The mother should have been indicted for child abuse since stupidity isn't a crime.
Which you should be grateful for
I guess you missed the part where she was calling human services several times a week. What was she supposed to do, hold them at gun point? Yes I would have gotten much more in people's face about this too, but hindsight is 20/20 and many people are very intimidated by authority/authority figures and feel powerless. She also may not have realized that his life was in danger. Again I agree she should have known, and could have done more, but it's easy to get self-righteous about this and rubbing salt in her wound is asinine in a wide variety of ways.
That aside, I hope with great passion that the SPECIFIC PEOPLE who blew her off end up in jail, and that point should be emphasized. But it won't. Incompetent employees hide behind their company and get off scott free while the best one can usually hope for is the company or state or whatever just throws some money at this and goes "oops our bad." That itself should be a crime. PEOPLE should be held accountable for shit like this.
Did someone promise you an error free world or else everyone who makes a mistake will be tossed in prison? Or just those who work in fields that deal with others, if THEY make mistakes they should go to prison but if you and your buddy janitors make mistakes, that's different? Only some people are supposed to be perfect at all times? You ASSUME without any proof whatsoever that three different people in different agencies actually KNOWINGLY chose to make sure this kid didn't have his life-saving medication? One person DID knowingly decide to let this kid go without his life-saving medicine -but it wasn't any bureaucrat. It was his MOTHER. She KNOWINGLY CHOSE to let him go without it. And SHE belongs in prison for it. Not rewarded with a big chunk of taxpayer money!
You think those who supposedly blew her off belong in jail -but not HER? Really? You are sure quick to give HER the benefit of the doubt in spite of the fact there is NO evidence she contacted ANYONE. She just SAYS she made phone calls. You agreed she didn't do the right thing by her own kid and CALLOUSLY dismiss the fact she caused her son's death by failing to provide the MINIMAL care she owed him. There are 720 hours in a month and even being generous, she spent less than 0.02% of her TIME trying to save his life. With a few phone calls where she apparently always hit the same dead end over and over. For MONTHS she did nothing more than this. Including refusing to just BUY a $20 emergency inhaler out of her own pocket. Just ONCE. Refused to go back to the prescribing doctor. Refused to find a free clinic. Refused to leave her house and park her ass at the Medicaid office and just refuse to leave until someone fixed the damn mistake. Refused to get advice or outside help ANYWHERE even though even people on this thread were rapidly able to track down an entire list of different agencies both public and private that could help. Even people on this thread are more concerned than she was to make the effort to find other sources of help. She only CLAIMS to have called and left it at that. Nothing but some phone calls to the same place to reach the same dead end apparently -as if that was enough. And for people like you -shockingly it really is enough. This is what you clearly just can't get.
It isn't enough for NORMAL PEOPLE. You are more than willing to excuse this woman for NOT DOING THE RIGHT THING -because as far as YOU are concerned, just doing the EASY thing was enough. Something the typical liberal really does believe. But for normal people doing the easy thing when it comes to your kid instead of doing the right thing -doesn't cut it. While you have already decided to give her every benefit of the doubt about even making those phone calls, I am not so willing to do so and certainly not so quickly with so little support for it -given the fact it is unreasonable to believe three different people in different agencies with three different jobs would have blown her off! That just did not happen.
Instead you insist others should not rub salt in the wound? ARE YOU KIDDING? Your sympathy is with HER? Sorry, but mine is with that poor, helpless child dependent on someone who couldn't be bothered to save his life and CHOSE to let him go without his life-saving medications for MONTHS until he died as a result! And it is NAUSEATING there are people like you who think making a few phone calls was enough -even though you would NEVER have stopped with that just if it were for YOURSELF. And this woman would never have stopped with that if it were life-saving medication for HERSELF either! But hey, if its just for a kid, that's WAY more than enough -for you.
This is a very common error in both private and public insurance. And it is one both are used to dealing with ALL THE TIME. Routinely. And it is one that doesn't take MONTHS to fix -except they first have to know about it to be able to fix it. If she made those calls and actually talked to someone with the authority to fix this problem -there will be a record of that along with a record of her complaint, a record of why it wasn't fixed -what was missing that would not allow it to be fixed. These people have to fill out paperwork for everything and every claim and every complaint and every contention that coverage was wrongfully denied. There is ALWAYS a record of it -IF contact was actually made. While you might get me to believe ONE of those three people failed in their basic job to properly document it -no way I'm buying three people in different agencies and three different jobs failed to do it. But I noticed her lawyer isn't claiming to have ANY of that supporting documentation. Just her unsubstantiated CLAIM she made the calls. Ok, then her phone records should be able to at least back up that she dialed the right numbers. Without hearing anything but HER claims you are ready to JAIL other people -but not her. While I haven't seen anything that even hints at anyone's guilt except her own blatant negligence. Her WORD will mean nothing in court. She will have to PROVE she even made those phone calls, PROVE that she actually spoke to these people, PROVE that she followed all instructions she may have been given, PROVE these people did NOT do their jobs properly and PROVE they just "blew her off" as you seem to think happened.
And the biggest hurdle of all -she must PROVE that their failures outweighed her NEGLIGENCE and HER refusal to do all she could have done to save her own kid's life! Including just buying the inhaler out of pocket -which she REFUSED TO DO! Who does that? Seriously -who does that?
When you made the comment about hindsight may be 20/20 - you just proved why the TAXPAYER should NOT be on the hook for HER failures. That is an admission SHE SCREWED UP! I don't OWE people money when THEY **** UP! And SHE fucked up! Her kid died because SHE did -that doesn't make her entitled to MY money as a payoff for it! The bureaucratic screw up didn't kill her kid, bureaucrats didn't kill him, Medicaid didn't kill him, the pharmacist didn't kill him. (And please GET REAL -she is suing her own caseworker who would NOT have "blown" her off and left her kid without his asthma medication. NOT going to happen. These people look for ways to make sure someone is getting every entitlement possible but is going to let her kid go without his asthma med? And then THREE totally different people did it? GET REAL.) His mother had MONTHS to make sure that very common screw up didn't harm him -including just buying that inhaler herself just ONE TIME! And she didn't do it. THAT fact outweighs what anyone else supposedly did or did not do and NO ONE else is as responsible for his death as SHE IS.
Would YOU have paid $20 for YOUR kid's inhaler just ONCE in all those MONTHS? An inhaler that has between 100 and 250 doses -versus refusing to cough up $20 for ZERO doses. What is her reason for refusing to pay out of pocket for even ONE inhaler in all those MONTHS? I'd like to hear that. Because during all those MONTHS I'm betting she had a $20 bill she chose to spend on something else instead. Does she drink? Smoke? Do drugs? Did she choose cell phone over land line at a fraction of the cost? Did she buy any clothes or new shoes during all those MONTHS? Go to the movies? Get her hair done, colored, permed or straightened, cut? Buy fast food? Out to dinner? Go out with friends? Buy any costume jewelry in all those months? Bought desserts, candy or snacks at the grocery store in all those months? I feel pretty safe saying she put her kid's medication WAY down her list of priorities and chose to spend money on something else that she could have foregone just ONCE in all those MONTHS. Who refuses to pay $20 out of pocket for an emergency inhaler while trying to fix an insurance/Medicaid screw up? WHO DOES THAT? Someone who placed more value on ANYTHING-except the medication that could have saved her kid's life.
Get real on the "authority fear" bullshit -what a joke. Do you fear your insurance agent too? Tremble with fear when talking to him or her? Medicaid is taxpayer paid insurance to cover the medical costs and is manned by people whose sole purpose is to wait on them. It is NOT like when you were being questioned by cops while holding your friend's stash! And no one deals with those bureaucrats better than someone used to dealing with them for years. Pain in the neck -yes. Something to cause a fear of "authority"? ROFL -oh sure. Just like I shake in my boots when renewing my driver's license too. Oh sure, a mother watching her kid go without his life-saving medication for MONTHS is going to wilt because.....what? And if she was so fearful of authority, how DID she manage to keep up with those phone calls I wonder? You know, the ones that tied her up for all of what? A couple of hours a week? Maybe?
She CLAIMS to have called several times a week. So just how many phone calls that were always a dead end would YOU make to get YOUR life-saving medication before deciding it was time to try something else and seek help elsewhere? How long do you think she would have continued down a dead end path before trying something else if it were HER life-saving medication? Do you REALLY think she would have been satisfied with making the same phone calls a couple of times a week that got her nowhere -and just done that until she died MONTHS later? Because I don't. I also FIRMLY believe if it were HER life-saving medication she would suddenly decide it was worth coughing up the $20 at least ONCE during all those MONTHS while trying to get the screw up fixed.
She owed her child NO LESS than what she would have done for herself and she didn't do it. Because it wasn't HER life on the line here. Just her helpless child's life -and THAT clearly did NOT give her the same sense of urgency as if it had been her life on the line. While with normal, caring parents it would actually have caused an even GREATER sense of urgency than if it had been their own. A few phone calls is NOT a sense of urgency -if you think that is sufficient and find her actions reasonable -then please do not reproduce and just spare any child from that kind of "caring". But sure -if you aren't willing to change up your budget for even ONE emergency inhaler in all those MONTHS for your own kid-then sure, doing nothing else but a few dead end phone calls would seem like a big effort to you too no doubt.
Stop defending her and STOP insisting others must sympathize with this woman and her money-making scheme to enrich herself from her own negligence when seriously -an alley cat is a provably better mother. The notion that poor people have an excuse for failing to do the right thing by their own kids is BULLSHIT. Poverty does NOT turn someone into a LOUSY PARENT! If it were Blue Cross/Blue Shield that screwed up and a rich woman she did nothing more than this she would belong in prison! The fact she uses Medicaid does NOT excuse her negligence. YOU wouldn't have stopped there if it were YOUR life-saving medication, I wouldn't, my neighbor wouldn't, no one on this thread would have stopped there -and she wouldn't have either. But she stopped there when it came to her kid. Because HIS life did not matter to her as much as her own did! And THAT makes her NEGLIGENT -and that NEGLIGENCE killed that child.
And she absolutely knew an asthma attack could KILL HIM -because every doctor ALWAYS makes sure parents know that asthma can kill their child if not treated or if the child is without an emergency inhaler! Or THEY would be negligent! But she isn't suing the doctor for malpractice for failing to tell her that, is she? Doctor's keep extremely detailed records for just that reason! So she ABSOLUTELY KNEW asthma could kill her kid if left untreated! And she decided her $20 was better spent on something else -hell, she figured it was better spent on ANYTHING else. Except to save her child's life. And NOW she wants taxpayers to reward her for it -when she really does belong in prison? She can only hope to get a jury filled with lame-asses like you who think we should all be paying this woman far more than we already have been for HER failure to be a decent parent and do what any reasonable person would have done. Excuse me while I puke.
Anyone with a normal conscience would be eaten with guilt for failing to do the right thing by their kid. Not viewing it as a money-making opportunity hoping a jury will buy into believing taking a government entitlement somehow transferred her parental responsibilities to someone other than herself. She belongs in prison LONG before anyone else does. She KNEW it would kill him and chose to do nothing more energetic to prevent than dial the phone a few times. BIG ******* DEAL.
