Uninsured Aurora shooting victims face financial devastation

[DainBramaged]

Caleb Medley, an aspiring standup comic, YouTuber, total nerd, and enthusiastic fan of Batman, was shot in the eye at the Aurora movie theater mass shooting.

He is currently in intensive care in an induced coma. He lost his right eye and suffered brain damage. His wife Katie "is about to give birth to their first child," one floor away, according to this CBS News report.

Update: Katie, 21, just gave birth to their first child. Snip from Reuters update:


Katie Medley and her husband, Caleb, both wearing Batman apparel, were at a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" in the Denver suburb of Aurora when a gunman clad in tactical body armor, helmet and gas mask opened fire during a midnight showing early on Friday. Twelve people, including a 6-year-old girl, were killed and 58 wounded.


Caleb is currently listed in critical condition at the University of Colorado Denver Hospital. He is showing some signs of progress. Like a number of people injured in the Aurora shooting, he is uninsured. His family has been told that the cost of his medical treatment may exceed $2 million.

http://boingboing.net/2012/07/24/uninsured-aurora-shooting-vict.html

[HockeyMom]

1. Didn't the theatre chain say they would pay their medical bills?

Maybe the NRA, who has remained silent, should pay up! They got the money.

[raccoon]

2. You got that right! nt

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Another argument for requiring gun owners to have liability insurance.

If car owners have to have it, why not gun owners ? Cost should be proportional to caliber, firing rate, and magazine capacity.

[Lucky Luciano]

7. Yes. Sounds very reasonable. nt

[hack89]

8. So you think criminal mass murderers will keep up on their insurance payments? Ok. nt

[aikoaiko]

12. Or another argument for universal health care.

!

[Lizzie Poppet]

13. No liability policy is going to cover a deliberate criminal act.

Your automobile policy won't cover if you had an accident fleeing the scene of a robbery, for example. I have a personal liability policy, and there's an explicit exclusion for liabilities incurred in the commission of a crime.

That said, I think liability coverage for gun owners (I am one...) is a reasonable idea. If based on real actuarial tables, it would be considerably cheaper than car insurance (the overwhelming majority of gun owners will never harm anyone with their weapons), but anyone can make a mistake, and in such cases the premium would be money well spent.

[X_Digger]

16. Insurance wouldn't pay for a criminal act. n/t

[malaise]

4. Tut tut don't you know

it's gawd's will

[cali]

5. I don't think these people have to worry about this one thing

Warner Brothers, the theater chain and others are donating large sums.

[hatrack]

6. Now, now - as we ALL know, uninsured people can get all the medical treatment they need

They just have to go the the emergency room. I heard the shiny Fox TV people say so!

[hack89]

9. Single payer health care - that is the answer. nt

[Reasonable_Argument]

15. Agreed

This should be the call from the forums, not reducing gun rights. No one should go broke from being injured.

[treestar]

10. Another reason for a national health care plan

The same idiots going on about "frivolous" lawsuits would find it wrong for this guy to sue the theater. Yet he'd be motivated to do so.

[TwilightGardener]

11. 2 million--Well, that is going to be a lot of pancake breakfasts and fish frys.

[Tsiyu]

19. and chickens

maybe someone will donate a chicken house full so he can trade some chickens for his health care

but actually I believe their bills will be covered.

we should watch and see whether this actually happens.

[coalition_unwilling]

14. In a humane society, the Medleys would not even see a bill. Oh, right, in a humane

society, they probably would not have been shot to begin with.

America makes me sick sometimes.

[sadbear]

18. Too bad he wasn't an elderly school bus monitor being bullied by little shits.