You’re about to see evidence including quotes from numerous Federal Court Judges that proves MANY INSURANCE COMPANIES ARE COMMITTING FRAUD AND RECKLESSLY ENDANGERING LARGE NUMBERS OF PATIENTS.
THIS IS OCCURRING IN :
(A) HMO CLAIMS
(B) WORKERS COMP MEDICAL CLAIMS
(C) DISABILITY CLAIMS
Here’s one case example written by U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen in Michigan:
“MetLife and its henchmen should appreciate that such conduct may itself precipitate the suicide death of a person who has placed implicit trust in their organization.”
You'll see many more quotes from Federal Judges around the nation, including case quotes that prove insurance companies and the doctors they pay intentionally ignored :
* MRI reports that evidenced Multiple Sclerosis
* lesions and plaque on the brain
* a foot that was broken in 5 places
I am desperately praying that citizens will take action. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bryant in Nashville wrote that I have “MORE THAN SUFFICIENTLY ALLEGED FRAUD” against Metlife which is one of the most powerful insurance companies in the world, but no government agency under the Bush administration (INCLUDING THE F.B.I. AND D.O.L.) would take any action to prevent this fraud from destroying the lives of many more people who need medical treatment from their HMO or treatment and care for work injuries and disabilities.
Here is the link to the Judges quotes I've compiled and had placed on the docket of the U.S. Supreme Court. I pray you will read the quotes now or later, but I also pray you will be sure to read the next two pages and see how the same insurance company crimes are being inflicted upon many HMO patients and severely injured workers !!
http://judgesquotes.blogspot.com/
HMO DEATHS
As you read the following HMO example please remember that even though the family received $3 million this does not relieve the great suffering of the patient and the loss to the family, and no government agency I have contacted will do anything to stop insurance companies from doing this same type of thing in the future !!
The following is from the website of Dr. Harold J. Bursztajn :
“A California Jury recently awarded $3 million to the family of Joyce Ching, who died of colon cancer that went undiagnosed for months while her primary care physicians, under contract to MetLife HMO, ignored her requests to be referred to a specialist. Ching's lawyer, Mark Hiepler, argued that by the time Ching was referred to a specialist, who diagnosed the cancer immediately, the tumor had perforated her colon, reducing her odds of survival from 60-80 percent to 11 to 35 percent. (Ching v. Gaines, CalifSuperCt - Ventura County, -- No. 137878, 15 November 1995)”
I assert under oath that I have had two health care professionals tell me that Blue Cross Blue Shield has a habit of delaying or denying medical treatment that patients desperately need, and they make patients leave the hospital before they are ready.
I have also had a very well known health care advocate in Tennessee tell me that insurance companies are denying payment for medical care by falsely claiming the patients problems were caused by a pre-existing condition.If I am ever contacted by a government investigative agency I will give them the contact information for these sources.
The next quotes are from a book titled “Making a Killing”
"In the spring of 1987, as a physician, I caused the death of a man," testified Dr. Linda Peeno, to Congress. "Although this was known to many people," she continued, "I have not been taken before any court of law or called to account for this in any professional or public forum. In fact, just the opposite occurred: I was 'rewarded' for this. It bought me an improved reputation in my job, and contributed to my advancement afterwards. Not only did I demonstrate I could indeed do what was expected of me, I exemplified the 'good' company doctor: I saved a half million dollars."1
"The decision about the California patient [in need of a heart transplant] was made from the 23rd floor of a marble building in Louisville, Kentucky," added Peeno, herself a Louisville resident, a medical reviewer for Humana and medical director at Blue Cross/Blue Shield Health Plans. Peeno had no license to practice medicine in California, but to her employer, this was irrelevant. "The patient was a piece of computer paper, less than half full. The 'clinical goal' was to figure out a way to avoid payment. The 'diagnosis' was to 'DENY.' Once I stamped 'DENY' across his authorization form, his life's end was as certain as if I had pulled the plug on a ventilator."2
http://www.makingakilling.org/chapter1.html
THE SAME FRAUD ENDANGERS THE LIVES OF MANY INJURED WORKERS !!!!
THE FOLLOWING EXACT QUOTE FROM WFAA IN DALLAS TEXAS PROVES INSURANCE COMPANIES HAVE ALSO INFLICTED THIS SAME TYPE OF FRAUD ON EMPLOYEES WHO DESPERATELY NEED MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR LIFE THREATENING WORK INJURIES.
THIS EXACT QUOTE WAS WRITTEN BY WFAA IN THEIR INTRODUCTION TO THE 19 PART SERIES THAT WON A PEABODY AND DUPONT COLUMBIA AWARD :
“Several stories detail possible fraud or questionable actions practiced by at least several major insurance carriers, but ignored and unpunished by regulators. The WFAA-TV series has revealed how some insurance companies send peer review doctors medical files "stripped" of records important to the possible approval of workers' comp claims. Those peer review doctors who routinely deny care receive lucrative contracts, while those who approve care fail to be rehired.”
It is extremely sad that one installation of WFAA’s investigation tells the story of a remarkable number of Texans who had committed suicide because they could no longer endure the pain caused by their injuries and they had been repeatedly turned down for worker's comp care.
Please notice how WFAA wrote that they revealed “doctors medical files "stripped" of records important to the possible approval of workers' comp claims”
The U.S. Judges quotes you will see prove disability insurance companies are also engaged in the same practice. The fact that multiple companies are engaged in the same types of fraud, in different types of insurance, proves organized crime RICO violations, and we’re just getting started with the evidence !!
WFAA also writes the following regarding criminal prosecutions of insurance companies in Texas:
“the number of insurance companies referred since 2000? Zero.”
I have proof that the exact same failure to prosecute insurance companies is happening in Tennessee. When I got eye cancer and first learned about the tortuous treatment of injured and disabled workers, I learned that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Special Worker’s Comp Fraud Unit NEVER CONVICTED ONE EMPLOYER OR INSURANCE COMPANY THAT ENDANGERED INJURED WORKERS LIVES.
I went to the state capitol and handed out a two page summary of evidence, and all the T.B.I. web pages that I referred to were immediately removed from the website.
After repeatedly questioning the T.B.I., I received a letter that stated :
“So far, only employees have been successfully prosecuted. However that does not mean we only investigate employee fraud. We also present the referrals on employers, insurance agents, doctors, lawyers etc."
I believe some great deception or obstruction of justice has caused the blockade of insurance company prosecutions. In the 9 years this special fraud unit (with their staff of 11) existed their were absolutely zero convictions of insurance companies or employers.
I was so concerned I bought a tape recorder and recorded two State of Tennessee Workers Comp employees who said many crimes were being committed against injured workers.
Zero convictions of insurance companies in Tennessee and Texas proves a nationwide pattern of protection of insurance company crimes. Combine this with the Federal governments refusal to investigate or prosecute the widespread fraud that U.S. Magistrate Judge Bryant said I had proved.
The Tennessee Insurance Commission also failed to take action when I sent them the same evidence that U.S. Judge Bryant said proved fraud !!
I still remember the very sad case of injured worker Dean Weidner that was featured on Nashville TV stations. Dean was about 30 years old when he fell through the loading dock of his employer. He was denied Workers Comp medical treatment and had to lay in bed because of the pain from his herniated disks. He was in bed so long he got a blood clot that went to his heart and had a stroke, and the last I heard, at the age of 30, he was in Vanderbilt intensive care being fed through a tube.
What happened to Dean Weidner is not isolated, it is occurring on a widespread basis nationwide !!
This is one of many examples that proves when our legislators say they are pro business, this often means they allow businesses to freely commit life threatening felonies !!
The WFAA link below will take you to all 19 parts ( 3 of the links are not active). I hope you will review the Call To Action below before you click on the link to WFAA, and please remember the link to the Judges quotes that is seen near the beginning of this webpage.
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/bshipp/stories/wfaa040518_gp_stateofdenial.1d42799e7.html
Later you will see evidence that proves the insurance companies and their doctors and attorneys should be investigated for RICO organized crime violations.
You will also see more information about the F.B.I. and Tennessee Department of Insurances failure to investigate, and a list of well known national politicians who have ignored my numerous face to face requests for help regarding the destruction of so many injured workers lives.
A call to action is also seen below the following bullet points :
* A close friend read this web page and told me that I needed to mention the great visual difficulties and jabbing eye pain I can have when typing things like this, and how my managers knew my eye cancer could be fatal but they told me to take breaks when my eyes bothered me and stay focused on the objectives of the nationwide project I managed.
(If these personal details do not interest you I hope and pray you will skip to the call to action and additional evidence seen below the bullet points. I believe it will take action from a large number of people to get our leaders to stop the insurance companies endangerment of so many lives.)
* This web page is the result of years of painful research.
You can see a color x-ray of the large hole inside my eye by going to the following web pages :
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2852132490104635429mAEuyE
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2497515570104635429VjGTFV
* I received 7 management promotions in the ten years before my eye cancer surgery in 2001.
* In June of 2000 I was promoted to be National Field Manager on Mosaic Corporation's Epson Printer Sales Project.
* I was later transferred to be National Field Manager on the LEGO Toy Merchandising project, where I managed a team of 200 and also created training manuals for the team and performed the final edits that went straight to top managers of the world wide LEGO toy company.
* I received a commendable performance evaluation and a raise in salary during the exact same time period that my cancer symptoms first appeared and rapidly developed and worsened.
* I began having jabbing pains that felt like being quickly stuck in either eye with a needle, and I told my manager about this for 3 months and she finally sent an email to me (and copied the top Vice President's of the company) and told me to take breaks when my eyes bothered me and stay focused on the objectives of the project.
* The top managers of Mosaic knew I had a potentially fatal condition but they refused to contact Metlife disability and they fired me 4 days after they received my medical records.
* My termination came 4 months after I received a commendable performance evaluation and a raise.
* Before I was fired I continued to work on the computer with eye pain that was so severe I would often bend over and put the palms of my hands over my eyes hoping that would help relieve the pain. I had to continue working because I had cancer and greatly needed my medical benefits. I believe in God and accepted death, but I knew I would become destitute and a great burden to my family and I quickly developed extreme stress and major depression. Over the years to come I had many times when I felt I could melt into the floor or die from the stress.
* For the last 6 years Metlife and the so called independent doctor's they pay have blatantly ignored my medical records that prove the affects of eye cancer, and they have repeatedly violated U.S. Title 29 1104 which requires that “ a fiduciary shall discharge his duties with respect to a plan solely in the interest of the participants and beneficiaries” “with care, skill, prudence, and diligence"
* Metlife's attorneys have repeatedly presented false statements to the Court in writing, and as you will see later Metlife's attorneys have done similar things in other cases.
* A U.S. Magistrate Judge wrote that I have more than sufficiently alleged fraud after he reviewed the evidence from my case and the cases that I compiled and posted on http://judgesquotes.blogspot.com/
The Judge wrote that he does not have the jurisdiction to stop this, and NO GOVERNMENT AGENCY UNDER THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WILL DO ANYTHING TO STOP THE WIDESPREAD DANGEROUS FRAUD !!!!!
* After the cancer symptoms appeared in my dominant right eye in January of 2001 the problems from the orbital surgery in the other eye became very prominent, and my overall vision greatly disrupts my thought process to the point I need to just sit with my eyes closed sometimes.
* Since my eye cancer developed I always feel tilted and have a tendency to fall and near fall, and my brain actually feels like it is shifting when I feel the eye spasms and contractions. I also have consistent image jumps and various forms of double vision. I am never sure i am right in math and I have to look repeatedly at anything I type because nothing I focus on sits still.
* I get continuous quick views and that allow me to function, but I am limited as to how long I can focus before my visual problems increase. An example is that I just typed for about an hour; I am desperate and this was much longer than I should have done, and when I took a break the overall image that I saw in the room where I sat was dancing around and shimmering with varying pixelizations and affects.
* I have been very lucky that over the 7 years since I have had eye cancer I can only remember one fall where I bloodied myself badly. You would not want me to handle your China because I have broken many dishes.
CALL TO ACTION
Here is a call to action so we can stop this dangerous pattern of fraud so multi-billion dollar insurance companies and their high paid executives and lawyers cannot continue to endanger anyone who needs medical treatment or becomes injured on the job or disabled in the U.S.
I hope citizens will call your Representative’s in the Congress and Senate and your State Representative’s, and also leave comments on President Elect Obama's http://www.change.gov/ website. An Obama representative told me this is an official government website.
On the homepage there is a section (on the right colored in red ) where people can tell their story. I hope you will consider using that section to ask President Elect Obama to stop the insurance companies from blatantly ignoring medical conditions and symptoms and endangering the lives of HMO patients, disabled people, and injured workers.
The mailing address for President Obama's transition team is :
Presidential Transition Team
Washington D.C. 20270
My visual problems and vertigo problems from eye cancer (described at the end of this webpage) keep worsening because of this excess typing and research that has taken painful years, but I will also be mailing multiple requests to the above address to the attention of the President Elect Obama and newly appointed Attorney General Eric Holder.
The Change.gov website has the following quote from the Obama administration regarding justice in America :
"Obama will also end the abuse of signing statements, and put and end to the politicization that has taken place in the Department of Justice and return that agency to it's historical and apolitical mission of fair and impartial administration of justice."
If that is true, then the Obama administration must immediately stop the big businesses and insurance companies (and their doctor's) who endanger many HMO patients, injured workers and disabled people.
If you have not read the detailed Judges quotes already I hope you will click on the link for that now and then after you read the quotes please return to this webpage.
http://judgesquotes.blogspot.com/
The remainder of this webpage has specific details regarding the following and may not be of interest to everyone :
(1) Organized Crime RICO Violations
(2) Details of Government Agencies Refusal To Investigate
(3) Proof of Tremendous Influence of Lobbyists
(4) Well known politicians I’ve spoken to who will do nothing
(5) Details Regarding My Visual Handicaps and How Tragic It Can Be When Disabled People Are Trampled By Insurance Companies
(1) Organized Crime RICO Violations
In addition to Metlife's ERISA fiduciary fraud, I believe our government should investigate to see if organized crime RICO violations are being committed by Metlife and many more insurance companies, the private attorneys they hire to represent them, and the independent physician consultant's they pay to evaluate claims.
The private attorney firms Metlife hires are engaged in making flagrant statements in writing to the U.S. Court's, as evidenced by the following quote that was written by U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab who is in the Western District of Pennsylvania. The Judges quotes are in regards to Metlife’s attorneys (counsel) in the case of CYNTHIA JAGIELSKI v. Metropolitan Life
"In light of counsel for MetLife’s repeated and flagrant obfuscation, smoke screens and “clever” couching of its statements of fact, it is ironic, to say the very least, that MetLife’s brief in opposition to plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment accuses plaintiff repeatedly of “lack of candor and attempts to mislead the Court. To the contrary, the Court finds plaintiff’s statements of fact to be professional, fair and straightforward recitations of facts that are supported by the record. The same may not be said about defendant’s Statements of Facts and Defendant’s Response to Plaintiff’s Concise Statement of Material Facts."
Please remember that a Judge in Nashville has written that I have more than sufficiently alleged fraud against Metlife. In addition to Metlife's fraud, the nationwide private law firm that Metlife is using in Nashville goes by the name of Adams and Reese, and they have repeatedly and openly made numerous false statements in writing to the Court in my case.
If you combine Judges quotes that are seen in the Pennsylvania case of Ms. JAGIELSKI and add them to the blatant repeated lies in Tennessee this proves the private attorney firms that Metlife hires are intentionally causing problems in multiple areas of the nation. When you add all the evidence that proves Metlife and doctor's Metlife pays are ignoring symptoms, I believe a thorough investigation regarding organized crime must occur.
Compounding the danger is the fact that Insurance companies and many businesses are doing the same thing in Worker's Comp cases. WFAA in Dallas Texas won a Peabody award and Dupont Columbia award for their series of stories that proved many injured workers and their families lives are being destroyed in Texas.
(2) Details of Government Agencies Refusals To Investigate
In my personal case against Metlife, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bryant viewed the evidence that proves Metlife (and their Physician Consultant Dr. Greenhood) ignored huge amounts of eye cancer symptoms. Judge Bryant also read the evidence I have compiled from other cases.
Judge Bryant then wrote that I have more than sufficiently alleged fraud against Metlife. He also instructed me that based on Appeals Court decisions the Court could take no action because the Attorney General has the sole authority to prosecute.
After receiving the Judges written report, I have been to the F.B.I.’s office in Nashville twice during the Bush administration and presented the large number of quotes I have compiled from U.S. District Judges across the U.S.
I also presented the proven evidence of fraud in my own case. The F.B.I. twice refused to take any action.
During the first visit their agent said this is all a civil matter. This is totally incorrect because a United States Judge has written that I have “more than sufficiently alleged fraud”.
The second agent told me he did not consider this to be a crime, but the Judges quotes prove this agent is wrong too. This agent also told me that the F.B.I.'s focus is terrorism.
I personally feel that if terrorism is really the reason that the F.B.I. allows Metlife and many more insurance companies to continue endangering many citizens lives, then the terrorists have already won !!
I'm sure the F.B.I. is very busy, and there's a possibility I might have found someone to investigate if I made repeated visits to their office, but I had more surgeries and serious medical problems and was just trying to stay alive.
I would think the profound proof I provided should be enough to cause an immediate investigation with no need for repeated requests.
The Department of Labor EBSA Division also has a profound duty to investigate and they refused to take action. Their agent ( named Gloria Polk) told me that their agency had to learn about the problem before they could take action. When I asserted that I had just told her she said that didn't count !!!!!
The Tennessee Department of Insurance under the Bredesen (Democrat) administration has taken no action on the complaint I filed with them regarding Metlife. I had more surgery and medical problems after I filed the complaints and was unable to follow up, but again, follow up should not be necessary when the evidence is so overwhelming.
The U.S. Judges rulings provide excellent details of Metlife's life threatening crimes against disabled people but the Judges do not have jurisdiction to prosecute and the Judges are not aware of the compilation of cases that are occurring in U.S. Courts across the nation.
Since no investigative agency will take action Metlife and the other insurance companies are free and very aware that they can continue endangering lives by wildly violating their fiduciary duties under U.S. Title 29 1104 which mandates :
“ a fiduciary shall discharge his duties with respect to a plan solely in the interest of the participants and beneficiaries”
“with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent man acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of a like character and with like aims”
The only reason Metlife is allowed to sell their 1.5 billion in policies is because they have agreed to the high standards of their fiduciary duties.
I have seen many examples that prove Unum Provident and other insurance companies have done the exact same thing regarding violating laws and intentionally ignoring medical symptoms. Unum Provident was fined millions of dollars by over 40 states, but no one was prosecuted. The fact that Unum Provident did the exact same thing, and their headquarters is in Tennessee, makes the State and Federal government's failure and/or refusal to investigate Metlife and other insurance companies even more profound !!!!
(3) TREMENDOUS INFLUENCE OF LOBBYISTS
The TV station (WFAA) that was mentioned near the beginning of this post showed where the Texas Workers Comp Commissioner had worked as an insurance lobbyist. The Commisioner said this was not true but WFAA showed a copy of his business card when he was a lobbyist. The commissioner resigned after the story was run.
Tennessee Democrat Speaker of the House Jimmy Naifeh's wife is a very powerful insurance lobbyist.
Nashville television station WTVF had a hidden camera at a dinner party that was held for ten of the most powerful legislators in Tennessee. The dinner was paid for by insurance lobbyist Sherry Hopkins. Ms. Hopkins said the following to our legislators about Speaker Naifeh's wife Betty :
"Betty makes sure that we know who supports us, and that's who we take care of. As long as we receive support from you, you will definitely receive support from us."
Speaker ProTem Lois DeBerry then told the attending legislators that Sherry was their host and then said quote,
"Anybody interested in going to the Super Bowl with us -- and Vegas -- let us know by tomorrow."
The legislators could be heard applauding and one even squeeled with joy.
The connections run so deep the lobbyists in Tennessee actually have an organization that lobbies for them. In other words, the lobbyists have lobbyists !!
When I went to the State Capitol regarding the Workers Comp issues it was very disturbing to see the lobbyists repeatedly whispering in the ears of legislators from both parties. The lobbyists also write some of the actual legislation that is passed.
When I received no resolution to the life threatening problems that endanger the lives of many workers in Tennessee, I desperately decided to diversify and I started filing ethics complaints on Senator John Ford and others. I did this when I learned that any citizen could file an ethics complaint.
I got no results for two years, but then the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper broke a story about Senator Ford secretly making $888,000 from Tenncare at the exact time 200,000 citizens were about to lose their benefits because of lack of funding. I have seen examples of how people died when they lost their coverage.
Any Senator could have filed a complaint, but they kept telling the media that they could do nothing until a complaint was filed.
I was having a series of 200 painful biopsies at the time and I had a continuous allergic reaction to the numbing drugs, but since no Senator of either party would file a complaint against their "friend" Senator Ford, I took a complaint to the Capitol and this initiated an ethics hearing and an investigation by the State Attorney General's office.
The title of one of the complaints that I filed referred to $888,000 dollars that Senator Ford illegally earned from TennCare, and when the State Attorney General turned the information over to the U.S. Department of Justice, Senator Ford was indicted for illegally earning $800,000 from TennCare. He was convicted and recently received a 14 year sentence. While they repeatedly talked about me being crazy, no Senator OF EITHER POLITICAL PARTY would file a complaint on their "friend" Senator Ford.
I was definitely so distraught it was like an out of body experience for years.
I was so desperate I even ran for Mayor of Nashville in 2003 so I could get speaking opportunities regarding the endangerment of so many injured worker's lives. I told everyone I talked to that I had absolutely no chance to win, I was not running to win. I didn’t care what people thought, I just could not turn my back because so many lives are being destroyed, and mine has almost been. I went to about 5 speaking opportunities and focused my discussions on lobbyists influnce and the destruction of so many injured workers lives. I did no other campaigning and spent $60 on a one page summary but because of my medical problems I did not hand out but a few. I was very surprised when received 2,605 votes and came in 3rd out of six candidates. If one govermnment official would have done their job I would not have felt the need to run for office six months after eye cancer surgery so I could get speaking opportunities about the destruction of so many lives.
No matter what is said or happens to me, the overwhelming evidence of great injustices that I have presented is very real.
(4) Partial list of politicians I have spoken to who took no action.
While my personal case is primarily an ERISA disability case, I could not ignore the widespread destruction of injured workers. I have had individual face to face conversations with the following politicians :
* Republican Senator Bill Frist (who is a well known Surgeon and part of Hospital Corporation of America’s legacy)
* U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander
* Senator Fred Thompson
* Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn
* I also talked to staff members in Democrat Congressman Cooper's office several times (his office was near the parking at the State capitol). I did not speak to Congressman Cooper in person, and I do have hopes that he might take action if he is aware of the life threatening problems.
I also spoke before a committee that was co-chaired by Tennessee House Majortiy leader Kim McMillan and Senator Thelma Harper. State law allows citizens to speak before this committee for 5 minutes, and when Ms. McMillan told me my time was up she told me to send them an email with more information. She should have been very aware that I had sent repetitive emails with massive evidence of devastating destruction of injured workers lives ! I had also spoken to her in person regarding so many lives being destroyed, but she did nothing.
I was very extremely stressed during this period of my life, and when Representative McMillan told me my 5 minutes was up, send an email, I spoke into the microphone and said that their failure to take action made me wonder if our state government was greatly influenced by the devil himself.
I heard a whispering voice say “It is”.
When I stepped down from the podium I was so distraught from the lack of action and I left the large meeting room immediately and was I was walking down the long hallway I remember quickly thinking that maybe I was in so very deep an angel was speaking to me and said "It is", or maybe I was completely losing my mind. I would love having the help of angels and I feel like I’ve received God’s help often to stay alive through all of this; I was still relieved when I realized that all of the legislators on the committee had microphones and I probably heard one of them whisper “It is”.
Several months later, during the period of time I was having so many biopsies, I was wildly cursed and threatened by a member of this committee when I asked if they had taken any action. I felt like the threats were real, and I already felt that I was in danger long before I was actually verbally threatened. I had many people tell me to watch my back.
One week after I was threatened I was somewhat relieved that several legislators were arrested in the Tennessee Waltz sting.
I would mention the name of the person who threatened me but I have learned to try not to allow our elected officials to have anything they can use as a distraction, and the news media is already aware of the Senator who treatened me.
I had one very kind member of the media tell me that Governor Bredesen is an expert of distracting from the real issues and conducting public business in private ( sometimes with lobbyists present.
An example of this was when Bredesen had a special news conference regarding 200,000 Tennesseans losing their TennCare medical coverage.
This news conference interupted day time programing and was aired across the State, and Bredesen said he would leave "No stone unturned" in trying to save TennCare.
WSMV's Nancy Amons had an extended news segment where she showed a spreadsheet that was created by Bredesen's top staff and advisors, and at the exact same time Bredesen told us he would leave no stione unturned this bullet pointed spread sheet said prevent all alternative plans.
Governor's Bredesen and Sundquist did absolutely nothing to investigate the evidence that proves injured workers lives are being destroyed and the T.B.I. Fraud Unit's refusal to stop this. After I repeatedly complained about this for about 3 years the fraud units staff of 11 was abolished, but nothing was done to stop the insurance companies and employers from continuing their destruction of so many lives.
During the years this all occurred I had surgeries for two melanomas including one that left a large hole inside my eye, and I also had over 200 biopsies with stitches and had to have additional stitches in 100 of those places and I had an almost contiunous severe allergic reaction to the numbing drugs. Several times when I went to the State Capitol I was bleeding through my autopsy bandages onto my suit .
It often felt very unreal and overwhelming that at the same time the Governor and other powerful poiliticians were making untrue comments about me that were published by news media across the State. Bredesen was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that I was just mad about my claim, but the first time I had ever been inside the state capitol in my life was when I found out many injured workers lives were being destroyed and the Special Workers Comp Fraud Unit's staff of 11 had zero insurance company or business (employer) prosecutions in 9 years.
The Knoxville News Sentinel quoted Speaker Naifeh as saying that I revelled in the media coverage. That is not true. I tried to utilize the media to get the message out so citizens would take action. So far that effort has pretty much been a failure, but sometimes we have to try even if we continue to fail. Please also consider that Naifeh's statements about me were made while his wife continues to be an insurance company lobbyist.
In finalizing this web page I thought a lot about leaving off any comments about my experiences with politicians. I thought this could hurt the cause. Then I remembered how very nice I was for a year in 2001 and winter and spring of 2002. My politeness was met by very rude treatment from those in charge at the state, I felt like they were covering up insurance company and employer fraud, and while having cancer in my eye Governor Sundquist's Deputy Legal Council finally responded to my numerous polite questions by wildly screaming at me on the phone. If I had seen WFAA's report I would have been able to understand things so much better.
My experiences taught me that when Government leaders are going to favor powerful people who violate the law they are going to do the same thing whether you or nice or assertive. It is best to start very politely, but I learned no matter how you approach you cannot convince someone who has decided they will not acknowledge the truth.
I can understand why citizens do not want to get involved. Ever since Metlife and their doctor’s and attorneys have been aware that I am seeking their indictment I have felt like I have a double target on my back. Please remember that U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen wrote that “Metlife and it’s henchmen” could have wittingly precipitated the death of one claimant.
If they are willing to do that to prevent payment of one claim then I would think they have a special disregard for my continuation of life. I am often very anxious but I have also been amazed at the relaxed peace I have sometimes. I believe this is because I have been able to have faith that no matter what happens my life is in God’s hands. Since I posted the criminal evidence of President Elect Obama’s website I have been very concerned that I might have an accident like Karen Silkwood or Bufford Pusser supposedly had.
My concern is not so much that I might be killed, but that it could occur before I’m able to stop Metlife and the other insurance companies from destroying more lives. My vision is going crazy because I have worked way longer than I should to try to word this where people will take interest and action, and it seems almost impossible to get many Americans to take action even when there are obvious dangers right in our paths. I will be relieved when I finally get this posted; hopefully if something happens to me someone else will be able to continue, or just maybe President Obama will stop injustices as he said he would do.
I understand why people do not take action, but I think citizens lack of action is allowing greed and corruption to kill our nation and planet. I sincerely think the movie "Ants" is a tremendous example for America. This very nerdy ant takes on the locusts and is almost killed, but he finally convinces the other ants that there are more of them than there are locusts, and together they can take back their resources. Our politicians have completely bankrupted our nation with their overspending and global economy. We are all in great danger and I pray that citizens will use their spiritual and mental resources and get involved.
I would guess some people might not get involved with the issues I've mentioned because I have said things about powerful politicians. I hope everyone will consider that what I said is true. If I compromise and don't tell or ignore the truth then I quickly become just like the politicians.
From what I have seen the compromises often grow and lead to the good ole boy corruption that is allowing all of the destruction of lives mentioned on this web page, and there is also a direct connection to the massive corruption and frauds that are occuring in our financial systems. Our government leaders wildly fund useless projects while so many children and adults are hungry in the U.S. and around the world.
I pray that citizens will take action to help stop the suffering, or if they are unable to help I hope they will pray for God's help as I often do. I do understand if people think things are so far gone they chose to leave everything in God's hands. A good friend told me about Ephesians 6:12 :
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
I can't help but wonder if that is the reason that no legislator from any political party will uphold their sworn duties and help. If the cause of their inaction is not Biblical then the only other explanation I can think of would be extreme corruption involving contributions and gifts from the insurance companies, personal greed, and complete lack of conscience regarding the legislators refusal to stop fraud that even involves medical doctors helping insurance companies ignore symptoms and destroying and even killing claimants.
The verse from Ephesians and John 3:16's mention that if we believe in Jesus we are saved probably saved my life on earth because they are the only things that kept me grounded when I saw the lobbyists for the lobbyists whispering in our legislator's ears.
In closing this section I would like to mention what I perceive as deceptiveness of the legislators I encountered. During our conversations they often patted me on the back and with caring smiles they said they would look into it, but no one did anything !!
After I was ignored for so long some weekends I would use group mail and send 50 emails to large groups of State legislators so there would be 50 emails in a row that were stacked in every State legislator’s inbox. I was asked to stop doing that, but no one would stop the insurance companies and big businesses from endangering injured workers lives.
That was years ago, but as I mentioned earlier I will never forget the very sad case of Dean Weidner that was featured on the news. I believe Dean was about 30 years old when he fell through the loading dock of his employer.
He was denied Workers Comp medical treatment and had to lie in bed because of the pain from his herniated disks. He laid in bed so long he got a blood clot that went to his heart and had a stroke, and the last I heard he was in Vanderbilt intensive care being fed through a tube. There are many case examples like this.
During one Ethics Committee meeting Senator Ramsey loudly told me that I should tell my concern about injured workers to the media.
I have often heard members of both parties talk about their faith and allegiance to God. We all sin and I’ve heard people say that all sins are equal in God’s eyes; maybe I’m wrong but I expect our elected officials to not be protecting the deadly crimes of many insurance companies while they are also proclaiming their allegiance to God as a reason we should support them and their political party.
(5)The remainder of this webpage has details about my vision and handicaps that may not be of interest to many.
I am posting this last part because there may be some disabled people who read this and find hope in knowing they are not alone, and I will explain how when disabled people who really try to do their best are repeatedly trampled by insurance companies while government leaders do nothing, this can create such a tragic loss of human potential.
It is very hard to even begin to describe my visual handicaps. I try to be active even though I have very serious visual problems including multiple forms of double vision, metamophopsia distortions, fixation problems, image jumps and lock ups, tilted image and much more that is well documented in my medical records. Court records also prove Metlife and their doctor's continue to intentionally ignore them.
I also have pixelization and rippling shimmering waves of light in my non cancerous eye that had orbital surgery. I did not notice these problems until my eye cancer appeared in the other eye. I continuously have what feels like muscle spasms and contractions in the eye area and these coincide with the image spasms. It often feels like my brain is shifting when these occur, and this causes significant disruptions to my thought process.
In addition to this I have continuous image jumps in the non cancerous eye that are in sync with my pulse. The best way to monitor this is to look at the moon, and it's almost always jumping with my pulse. Sometimes I set with my eyes closed, and I can see flashes of light in both eyes. These are much less in the morning as I wake up and keep my eyes closed.
Since this is visually related you would have to put on a visual headset TV in order to imagine the experience. I often have to consciously fight to force my eyes back to the object I am trying to focus on. This is all very distracting and since 2001 I have not had one day where I can mentally put the day together. I am very determined and can accomplish things over periods of time, but most detailed things I do probably takes me at least 20 times longer than it used to.
I fall, have near falls, and bump myself often including really painful jarring bumps on the head near my eyes that usually occur when I bend over and don't see something in the way.
I try to set up my environment and be sure nothing is set on the floor or at head level, and I still try to move slowly but this is hard to learn because I had to move very fast for my management jobs. When I’m walking in public sometimes I slow down and sometimes I try to move fats so I can maneuver away from other people because I have visual trouble with their movement.
I function by reacting to the snapshot quick view of things that I get, the image movement requires this.
In trying to find some enjoyment in life and get my mind off all the injustices I have seen and I have started taking macro pictures. When I do this for any period of time I usually feel an increase in vertigo, so I try to be even more careful walking and standing. I studied video and photo composition for a year at Memphis State in 1985 and my teacher liked my work so much she got me a paid position as an assistant on the NBC Today shows extended tour through Memphis. Since my eye cancer I have tried to video several times and I while I enjoyed the experience I had a fall or near fall almost every time I have videod. Two of the near falls occurred within a few seconds of each other.
I also have moments of vertigo, and they seem to increase when I try to focus too much or move too much. I recently moved 11 Rubbermaid containers from my apartment to my parent’s house and that afternoon I had a moment when I was actually standing up but visually it appeared that in a split second I fell face first to the floor and then was instantly back standing up. I was very happy this did not make me fall down.
I close or patch the cancerous eye when I drive to eliminate the double vision, but patching the eye, especially for extended times causes problems too because there is still light that is received from the patched eye. I try to limit my drive times and avoid rush hour, and park at the edge of parking lots to avoid the crowd of cars and people.
I am very nervous walking in parking lots because I do not react well to visual changes.
I am pretty anxious when I am in public because everything gets to moving so fast. I have tried to adapt but the affects of my vision can be very disturbing at times. I always feel tilted and there are periods of time I could describe my vision as sort of maddening because of the fluctuating distortions. Fortunately the maddening visual feeling has improved and lessened and I am able to be in public more now.
In addition to the eye cancer in 2001 I have also had orbital surgery on my non cancerous left eye in 1989, but the only problem I noticed in the left eye was image jumps after the surgery.
The jumps in my non dominant left eye were not a vocational or safety issue; I received 7 management promotions and several awards over the next ten years, and was promoted to be National Field Manager on Mosaic's Epson Project and was transferred to be National Field Manager on Mosaic's LEGO Toy merchandising project, where I received a commendable performance evaluation and a raise.
When my dominant right eye began showing cancer symptoms in 2001 my left eyes problems also became very apparent, and I was fired for performance 4 days after my managers received my medical records and an email I sent regarding my double vision, image lock ups, and sharp eye pain. My termination came four months after I received the commendable performance evaluation and a raise. A significant part of my problem is the fact that I can only engage in certain activities, such as reading focusing or turning for a limited period of time. The time varies and I can have great increases in my vertigo and tendency to fall when I use my vision too much. This is one of the things that is hardest about being disabled, because when people see you engage in an activity they don't realize or don't remember that you have limits. I don't expect people to understand my limits, because every human has so much we have to do it's hard to truly perceive problems that others are experiencing. To some extent I chose to limit interacting with people who aren't able or don't have time to understand my limits.
I was very dedicated to my job, and when I got eye cancer I continued to work on the computer the great majority of every day even though I began having pains that felt like being quickly jabbed in either eye with a needle.
I have an email where I told my manager I was having sharp eye pains, and even though she knew I had a potentially fatal condition she sent me an email and told me to take breaks when my eyes bothered me and stay focused on the objectives of the project.
Five months before I was terminated Mosaic had a survey of all of their 7,000 employees, and a Vice President of the parent company told me I received more compliments than any of the 70 National Field Managers they had on their many projects including Microsoft, American Express, DTV, and Epson projects.
Two of my doctors told me everyone they knew that had melanoma in their eye was dead within a year. I believe in God and after crying some for a month I accepted death, but when I realized I was going to be fired I knew I would lose my health coverage after Cobra ran out in 18 months, and I was headed for a desperate destitute existence and possible death as a burden to my family.
I went into major depression and extreme stress, and a short time after I was fired I was also diagnosed with rambling dysphoric non psychotic speech. Metlife has all my medical records and they were very aware of this but they continued to repeatedly lie and engage in a complex fraudulent scheme.
I could also have easily died when I could not afford medical treatment after my savings were depleted. I borrowed money from my family but I reached a point where I just did not want to burden them so again I skipped needed medical treatment.
I am sure this same thing happens to large numbers of disabled people every day. In my case it is sad because if Metlife and the company I worked for had provided the early intervention and vocational help that they guarantee, then my life would not have been nearly destroyed. The extreme stress that I experienced for so long burned a deep hole in my soul that has still not healed completely.
There were many days that I felt like I was melting into the floor or could pass out from stress.
It is very tragic that insurance companies intentionally bully and cheat so many Americans who need medical treatment through their HMO, Workers Comp, and disability plans, and our elected officials refuse to stop them !!
I am a very average citizen; I make mistakes every day and I try not to be judgmental, but this is all so incredibly huge. There is a quote that says God doesn’t expect us to win, but he does expect us to try. So far my efforts seem to be futile but I’m still trying.
It has taken years to assemble this; the excess typing is really taking a toll on my vision, and the sharp eye pains return. I pray something will happen soon so many more lives will not be destroyed !!
Sincerely,
Barry Schmittou
barryschmittou@yahoo.com
(I am limited in responding to emails because of my visual problems and the exacerbation that too much typing causes, but I will try to file any responses I receive that have further evidence regarding Metlife and other insurance companies ignoring symptoms)
