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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 10K a day who wrote (221461)	3/2/2005 10:17:40 AM
From: 10K a day	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1573921

sb899houseofhorrors.com Lack Of Medical Care Drives Injured Worker To Suicide. The widow of an injured worker who was refused medical treatment, and killed himself in despair on July 23rd, has placed the blame for her husband’s death squarely on the shoulders of California’s workers’ compensation system. Jamie Tracey, widow of David Michael Tracey, wrote to Governor Schwarzenegger and legislators on August 2nd, “My husband deserved respect, treatment and understanding. He got none of the above. Numerous letters were written by our attorneys at the urging of my husband’s doctors for immediate approval of David’s deteriorating condition. I made call after call. We had to wait, wait, wait. We were continuously ignored.” David Michael Tracey, age 40 and a father of four children, worked for the same employer for 17 years. Three and a half years ago, David suffered a crushing injury on the job. He developed Reflex Sympathetic Disorder (RSD) as a result of the injury. After years of his and his attorney’s efforts, David was unable to get the care he needed. “The [company’s] attorneys never gave credence to the urgency of attention posed by our doctors and attorneys. As a matter of fact, we were completely ignored,” Ms. Tracey wrote. “The [governor’s April] guarantee of not needing a lawyer to get a doctor was a lie. David felt his future was hopeless, and with the pain getting worse his future looked hopeless.” “On July 23rd I walked into my bedroom and found my husband had shot himself thru the head,” wrote Tracey. “It was finally the end of his pain, finally an answer to all the ignored demands for help. A loving husband and father, a hard worker, a trusted friend, someone who tried to hold on and trust in our system. Workers’ comp. murdered my husband. What would you tell your 2 year old who loved her daddy and was adored by him? What do you do to comfort your teenagers? Help change our system before someone else dies.” David Michael Tracey’s story is similar to those of thousands of injured California workers who are being denied needed medical care and ignored by insurers. Many of those workers suffer the same depression that took the life of David Tracey. SB 899 has greatly increased the pain injured workers are suffering. Insurers that ignore injured workers like David had their penalties DECREASED by SB 899, so they have less incentive to deliver the care that is due. In addition, insurers have embraced the “ACOEM Guidelines” as a reason not to deliver care, and are tying injured workers up for months in “Utilization Review.” Injured workers are losing their homes, their life savings, their dignity, and in many cases their lives. The ultimate insult added to their injuries is that insurance companies are pocketing the billions of dollars in savings from the medical care and disability compensation that has been taken from injured workers on the belief it would lower premiums for California businesses.