Fibbles
23rd July 2004, 10:14
Well, a little over four and a half years ago my dad passed away. He died of liver problems and complications due to surgery and hepatitus C. He contracted it in Mexico, during a visit earlier that year (1999). Being from India (a third world country) he thought he could survive the experience of another thrid world first hand, so he ignored all the precautions; don't drink the water, don't eat raw shelfish (isn't that anywhere really?). He had also not realized that, when he was nineteen and still living in India, he had contracted Hep. C and that would hamper him eventually. He was sort of arrogant, being a neurosurgeon (is that e - u or u - e?), as well as a heavy drinker, so his liver wasn't exactly in great shape to begin with. After he got sick, and was diagnosed with Hep C he had been pursuing disability insurance. He'd payed the insurance Co. a lot of money through the years, but when he needed it the most, they refused to pay, using every excuse in the book to deny him his benefits, probably because based on his income and whatever other calculations they use, he was owed around $11,000 a month. They also refused top pay because he claimed to have been a publisher, but that was a lie, and he lied because he didn't want anyone to know that he was out of a job and needed it to keep his pride up.
Since he died on January 9th 2004 (he went into a coma 2 days after X-Mas and never recovered - my last memory of him was him higher than hell on dilaudid wanting me to wish him a happy surgery, for gall stones, he was warned against it, but he couldn't be persuaded otherwise), I've (his estate) been fighting for that money. Being broke, he racked up a little bit of debt, and the estate now owes over $400,000 to various creditors, plus the IRS wants $927,000 (he made $940,000 in 1997 - when I used to answer "a million" to what my dad made in a year, I wasn't far off ^_^ ). We were going to sue the insurance company, but the two lawyers were all talk and no action, so we found a friend of a friend who's been slow (he did have cancer at the time) but we've managed. In these four years, we've had offers to settle with the insurance company many times, but their first offer was a mere $40,000 and they really tried to pressure us into acceptingl, saying we'd never get any higher. A while after we refused, they sent another offer of $68,000 our way. I wanted to accept, but our lawyer said no, and kept pursuing. During that time, we found out that the guy in charge of reimbursement had died, and a woman had taken his place. Soon after she took over, she offered $96,000. Our lawyer decided to give one last try, and include a huge sympathy ploy, and apparently she bit, because we just accepted the $175,000 offer they put on the table. My dad was originally owed in the area of $200,000. Now, we really have "pennies on the dollar" to give to all the creditors. I'm taking my chunk and investing. What the heck should I invest in?
I sort of had to vent. I've been wanting to settle this for the past 4 years, and now it's finally over. Pay the creditors and then close up the estate forever. To think, at one point (1994, I think), my dad bought a $173,000 set of silver, ivory and, gold silverware on impulse and for the f*ck of it. He was the most unhappy person I've ever met, and had a lot of personal problems. Oh well...
Since he died on January 9th 2004 (he went into a coma 2 days after X-Mas and never recovered - my last memory of him was him higher than hell on dilaudid wanting me to wish him a happy surgery, for gall stones, he was warned against it, but he couldn't be persuaded otherwise), I've (his estate) been fighting for that money. Being broke, he racked up a little bit of debt, and the estate now owes over $400,000 to various creditors, plus the IRS wants $927,000 (he made $940,000 in 1997 - when I used to answer "a million" to what my dad made in a year, I wasn't far off ^_^ ). We were going to sue the insurance company, but the two lawyers were all talk and no action, so we found a friend of a friend who's been slow (he did have cancer at the time) but we've managed. In these four years, we've had offers to settle with the insurance company many times, but their first offer was a mere $40,000 and they really tried to pressure us into acceptingl, saying we'd never get any higher. A while after we refused, they sent another offer of $68,000 our way. I wanted to accept, but our lawyer said no, and kept pursuing. During that time, we found out that the guy in charge of reimbursement had died, and a woman had taken his place. Soon after she took over, she offered $96,000. Our lawyer decided to give one last try, and include a huge sympathy ploy, and apparently she bit, because we just accepted the $175,000 offer they put on the table. My dad was originally owed in the area of $200,000. Now, we really have "pennies on the dollar" to give to all the creditors. I'm taking my chunk and investing. What the heck should I invest in?
I sort of had to vent. I've been wanting to settle this for the past 4 years, and now it's finally over. Pay the creditors and then close up the estate forever. To think, at one point (1994, I think), my dad bought a $173,000 set of silver, ivory and, gold silverware on impulse and for the f*ck of it. He was the most unhappy person I've ever met, and had a lot of personal problems. Oh well...