From the
Gaston, NC Gazette of March 29:
Less than a month before he committed suicide in March 2007, David "Joey" McKee's manic depression landed him in a hospital one last time.
A doctor's only solution was for McKee to somehow begin taking the prescribed antidepressants that he simply couldn't afford.
"The doctor told me no one is going to help him without insurance," said his mother, Lynn McKee.
McKee had been fighting a losing battle for two years to receive Social Security disability. The delays he experienced in waiting to learn whether he would qualify is typical of what people see across the country, and particularly in Charlotte.
Across the nation, a person applying for Social Security disability must wait an average of 511 days to receive an initial hearing. At Charlotte office, which handles applications from across the region, the average wait time for a hearing is 705 days, according to a recent national report.
And from the
same newspaper on March 30:
Cars and trucks whizzing south on I-85 offered the only background music as Lynn McKee knelt by the memorial to her son on a windy morning this month.
The homemade wreath and Easter flowers she brought were carefully arranged beside a small cross, and stepping-stones etched with the words "harmony" and "wonder."
It was hard for McKee not to come to the overpass at Exit 5 in Cleveland County after David "Joey" McKee, 21, of Gastonia, committed suicide there a little more than a year ago.
Her visits have become less frequent over time. But for her and Joey McKee's other loved ones, the pain remains.
"Have I healed? No," said Lynn McKee "I can get up and go to work. I can get through most of the day without getting depressed.
"My heart is still broken wide open." ...
Lynn McKee blames her son's suicide largely on delays he encountered in applying for Social Security disability payments. Such delays have plagued the system and caused a backlog of cases across the nation in recent years.
He couldn't afford his medication. This may be more about our nation's failure to provide universal health insurance than the problems with Social Security Disability Insurance. We cannot know, but if he had had insurance to pay for his medication he may have been able to work. If one does receive SSDI you don't get Medicare until you have been entitled to monthly benefits for 24 months, so the insurance continues to be a big problem even for those who are allowed at the initial claim level.
ReplyDeleteNot to minimize the situation which is heart-breaking but I think the doctor was negligent in his comment. There are other ways to obtain medicine if you cannot afford it and it is certainly worth a try. The doctor should have referred him to some of the organizations that could help him. At least contact the pharmaceutical company. I have heard that they often help individuals who cannot afford the medicine.
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