News
Paying for Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt
Slate.com had a remarkably practical article involving Woodruff & Vogt’s recent Iraq injuries. The article is titled “Who’s Going to Pay for Bob Woodruff’s Medical Expenses.” Here’s a telling excerpt:
“That said, it’s not clear how many of the medical expenses will actually get billed. Not all military hospitals in the field have the time or resources to track individual patients. The San Diego Union-Tribune‘s James Crawley, an embedded journalist who fell ill four days after the fall of Baghdad, was evacuated from a surgical unit to a Navy hospital, and then to an Army medical center in Kuwait. Though he spent several days under the care of military doctors, Crawley says he was never asked to pay a dime.
The phrase that tends to leap out at me is “it’s not clear how many of the medical expenses will actually get billed.” If the military complex can’t provide a clear picture of actual medical costs and expenses, then we can only imagine what the average civilian must endure in order to get funding for a brain injury survivor.
Incidentally, Woodruff is reportedly breathing with the help of a ventilator and has only just recently opened his eyes–signs that his injury certainly shouldn’t be underestimated.
