When they killed my friend at 26 for more "health insurance" profits....

[sfpcjock]

he may as well have died in a random Bush Crime Family war. - Dear @Cindy Sheehan Soapbox Radio Show

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Cindy-Sheehans-Soapbox-Radio-Show/188031143274"> @Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox Radio Show - facebook

http://www.MichaelWieser.blogspot.com">http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dQlzGwxB6GU/SeVOLZ6y3WI/AAAAAAAACP0/jrhvoBnnQG0/S1600-R/Michael+Troy+Wieser+5.jpg MICHAEL TROY WIESER MEMORIAL

[sfpcjock]

1. Thank you all.

Bye Michael Troy O8) You were better than all the "health insurance" executives put together. TIMES TEN.

[gratuitous]

2. What is America's priority?

Gee whiz, you make it sound so personal! Wieser simply got in the way. Next time he'll know better than to try to blunt insurance company profits with his whiny, selfish fatal disease. Until then, he serves as an example to the rest of you just what our society values in America, and it's not Americans.

Besides, it's not like you can do anything about it. You can't. Don't even try. Quit it.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. What a terrible, unnecessary loss. :^(

[sfpcjock]

4. Thank you.

It is sad for me because Mike had insurance but it ignored his "pre-existing condition" of Wilson's Disease even though he was young and had his whole life before him. That criterion is bogus to me, and sounds like a legislative give-back to insurance companies so they could up their bottom line. It's a horrible policy, and I don't understand why it exists.

Wilson's Disease is very rare and affects only 1 in 30,000 people. What that means, is that if he doctors were allowed to treat it, the cost per average insured person in the pool is extremely low. The system just seems inhuman in that sense, to me.

When I hear people like the current Republican presidential candidates unanimously proclaim "repeal Obamacare", and the Affordable Health Care Bill contains the provisions to allow people like Mike to live, I seriously wonder what they are thinking.

Thanks again for your comments.

[StarsInHerHair]

5. even though I've not had any responses, here is a link-he died of a manageable disease

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/wilsons-disease/DS00411

Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff

Wilson's disease is an inherited disorder that causes too much copper to accumulate in your liver, brain and other vital organs. Another term for Wilson's disease is hepatolenticular degeneration.
Copper plays a key role in the development of healthy nerves, bones, collagen and the skin pigment melanin. Normally, copper is absorbed from your food, and any excess is excreted through bile — a substance produced in your liver.

But in people with Wilson's disease, copper isn't eliminated properly and instead accumulates, possibly to a life-threatening level. Left untreated, Wilson's disease is fatal. When diagnosed early, Wilson's disease is treatable, and many people with the disorder live normal lives<---------

[sfpcjock]

6. Right. One of the drugs, I've now forgotten the name of,

costs about $100/month to take and has a few possible side-effects. The other one is better and costs around $300/month. But, it is difficult for a 26 year old person just starting out in life to be able to afford either, and Mike died on Feb. 25, 2009 at the peak of the recession. Obviously, the drugs could have been provided by his insurance but were not.

Family members said that Mike also needed expensive dialysis to keep his blood clear enough of the copper buildup. They said that those treatments would cost $3,000/month. It's hard to believe he needed such expensive--on a per capita basis--treatment, but perhaps he did. When Wilson's Disease progresses beyond a certain point there can be neural degeneration, dementia or death of the liver or other organs.

Ultimately Mike was approved for a liver transplant at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, his home state, but died before a liver became available. The liver transplant would have cost $75,000 and the family volunteered to somehow raise the money to pay back the Mayo Clinic. That cost is obviously much higher than the drugs that could have controlled his disease.

Nevada, where he lived had lost its transplant program the year before in 2008. The Nevada doctors also called Mike "uncompliant" because he did not keep up his treatment with either of the above mentioned prescription drugs, and refused to schedule him for a liver transplant--instead Mike had taken OTC Zinc which was ineffective.