Letters to the Editor 07-06-2000
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Seeking Answers - Gas Prices - Seat Belt Effectiveness
Seeking Answers
Editor, Times-Union:I was nearly killed here in Warsaw when a van running a stop sign had crashed into the passenger side of my car.
Hundreds of times since then, I had wished that my life had ended then.
The "doctor" in the local hospital ER department did not diagnose the seriousness of my accident. My head had busted the driver side door window. I had a concussion and serious neck injury. The ER "doctor" said I could take my neck brace off after 24 hours. Doctor No. 2 told me that I should have had my neck brace on for 30 days.
Over five years later, I still have head and neck pains, as well as pains on my left side of my body from shoulder down to ankle.
I have been to four or five doctors. The next to my last M.D. prescribed a "pill," that I took daily for two or three months. The one bottle of pills (15 day) cost $70. I had four bottles of this "stuff." I made this M.D. angry because I called his pills "junk and garbage." He gave me up as a patient.
My present M.D. is older than all of my previous ones. I specified to the hospital that I needed an older doctor who would understand an older man's pains.
What did I get? This M.D. took two vials of blood for testing. He said I had passed 18 out of 20 tests. What does my blood have to do with my head noises and pains?
Now I must confess, I have not prayed since 1997, two years after my accident. I do not like to go to church anymore. We have the best of ministers in a 50-mile area. I do not trust or believe in doctors. I have lost faith in attorneys, the police and the insurance companies. I have a disease that I call pekinitus. I am a poor person and could not afford an attorney who was on my side. I did not get what I deserved in money. I was hoping I would get at least $40,000. I had carried "full coverage" car insurance for 55 years. I had to settle for pennies on the dollar. I will need a newer car soon. My car is eight, yes, eight years old (my second Mercury Marquis). I was driving a perfect 1985 Mercury Marquis which was totaled in my 1995 accident.
With this settlement I was hoping that my attorney would get me at least $40,000 so I could pay off my home mortgage. We live on Social Security checks plus $114 monthly teacher retirement check, after 23 years of teaching. Republicans and medicines have made us, as well as millions our age, a very difficult life to live.
Please, please are there seniors who have lived through a near-death accident, please contact me and tell me how you made out, and who was your doctor, who really helped you regain normalcy.
Al Smith
Warsaw
Gas Prices
Editor, Times-Union:I was out traveling over this past holiday weekend and noticed that once again Warsaw has among the highest gas prices around.Ê In Larwill I was able to purchase gas for $1.42 a gallon. In Columbia City it could be purchased for as low as $1.43 a gallon.Ê And Warsaw? More than $1.55 a gallon. I hope that the voters in Warsaw will remember that their city council recently voted to support the Tony Silveus-led cartel.
Joan Martin
Leesburg
via e-mail
Seat Belt Effectiveness
Editor, Times-Union:After the vehicle stopped tumbling and I was pulled to safety, a deep sense of dread set in when I realized that the profuse bleeding from my inner thigh could mean that the femoral artery was severed. My teenage son's application of his belt and an umbrella as a tourniquet and the state trooper's tightly applied compression bandage gave me small hope since I knew they would be ineffective if the major artery in my leg was cut. The stress and worry in the officer's face gave way to a sense of relief when he rechecked the wound and stated, "The bleeding is under control." I knew then I was going to make it.
I was in the back of our SUV at the time of the accident and was not wearing my seat belt. My wife and son, in the front seat, were belted in and suffered only minor injuries, whereas I was tossed around like a rag doll in a clothes dryer, being slammed into the roof, doors and seats as the vehicle rolled several times off the edge of the Massachusetts Turnpike. My feet went through a window and were badly cut. During one of the revolutions, my leg went through a window, the vehicle rolled on it and the jagged remains of the window tore open my inner thigh. Fractured ribs, scrapes and bruising resulted from being bashed repeatedly against the hard surfaces.
Like so many other motorists, I always wear my seatbelt while in the front seat, but did not when I was in the back seat. Had I been wearing my seatbelt during this accident, I would not have suffered the injuries that I did.
Through this open letter, I am appealing to all motorists and passengers to buckle up in the back seat as well as the front seat. I learned my lesson the hard way that wearing your seatbelt in the back seat truly can be a matter of life and limb.
Very glad to be alive!
Kurt Carlson, president/CEO
Bowen Center
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- Seeking Answers - Gas Prices - Seat Belt Effectiveness
Seeking Answers
Editor, Times-Union:I was nearly killed here in Warsaw when a van running a stop sign had crashed into the passenger side of my car.
Hundreds of times since then, I had wished that my life had ended then.
The "doctor" in the local hospital ER department did not diagnose the seriousness of my accident. My head had busted the driver side door window. I had a concussion and serious neck injury. The ER "doctor" said I could take my neck brace off after 24 hours. Doctor No. 2 told me that I should have had my neck brace on for 30 days.
Over five years later, I still have head and neck pains, as well as pains on my left side of my body from shoulder down to ankle.
I have been to four or five doctors. The next to my last M.D. prescribed a "pill," that I took daily for two or three months. The one bottle of pills (15 day) cost $70. I had four bottles of this "stuff." I made this M.D. angry because I called his pills "junk and garbage." He gave me up as a patient.
My present M.D. is older than all of my previous ones. I specified to the hospital that I needed an older doctor who would understand an older man's pains.
What did I get? This M.D. took two vials of blood for testing. He said I had passed 18 out of 20 tests. What does my blood have to do with my head noises and pains?
Now I must confess, I have not prayed since 1997, two years after my accident. I do not like to go to church anymore. We have the best of ministers in a 50-mile area. I do not trust or believe in doctors. I have lost faith in attorneys, the police and the insurance companies. I have a disease that I call pekinitus. I am a poor person and could not afford an attorney who was on my side. I did not get what I deserved in money. I was hoping I would get at least $40,000. I had carried "full coverage" car insurance for 55 years. I had to settle for pennies on the dollar. I will need a newer car soon. My car is eight, yes, eight years old (my second Mercury Marquis). I was driving a perfect 1985 Mercury Marquis which was totaled in my 1995 accident.
With this settlement I was hoping that my attorney would get me at least $40,000 so I could pay off my home mortgage. We live on Social Security checks plus $114 monthly teacher retirement check, after 23 years of teaching. Republicans and medicines have made us, as well as millions our age, a very difficult life to live.
Please, please are there seniors who have lived through a near-death accident, please contact me and tell me how you made out, and who was your doctor, who really helped you regain normalcy.
Al Smith
Warsaw
Gas Prices
Editor, Times-Union:I was out traveling over this past holiday weekend and noticed that once again Warsaw has among the highest gas prices around.Ê In Larwill I was able to purchase gas for $1.42 a gallon. In Columbia City it could be purchased for as low as $1.43 a gallon.Ê And Warsaw? More than $1.55 a gallon. I hope that the voters in Warsaw will remember that their city council recently voted to support the Tony Silveus-led cartel.
Joan Martin
Leesburg
via e-mail
Seat Belt Effectiveness
Editor, Times-Union:After the vehicle stopped tumbling and I was pulled to safety, a deep sense of dread set in when I realized that the profuse bleeding from my inner thigh could mean that the femoral artery was severed. My teenage son's application of his belt and an umbrella as a tourniquet and the state trooper's tightly applied compression bandage gave me small hope since I knew they would be ineffective if the major artery in my leg was cut. The stress and worry in the officer's face gave way to a sense of relief when he rechecked the wound and stated, "The bleeding is under control." I knew then I was going to make it.
I was in the back of our SUV at the time of the accident and was not wearing my seat belt. My wife and son, in the front seat, were belted in and suffered only minor injuries, whereas I was tossed around like a rag doll in a clothes dryer, being slammed into the roof, doors and seats as the vehicle rolled several times off the edge of the Massachusetts Turnpike. My feet went through a window and were badly cut. During one of the revolutions, my leg went through a window, the vehicle rolled on it and the jagged remains of the window tore open my inner thigh. Fractured ribs, scrapes and bruising resulted from being bashed repeatedly against the hard surfaces.
Like so many other motorists, I always wear my seatbelt while in the front seat, but did not when I was in the back seat. Had I been wearing my seatbelt during this accident, I would not have suffered the injuries that I did.
Through this open letter, I am appealing to all motorists and passengers to buckle up in the back seat as well as the front seat. I learned my lesson the hard way that wearing your seatbelt in the back seat truly can be a matter of life and limb.
Very glad to be alive!
Kurt Carlson, president/CEO
Bowen Center
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