Re: Re: moral dilemma

Sounds like an "Urban Myth". Attys are paid by Workers Comp not claimant. They don't use ladders, they use lifts. Many other problems with this story. Do some serious fact checking.

George
>
> From: christine <acolyta@napc.com>
> Date: 2004/01/27 Tue PM 04:56:54 GMT
> To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
> CC: christine <acolyta@napc.com>
> Subject: Re: moral dilemma
>
> Thanks Judy for posting that. It is always good to be an informed
> citizen. Now I have factual ammo to support my long-standing decision
> to never shop there. Very sad. I hope things turned out better fro
> that woman.
>
> Thanks,
> Christine
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ~~~~~~~~~~
> "Crazy" is a term of art: "Insane" is a term of Law. Remember that, and
> you will save yourself a lot of trouble.
> ~ Hunter S. Thompson
>
> On Jan 24, 2004, at 8:07 PM, Judy Seigel wrote:
>
> >
> > Unh unh..., even if we had a Walmart in NYC (I don't think I've been in
> > one), speaking of moral dilemmas, I'd have trouble shopping there.
> > They
> > mistreat and exploit their employees brutally, as has been well
> > documented
> > in the press lately -- and as I know from a private account. AND
> > folks,
> > this has indeed something to do with alternative photography, so if you
> > own Walmart stock -- too bad.
> >
> > This was probably about 6 years ago, or maybe a bit longer, because my
> > daughter had been a reporter in LA and might have been some use, but
> > she'd
> > left a while previously.
> >
> > I got a call from a rep at Photo Warehouse. He knew that I'd used the
> > direct reversal film, because I'd bought a bunch of it (for students
> > and
> > self) and probably talked to them about it.
> >
> > He had a customer, he said, who was trying to use it, but failing,
> > could
> > only get a very faint image, and he wondered if I could advise. My
> > thought was, good grief, it was a couple of years already, maybe I
> > couldn't remember. I tried to explain as much as possible, but I
> > think he
> > wasn't a photographer. In any event, he finally asked could he have the
> > customer call me. I said sure, I'd try.
> >
> > So the customer called and one of the most hair raising stories I've
> > heard
> > ensued, which I will try to condense here, though if you don't like the
> > tale so far, why not delete now? It seems the woman had been a
> > computer
> > programmer or software developer, something along those lines, until
> > the
> > boom in silicon valley bust and she was unemployed. She took an interim
> > job at Walmart -- and there had an accident that nearly killed her. It
> > seems employees were sent into the warehouse, without any training or
> > special safety measures, taking down merchandise from 20 foot ladders.
> > She
> > was on the ladder when something swung out from somewhere and knocked
> > her
> > down and out.
> >
> > We've read about injured Walmart employees locked in the warehouse.
> > This
> > was extreme brain damage, though she has no memory of how long she lay
> > there. She was ultimately hospitalized, and after a period of time
> > (which
> > I forget) in a coma, returned to consciousness but not intelligence,
> > able
> > to speak and eat on her own, but mentally enfeebled.
> >
> > Walmart, however, stonewalled on workmen's compensation, and excuse the
> > expression, doctored the records so that they couldn't be sued. Since
> > she
> > herself was incapable of managing her case, and there were no funds for
> > lawyers, and it seems almost none of the doctors in the system would
> > stick
> > out his/her neck to challenge them, the settlement offered wasn't
> > enough
> > to pay for her immediate care, and she was more or less consigned to
> > custodial care on welfare for life.
> >
> > The conventional wisdom is that what in the brain hasn't come back in
> > two
> > years, won't come back, but this woman continued recovering and after
> > FOUR
> > years felt capable, at last, of managing her own case. But now she
> > found
> > herself stymied at all points, not just by laws that said the period
> > for
> > suing was past, but by a hospital establishment apparently in cahoots
> > with
> > a corrupt system, with that hospital essentially run by workmen's
> > comp.
> >
> > Among the other points of deception, and the one I was called about,
> > they
> > were presenting as "evidence" brain scans which they said showed no
> > brain
> > damage, but which the woman said she could see by looking at the film
> > had
> > sections that had simply been put out of focus.
> >
> > Somehow, the details of which got lost in this conversation of about
> > two
> > hours, she had managed through a sympathetic worker access to a record
> > that showed the damage, and needed to copy it for evidence. She was
> > not a
> > photographer, but had learned to use simple equipment and this reversal
> > film was recommended. Although the case had been timed out in the
> > courts,
> > she had found a sympathetic judge, appalled by the history, who she
> > thought might be able & willing to re-open. She also understood that
> > publicity was important, and hoped to find some of that, though I don't
> > know if she did. (See results of NY Times reportage of several cases
> > in
> > recent news.)
> >
> > I don't know if my suggestion helped solve the immediate problem,
> > though I
> > like to think maybe of some use... My experience with that film was
> > that
> > exposure is EXTREMELY long, we sometimes exposed for 15 minutes. I
> > remember one student claiming she went out for coffee and came back to
> > a
> > perfect negative. It did make very beautiful full tone reproductions.
> > I
> > also at that time remembered the developer we used.
> >
> > I never heard more about the case. I kept the woman's phone number for
> > several years, but.... but, but immediate east-coast hassles take more
> > energy than exists. I think the story would make a good movie, tho it
> > may
> > NOT have had the "happy ending" of Erin Brokovitch. In any event, for
> > me
> > shopping at Walmart is not really a moral dilemma.
> >
> > Certainly not as long as I have other options. I might have thought it
> > was
> > a local aberration, but recent reports show it's general practice.
> >
> > Judy
>
>
Received on Tue Jan 27 14:10:06 2004