call one. An ambulance will take you to whatever hospital is on their rotation. And if a hospital's ICU is full, the ambulance will be diverted to some other hospital where you may not want to go. You lose freedom of choice. And you do not necessarily get seen faster.

If you are sick enough that you think you need to be admitted and one hospital sends you away, do not hesitate to go to another for a second opinion. Rushed ER doctors can make honest mistakes.

There are some nasty bugs out there, including a new, lethal "common cold" virus that has killed young army recruits so beware.

That should never happen!

My husband is a repub (for the life of me, I have no idea why--he clings to the old chestnut that Dems are "tax and spend" no matter how much info to the contrary) and had a bad bout of pneumonia this past June. I don't doubt for a second that if I hadn't badgered him to go to the doctor, he would have tried to wait out his "bad cold" just as David did. We are fortunate in that we have a decent health care plan through his work, but it's not ideal--we pay a hefty sum for coverage, of course.

Also in June, our son, who's 4, had a bad stomach virus. He ended up having to go to the pediatric emergency department at our city's biggest hospital. We were there four hours and he had some blood tests as a formality before he received an IV (one bag) to be rehydrated. Cost: more than $1,500! For FOUR HOURS. The emergency department room (that we shared, BTW) was the biggest cost--$1,100 of the total.

Seeing that itemized bill knocked my socks off and brought home the reality of people who end up deep in debt because they'd have to pay that total out of pocket. I showed it to my husband and said that that example alone is reason to vote for Obama and any other Dems we can get our hands on, to change the status quo when it comes to paying for health care. He didn't have a snappy comeback for once.

Sending light to Rose.

hugs and condolences to everyone affected by this unnecessary death....such a shame, and there is NO excuse good enough...wb

Prayers and wishes for all help that is needed in being in such grief.

and Good Energy from your house to yours.

Your post has given me pause to think how very lucky I am. I've bitched how minimal my insurance is, but at least I have some. This last week, my partner and I both came down with pneumonia, but we both have some modicum of health insurance. We both got antibiotics at least and I managed to get two days off from work. I still got bitched at for taking the time off and I'll have to make it up, but I'm alive and my partner is alive.

That's two big somethings to be grateful for. Your post really put it in perspective.

And yes, that is why I vote Democratic. People should be treated like human beings, with human needs. They shouldn't have to worry about having to get treatment when they need it and they shouldn't have to be bitched at when they're so sick they can't hold their own heads up about having to take time off to get well.

They shouldn't have to die from treatable illnesses, either. Azithromycin is almost throwaway cheap and it's very effective. There's no excuse for anyone dying of pneumonia.

Indeed, the Constitution is a sacred document. I've posted tomes on my genealogy. My roots go very deep into this soil and very deep into the history of this nation. My blood is connected to the Founding Document and I am a Democrat through-and-through because of my roots. I feel very protective of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights -- the entire Bill of Rights, not just the Second Amendment -- because of my connection to it. We have a responsibility of stewardship, to hand the Constitution and our nation down to our children and grandchildren in better shape than it was handed down to us.

Strength and love to you, Scott. You'll need it to pass along. You have more friends, family, and allies than you know.

I'm so sorry to hear about David's plight.

I'll definitely pray for her, her situations, and situations similar. I'm sorry for this loss.

... she can feel DU reaching out to her tonight. You are a good friend.

Hekate

:cry:

But the story, however sad, is a compelling reason to be proud to be a Democrat and cogently states why voting Democratic in this election is critical.

I am so sorry to hear such a tragic story....such a young man..
It should not have happened....
My heart goes out to Rose. I know that I would just perish if I lost my son...
We must do everything we can to make sure this kind of thing does not continue to happen. EVERYONE is entitled to health care. We must make that a reality..

My prayers are with Rose. I can't believe that our medical system is so deteriorated that it has turned to this!

As a nurse, I can tell you that this happens all too often - people dying or suffering permanent damage because they can't afford basic medical care.

It's a national disgrace. I'm going to work like hell to elect people who promise to do something about it.

Prayers for Rose, definitely. Please let her know strangers are thinking of her. This is why I stay so mad at Republicans.

Just an update. the hospital told Rose that her son had become septic by the time he was admitted to the hospital. Once that happens there is very little they can do.

I told Rose about all your posts and she is so appreciateive. She is luck to have a large, close knit Italian family by her side at this time. Knowing that complete strangers are keeping her in their thoughts has been a godsend as well.

Once again, peace and hugs to all of you!

S