Dying man who couldn't afford to go to hospital after vomiting blood left moving final message on FB - Sensationalist Headlines

[QUOTE=evilweazel;52626129]He doesn't sound like someone who was altogether there.[/QUOTE] Well, to be fair, he WAS vomiting blood.

Like, the fact that this could even be [I]considered[/I] is sickening enough. This is less about whether he had to die or not, but the fact that the choice doesn't even seem all that unreasonable as it should in this country.

[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;52626263]Like, the fact that this could even be [I]considered[/I] is sickening enough. This is less about whether he had to die or not, but the fact that the choice doesn't even seem all that unreasonable as it should in this country.[/QUOTE] The choice is pretty unreasonable, as explained above. Dying was likely far from his only option. I have plenty of bones to pick with healthcare in the US (its a field I'm entering, hopefully) but I sincerely doubt a dude that poor doesn't qualify for gov't covered care, charity, etc. If he doesn't have insurance through work.

[QUOTE=evilweazel;52626269]The choice is pretty unreasonable, as explained above. Dying was likely far from his only option.[/QUOTE] Well, perhaps somebody could explain then how he'd keep his home and not be in debt? [editline]29th August 2017[/editline] You're probably right though, it was an unreasonable course of action, I think I'm just sympathizing a bit too much and getting emotional over it because I've lost someone close to me in a sort of similar way.

He could have gone into any hospital and signed up on the spot for Medicaid or Obamacare.

This country has a 3rd world level of healthcare accessibility

[QUOTE=proboardslol;52626393]This country has a 3rd world level of healthcare accessibility[/QUOTE] A country where he could have walked into any ER in the country and have this treated and likely subsidized in some form isn't exactly 3rd world. Might want to expand on that viewpoint. :v: Honestly, rhetoric similar to this could have played a part in the thought process that brought him to thinking he had no choice but to die.

[QUOTE=proboardslol;52626393]This country has a 3rd world level of healthcare accessibility[/QUOTE] He probably didn't hunt down enough albinos for the local shaman.

[QUOTE=plunger435;52626457]He probably didn't hunt down enough albinos for the local shaman.[/QUOTE] I'll have you know my local doc recommended white rhino dong for this ailment sir please get your facts about our villages medical system straight

[QUOTE=plunger435;52626290]He could have gone into any hospital and signed up on the spot for Medicaid or Obamacare.[/QUOTE] And paid for it how? Medicaid / Obamacare doesn't magically make your health bills disappear. Obamacare was a step in the right direction, but what happens when you can't afford Obamacare? Medicine and treatment are still outrageously expensive. Surgeries are even more expensive. There's a reason people are genuinely forced to start crowdfunding campaigns during emergency medical situations, and it's because they actually lack the money to pay any sort of medical bills that high. The victim blaming in this thread is actually disgusting. He was struggling to afford to pay rent, being forced to sell his jeep just to cover the next month. He literally did not have the money to pay rent, let alone trying to pay for medical bills AND Obamacare on top of it. You want the solution to this problem? I'll tell you what it is. It's Universal Health Care. Something that every progressive first world country should have, but greed and capitalism are seeing to it that situations like this continue to crop up.

[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;52626263]Like, the fact that this could even be [I]considered[/I] is sickening enough. This is less about whether he had to die or not, but the fact that the choice doesn't even seem all that unreasonable as it should in this country.[/QUOTE] It's a lot less poignant when the system as it currently stands provides ways to mitigate the impact of unexpected medical expenses, but instead he [I]chose to die[/I]. It is factually false to act, as many in this thread are doing, like this is a story of America's brutal healthcare system refusing a sick man treatment and leaving him to die. Yes, we have serious issues with our healthcare system, and it's a problem that people have to essentially gamble on whether or not they'll have to pay medical debts. You will never catch me saying that our healthcare system is A-OK and socialized medicine is a bad thing. But if a person in the UK decides not to seek medical assistance because they [I]think[/I] they'll be on an NHS waiting list for months, it would be completely unreasonable to interpret their death as socialized medicine killing someone. If a person in the US decides not to seek medical assistance because they [I]think[/I] they won't receive any aid and will go homeless, it's unreasonable to interpret their death as non-socialized medicine killing someone, for the same reason. You can't blame the system if you choose not to use it, on the [I]assumption[/I] that it's not going to work out for you.

[QUOTE=Cabbage;52626011]who throws up a bucket of blood and thinks 'geez well look on the bright side, i've got a roof over my head!' Your life is worth more.[/QUOTE] Not enough blood left for his brain to work maybe? People in these situations can have cognition impaired and it doesnt help having no healthcare.

I think that discussing what he "should have" done is irrelevant. The very fact that someone was deterred from seeking medical aid by financial concerns- resulting in his death- is disgusting. The fact he had to choose between dying of his condition and a life of poverty or debt is fucking abhorrent. This shit [i]should not happen[/i] in any modern society. The healthcare system in my country provides better quality of care while facing constant financial sabotage from the government lmao

[QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;52626598][B]And paid for it how? Medicaid / Obamacare doesn't magically make your health bills disappear.[/B] Obamacare was a step in the right direction, but what happens when you can't afford Obamacare? Medicine and treatment are still outrageously expensive. Surgeries are even more expensive. There's a reason people are genuinely forced to start crowdfunding campaigns during emergency medical situations, and it's because they actually lack the money to pay any sort of medical bills that high. The victim blaming in this thread is actually disgusting. He was struggling to afford to pay rent, being forced to sell his jeep just to cover the next month. He literally did not have the money to pay rent, let alone trying to pay for medical bills AND Obamacare on top of it. You want the solution to this problem? I'll tell you what it is. It's Universal Health Care. Something that every progressive first world country should have, but greed and capitalism are seeing to it that situations like this continue to crop up.[/QUOTE] Medicaid does magically make it disappear my dude. This guy is clearly poor enough to be on welfare and medicaid. I pay for Medicaid in my taxes so people as poor as this guy can get free treatment, which he didn't want to get.

[QUOTE=plunger435;52625967]I don't get it. He setup a crowdfunding page to pay for treatment? Why didn't he go get help and use the money after?[/QUOTE] I saw this on twitter a few days ago and from what I gathered it seemed like he died before he had the chance to use the money. He has also set-up more than one crowdfunding operation, this was his second

[QUOTE=LZTYBRN;52626764]I saw this on twitter a few days ago and from what I gathered it seemed like he died before he had the chance to use the money. He has also set-up more than one crowdfunding operation, this was his second[/QUOTE] Does he think you need to pay for the hospital bills upfront? There's no reason he should have waited til the last minute before checking in.

hospitals offer charity care too under certain circumstances as well bottom line is the dude paid the price for a stupid decision in circumstances that had unclear outcomes (because he was not educated on the reality of his options) in order to be a martyr making a rational decision to abstain from care over the course of multiple days isn't a fault of the US healthcare system. not saying that the system is fine by any means, but this case is a far cry from illustrating anything but the obvious

I had a similar situation. I have a massive stomach ulcer that I guess ruptured and I was vomiting blood. Went to the ER. Waiting 6 hours to be put into a room, 2 more hours to see a Doctor, got an xray and had to drink barium so they could see it, threw the barium back up with blood in the mix and told I was fine and discharged. I continued to vomit blood for 2 days after, and it stopped eventually. America's healthcare is a fucking joke.

You have to keep in mind, he wasn't comparing money to his life. He was comparing the [I]risk.[/I] The risk that he went there and got a scan that put him in debt, only for the doctors to say "we still dont know what it is, hold tight while we do more scans." The risk that he goes there and gets expensive scans that reveal that it only [I]felt[/I] dangerous, and that it was a very simple thing that could've been solved cheaply had he not ran to the emergency room. The risk that he goes in and gets cured, and then has life-ruining debt that means he's forced to work it off, or worse put burden on his family if he can't. The risk that he dies in the hospital instead of his house, causing a lot of unnecessary drama if was gunna die anyway. I'm not saying this is logical, I'm just saying that's what people think in these situations. This isn't a man failing to consider his life valuable. This is a man on the train tracks being told he'll live if he jumps, and taking too long to think about before he goes. He was too afraid to jump without seeing the ground, because there might not be water. But got hit by the train instead.

[QUOTE=Renderman;52626890]I had a similar situation. I have a massive stomach ulcer that I guess ruptured and I was vomiting blood. Went to the ER. Waiting 6 hours to be put into a room, 2 more hours to see a Doctor, got an xray and had to drink barium so they could see it, threw the barium back up with blood in the mix and told I was fine and discharged. I continued to vomit blood for 2 days after, and it stopped eventually. America's healthcare is a fucking joke.[/QUOTE] You had to drink the barium so they could see if it was entering the abdominal cavity. If not then it's just a bleeding ulcer that can be treated with prescription medicine from your GP.

[QUOTE=Renderman;52626890]I had a similar situation. I have a massive stomach ulcer that I guess ruptured and I was vomiting blood. Went to the ER. Waiting 6 hours to be put into a room, 2 more hours to see a Doctor, got an xray and had to drink barium so they could see it, threw the barium back up with blood in the mix and [B]told I was fine[/B] and discharged. I continued to vomit blood for 2 days after, and it stopped eventually. America's healthcare is a fucking joke.[/QUOTE] Well they weren't wrong, were they?

[QUOTE=MedicWine;52626893]You have to keep in mind, he wasn't comparing money to his life. He was comparing the [I]risk.[/I] The risk that he went there and got a scan that put him in debt, only for the doctors to say "we still dont know what it is, hold tight while we do more scans." The risk that he goes there and gets expensive scans that reveal that it only [I]felt[/I] dangerous, and that it was a very simple thing that could've been solved cheaply had he not ran to the emergency room. The risk that he goes in and gets cured, and then has life-ruining debt that means he's forced to work it off, or worse put burden on his family if he can't. The risk that he dies in the hospital instead of his house, causing a lot of unnecessary drama if was gunna die anyway. I'm not saying this is logical, I'm just saying that's what people think in these situations. This isn't a man failing to consider his life valuable. This is a man on the train tracks being told he'll live if he jumps, and taking too long to think about before he goes. He was too afraid to jump without seeing the ground, because there might not be water. But got hit by the train instead.[/QUOTE] Speculation the post. He called his relatives and told them he was dying at 3AM, he was aware it was bad enough. He could have gone to the hospital, gotten his medicaid, and gotten treatment. Even if he was accepted there he would have had his debt forgiven after.

[QUOTE=OvB;52626916]Well they weren't wrong, were they?[/QUOTE] No they werent, but honestly gave me no information as to what was going on. It was terrifying to vomit dark blood.

[QUOTE=Judas;52626092]This doesnt happen in first-world countries[/QUOTE] Nor in third world countries :)

He could have gone to the hospital, received treatment, asked to be billed, then proven that his bills outweigh his income and filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy. Even if the process took so long that the bills went to collections, it would take literal years before wage garnishment occurred. There were so many ways around this situation that would have saved his life that he straight up ignored, and for what? I'm completely confused by his actions. This wouldn't have directly made him homeless, and I have no idea how so many of you don't understand how billing/credit works.

[QUOTE=Aetna;52627054]He could have gone to the hospital, received treatment, asked to be billed, then proven that his bills outweigh his income and filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy. Even if the process took so long that the bills went to collections, it would take literal years before wage garnishment occurred. There were so many ways around this situation that would have saved his life that he straight up ignored, and for what? I'm completely confused by his actions. This wouldn't have directly made him homeless, and I have no idea how so many of you don't understand how billing/credit works.[/QUOTE] It seems like the majority of the thread don't understand how medicaid, debt forgiveness, and healthcare in general work.

On top of this... he stated that he only needed $600 per month to cover his bills and still keep his car and pay rent. His GoFundMe raised $2,595, which is effectively 6 months of coverage. None of this makes any sense. Was he just suicidal and trying to prove a point or some shit?

[QUOTE=Aetna;52627054]He could have gone to the hospital, received treatment, asked to be billed, then proven that his bills outweigh his income and filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy. Even if the process took so long that the bills went to collections, it would take literal years before wage garnishment occurred. There were so many ways around this situation that would have saved his life that he straight up ignored, and for what? I'm completely confused by his actions. This wouldn't have directly made him homeless, and [B]I have no idea how so many of you don't understand how billing/credit works[/B].[/QUOTE] They don't understand because nowhere in the US education system is mandated to [I]teach[/I] those things. Nor are children taught about when they should seek medical care, or for that matter, basic first aid. As for the why as to his choice, it's not for me to guess at as to why he made his decision. [QUOTE=Aetna;52627076]On top of this... he stated that he only needed $600 per month to cover his bills and still keep his car and pay rent. His GoFundMe raised $2,595, which is effectively 6 months of coverage. None of this makes any sense. Was he just suicidal and trying to prove a point or some shit?[/QUOTE] I think an important thing to consider is that he probably wasn't in any state to make decisions to begin with.

[QUOTE=Worldwaker;52627084]They don't understand because nowhere in the US education system is mandated to [I]teach[/I] those things.[B] Nor are children taught about when they should seek medical care, or for that matter, basic first aid.[/B] As for the why as to his choice, it's not for me to guess at as to why he made his decision. I think an important thing to consider is that he probably wasn't in any state to make decisions to begin with.[/QUOTE] You shouldn't need an elementary school teacher to tell you that dying requires immediate medical attention.

It wasn't the coughing up blood that was the problem, the guy needed his brain checking.