D
DeeZire
Guest
As I mentioned in the TCE thread last June, my GF’s 25 year-old kid has leukemia, most likely caused by his Mom’s exposure to toxic chemicals in the workplace. GF was working in a non-union shop assembling circuit boards while she was pregnant. Safety standards were lax, and she was exposed to TCE, a toxic solvent that causes cancer, birth defects, and elevated levels of leukemia in offspring. If OSHA had inspected the place, they would have shut it down in a heartbeat, and Dave would be a normal guy today, not a cancer patient waiting out a death sentence. (26 years ago, employees were unaware of the dangers of TCE, while those hazards were common knowledge to employers.)
Why is this Ami’s fault? Ami has always been fervently anti-OSHA, anti-government regulation, anti-anything that has to do with protecting the working class at the expense of the almighty bottom line. Unfortunately, in this case, Ami is getting the last laugh. Dave’s employer took out a very lucrative life insurance policy on him before he got sick, which is pretty common in the business world, even though Dave was a new hire at entry level. As long as they keep Dave on the payroll, they get the tax-free payout when he dies. I’m guessing it’ll be at least $100k or more. Granted, keeping him on the payroll while he’s out sick allows him to keep his health insurance, but if he does die, the $100k payout does not go to help pay for the 20% of his hospital bills that won’t be covered by insurance. The hospital will be forced to eat those expenses while Dave’s employer cashes the check - another win for Ami’s better-than-thou crowd.
Dave is still undergoing chemo as an outpatient at the university hospital. We still don’t have a prognosis, although when he was admitted his doctors said he would have been dead within a month without treatment. A bone marrow transplant is his last resort, and so far, it’s not on the schedule. Dave still hangs out with his friends, but he was forced to give up his drummer gigs, since he doesn’t have the strength or stamina for that right now. Fortunately for Dave, the voters in Arizona just passed a medical marijuana initiative - by a 3,000 vote margin out of 1.5 million votes cast. It won’t be implemented until summer. I pray to God Dave lives long enough to benefit from it.
After all this, I find it very hard to put up with the anti-government regulation zealots who frequent this place. 25 year-old kids should not have to die because of corporate greed, and corporations should not be allowed to collect financial windfalls for those deaths. It’s unconscionable - or, to put it another way - it’s Ami’s dream utopia. The fact that Ami is trolling for sympathy at the same time that Dave is struggling for his life makes me want to puke.
The other day, GF mentioned that if she could trade places with her son to save his life, she’d do it in a heartbeat. Personally, I’d rather see Ami trade places with him. That would be my idea of utopia - a place where the unscrupulous and the uncaring take responsibility for their actions, and their ideology.
(Please, no “roses” for Dave. He doesn’t visit this forum, and neither do I. I just thought I’d drop in with an update.)
Why is this Ami’s fault? Ami has always been fervently anti-OSHA, anti-government regulation, anti-anything that has to do with protecting the working class at the expense of the almighty bottom line. Unfortunately, in this case, Ami is getting the last laugh. Dave’s employer took out a very lucrative life insurance policy on him before he got sick, which is pretty common in the business world, even though Dave was a new hire at entry level. As long as they keep Dave on the payroll, they get the tax-free payout when he dies. I’m guessing it’ll be at least $100k or more. Granted, keeping him on the payroll while he’s out sick allows him to keep his health insurance, but if he does die, the $100k payout does not go to help pay for the 20% of his hospital bills that won’t be covered by insurance. The hospital will be forced to eat those expenses while Dave’s employer cashes the check - another win for Ami’s better-than-thou crowd.
Dave is still undergoing chemo as an outpatient at the university hospital. We still don’t have a prognosis, although when he was admitted his doctors said he would have been dead within a month without treatment. A bone marrow transplant is his last resort, and so far, it’s not on the schedule. Dave still hangs out with his friends, but he was forced to give up his drummer gigs, since he doesn’t have the strength or stamina for that right now. Fortunately for Dave, the voters in Arizona just passed a medical marijuana initiative - by a 3,000 vote margin out of 1.5 million votes cast. It won’t be implemented until summer. I pray to God Dave lives long enough to benefit from it.
After all this, I find it very hard to put up with the anti-government regulation zealots who frequent this place. 25 year-old kids should not have to die because of corporate greed, and corporations should not be allowed to collect financial windfalls for those deaths. It’s unconscionable - or, to put it another way - it’s Ami’s dream utopia. The fact that Ami is trolling for sympathy at the same time that Dave is struggling for his life makes me want to puke.
The other day, GF mentioned that if she could trade places with her son to save his life, she’d do it in a heartbeat. Personally, I’d rather see Ami trade places with him. That would be my idea of utopia - a place where the unscrupulous and the uncaring take responsibility for their actions, and their ideology.
(Please, no “roses” for Dave. He doesn’t visit this forum, and neither do I. I just thought I’d drop in with an update.)
