I'm posting this here because I can't think of another, more appropriate place.
(Please forgive the discconnectedness of this, but my head is spinning with rage)
I just got off the phone with a close friend. About a 8 months ago, she left a job to return to New York because her mother was dying of cancer. (My friend's 19 year old daughter and 1 year old grand-daughter followed her to New York.) She got there and her mother spent the next two months in and out of the hospital. The mother died about 4 months ago. With no job (although the daughter held down a minimum wage retail job) and no where to go, my friend decided to remain in her mother's rent controlled apartment until she put together some money and found someplace else to go.
Well, within a month of her mother's death, the landlord told her to get out. He locked her out. He cut off the water to the apartment. He threatened her. (All of which are unlawful) Finally, he served my friend with eviction papers. Last week, at the proceeding, the judge gave her until the middle of March to vacate the apartment.
Well, shortly after the landlord began his illegal campaign to get them out the daughter began taking her a bit of each check and prepared to return to Arizona. My friend found a job in another state that would begin where ever she could get there.
The daughter took whatever she afford, after food, diapers and other necessities, and rented an apartment in Arizona. She is only $45 from having paid the unit's 1st, last months rent plus the security deposit. She had found a $95.00 flight for her daughter and herself and planned to purchase it with her next paycheck
Well, on Saturday, they noticed that the grand-daughter was acting like she was coming down with something. At 2:00a.m., They woke to find the grand-daughter burning with fever. They hustled her to the emergency room at found that she had 105 tempature. While the doctor worked to get the grand-daughter's tempature down, he noticed the daughter's eye was inflamed and weeping. The doctor examined her and diagnosed the daughter with pink-eye. They also were told that medicaid had cancelled they medical insurance. So the hospital gave them a $300.00 bill and three prescriptions totalling $400. My friend asked for some samples for the prescriptions. The doctor's response, "We don't have any. You'll just have to spend cash." Well, that didn't go over well. When my friend spoke with the patient advocate, her response was, "It ain't my fault you ain't got no insurance."
Well, the next morning the daughter went to work - pink-eye and all. She was there about 20 minutes before she was sent home and told not to return until the pink-eye was cured.
In the meantime, my friend went to the welfare office to find out about the insurance. She was told that the insurance was cancelled because my friend had missed a re-certification appointment. When my friend told the worker that she had not received any notice of the meeting, the work said, "Oh, that's because your landlord sent the department notice that [my friend] had been evicted and had vacated the apartment. We didn't have any place to send the notice." My friend asked whether the department had tried to call her. The response, "For what? If you're evicted, you wouldn't have a home to answer the phone." My friend then, asked for emergency assistance to purchase the medicine for her daughter and grand-daughter. The department refused saying that they couldn't provide that kind of help. They would however, reinstate her for next month.
After an hour of arguing with the worker, my friend began the 8 mile walk home, in the rain. She stopped into a store to rest. While resting, my friend saw some eye-wash. She told me that her thinking went toward her daughter - "if her pink-eye is cured, she can go back to work. The daughter then could buy her daughter's medicine and eventually get back to Arizona."
Well, she pocketed the eye-wash ... and got caught. She now has a court date.
It sickens me that our system has BILLIONS for foriegn adventures, we have billions for tax cuts for the rich, all the while, we have an administration whose budget priorities push folks that already have their plates full to choose between surviving, i.e., breaking the law, or, just rolling over.
There I've ranted and vented ... and I'm still pissed.
Can anyone honestly say they wouldn't have taken the eye-wash?
If you sat on a jury, would you vote to convict under these circumstances?
Tell me am I too close to this?
