My Mom Broke Her Wrist - Questions About Disability?

[Onyx]

My mom just called me, just out of the emergency room today. She fell on an uneven sidewalk this morning and she broke her wrist, among other more minor injuries. I told her she should think about suing them since it was severe enough to send her flying through the air and land on her head and wrist. She said she has a black eye and she said she looks like a car accident victim. She won't even consider suing and she's so stubborn I know it's useless to argue with her.

She works as a paralegal and office manager and she thinks she is likely out of a job since she does a lot of typing and also won't be able to drive right away because of the bump on the head and other minor injuries. The wrist is really shattered badly so it will be a long time healing.

She's 66 so she thinks she's not eligible for any social security disability because she's past retirement age already. The biggest problem is, she is deeply in debt from bills from cancer surgery several years ago and she has been struggling even while working full time to pay them each month. She doesn't want to do a bankruptcy because she owns some beautiful land and wants to keep it. She's also worried sick about the bills from the injury today.

Thanks for any information or pointing me in a direction to get more advice for her.

... and by the way she has expensive health insurance that left her screwed out of most of her retirement money from the cancer bills. I don't really care what anyone thinks of Michael Moore - I think he is right about the state of health care in our country. My mom stands to lose everything now, and for what? Working all her life and having the bad luck to get cancer and break her wrist? She's even insured and still facing financial ruin from this crap.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

What is the problem with her insrance? It doesnt cover cancer and/or broken bones? *boggle*

In terms of disability / SSI , shes going to have to either give that land away or sell it if she wants to collect. I forget what the exact number is , but its like you have to have less than 3,000 dollars worth of assets not counting your house and car or you dont qualify. If her house is ON that land then i think its safe. Unemployment will pay or SSI / Disabilty will pay or something will, just need to figure out all the details of her situation and how they interact with the programs that exist. I'm a little foggy on all the proper terms for each of these things though.

If she's been working for years and paying her SS, she will , no question get something even if its unrelated to disability.

Theres no reason for anyone that at least has some help to find the right government program to be living on the street in the U.S. Real street dwellers just never found the right program or are to lazy to try and find it.

The idea being the government wont pay for someone if they have assets they could sell to pay for things themselves.

Then, you prove to social security that your actually disabled by filling out an assload of forms and such. Even though you have to wait awhile in line, the people (most of them) at the social security office are pretty knowledgeable and even if they aren't they can ask someone else in the office. I'd make a big long list of questions up first before calling / going down there.

Also there's tons of info about social security / disability online.

Her age does matter for some things, but really ... pretty much she'll qualify for something if she actually is disabled. Despite the horror stories on TV if you try hard enough you'll eventually find the proper government agency to help keep us out of living in a cardboard box.

The details of it are the hard part, it takes so much research in some cases that your head just starts hurting.

[Onyx]

Her insurance covered some, but when the bills are in the thousands, after the deductible, her 30% came up to quite a lot of money, way more cash than she had. Hospitalization + surgery+ expensive drugs + radiation treatment is way more expensive than I realized. The cancer bills were a few years ago though, but she is still paying on those.

She DOES get social security. It just isn't enough, which is why she was working full time. They told her she can not get disability since she is over 65 and is already collecting her social security - one or the other, but you can't get both.

She has contacted the city's attorneys and I expect them to make an offer of some sort.

[saechalyn]

I have no advice unfortunately, but I wish your mom well. I remember meeting her at convergence and she was such a sweetheart! It sucks seeing good people who work hard still getting screwed by circumstance and our fucked up system.

[Onyx]

I have no advice unfortunately, but I wish your mom well. I remember meeting her at convergence and she was such a sweetheart! It sucks seeing good people who work hard still getting screwed by circumstance and our fucked up system.

Thank you.

Yeah, my mom's really fun She wants to go to Convergence again!

[Rayne]

I have no input -- but I feel for her. I hope it heals quickly for her.

I broke my wrist a couple months ago. Spent 4 weeks in a cast.

... Four days before I drove to Virginia, then Georgia, then back to Virginia and back to Michigan ... with a cast on my wrist.

[Onyx]

Thanks Rayne.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

I'm kinda confused. Sue who? and for what? For cement doing what cement does.. settle and shift due to freezing and thawing? It's just this kind of law suit that ties up the courts from real cases and drives the cost of everything, including insurance, through the roof. I know I'm coming off as an ass.. but damn... it's noone elses fault if you cant watch where you step.

[Onyx]

I do know what you are saying, but she said those who have seen it have commented on the state of disrepair that section of sidewalk is in. There have been complaints about it before, but apparently no injuries until now. I remember her mentioning it before, several months ago.

I expect sidewalks to have cracks, but not a huge uneven piece of concrete sticking several inches up like that on a city street in front of a row of offices, and this is July. There has been ample time to get it fixed since winter.

It isn't a lawsuit though. I never mentioned the word sue. They are filing a claim through the city attorney. She has no lawyer and she isn't suing. She just wants to be able to make it until she can get back to work.

Oh, and by the way, they are finally fixing that sidewalk. Hmmm.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Glad you didn't take offense. I didn't think you would, but it's always good to have someone know you enough to not get offended over eerything you say.

Anyay. I can kinda understand why the city didn;t fix it until they had too. Sidewalks are expensive to build/repair. You also have to take into considerartion what caused it to shift so much in the first place. If it was a tree's root system... can you cut the roots without killing the tree? If not, who is going to sue you for killing the tree? How much is going to have to be replaced? Do you have it in the budget for a major expenditure like this? Are thier higher priority things that need fixed.. like gapping pot holes inthe road or cracked sewer or water lines?

Anyway.. Hope you Mom is ok and everything works out for her.