re: #283 The Sanity Inspector

This is why, although I oppose a government-run national health program, I no longer like to employ the argument-by-horror-story. Negligence and screwups are plentiful here as well as in things like the British NHS. For instance, an acquaintance of ours from a local church, not far shy of retirement age, was up a tree cutting branches. This is admittedly a really dumb thing to do, so no need to belabor that point. He fell thirty feet to the ground, and was taken to a hospital in the prosperous end of the county. He couldn’t move, but he was in serious pain. They x-rayed him, didn’t see anything, and told him it was just a scratch and to go home. They literally stuffed him into the passenger seat of his car. His agony continued, so the family called back, and were told to keep an eye on him for a few days, work his limbs to keep them from stiffening up, and come back later. And that’s exactly what they did. By the time his broken neck vertebra was discovered and he was finally admitted into an ICU elsewhere in the area, it was too late. Profound, irreversible spinal damage. Paralyzed for life. In his early 60s, just in time for Christmas.

So, how much did he settle for in his malpractice suit?