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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCouple jump to their deaths because they cant afford health care
http://nypost.com/2017/07/28/couple-jumps-to-their-deaths-because-they-cant-afford-health-care/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPFacebook&utm_medium=SocialFlow&sr_share=facebookJuly 28, 2017 | 6:55am | Updated
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Couple jump to their deaths because they cant afford health care
A couple jumped to their death in Murray Hill early Friday. Seth Gottfried
Manhattan parents struggling to pay their doctors bills jumped to their deaths early Friday leaving double suicide notes pleading that their two kids be cared for, a law enforcement source told The Post.
The bodies of the 53-year-old man and 50-year-old woman who claimed they had had a wonderful life were found in the middle of the street on 33rd Street between Park and Madison avenues in Murray Hill after the pair jumped from the 9th-floor window of a 17-story corner office building on Madison Avenue at about 5:45 a.m., police said.
The woman had a suicide note in her pocket that read, in sum and substance, Our kids are upstairs, please take care of them, the source said.
The man had a typed note in his pocket that began with WE HAD A WONDERFUL LIFE.
Patricia and I had everything in life, read the note, which touched on the couples financial spiral and how we can not live with the financial reality.
The source added that a line of the note contained words to the effect: We both have medical issues, we just cant afford the health care.
The victims identities were not immediately released.
Area workers who witnessed the aftermath of the tragic incident were stunned.
When I got here at 6:05 a.m., I walked by dead bodies on the ground, said a woman who would only identify herself as Kazi, who works at the nearby 7-Eleven store.
I was scared. Ive never seen dead bodies before, she said.
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Seth Gottfried
Another man who works at the building next door said when he heard police sirens, he looked out the window and saw the two bodies.
Insane, said the man, who identified himself as Harry.
The couples tragic deaths come at a time of national debate on health care reform.
Mrs. Overall
(6,839 posts)dalton99a
(81,404 posts)PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,816 posts)And if either one is under 18 or so, I am genuinely horrified that they'd abandon their kids like this.
Weekend Warrior
(1,301 posts)Left their children without parents.
Blamed other for their own actions.
There is more to this.
Nay
(12,051 posts)problems they had, and why they thought they would not get some sort of help, if only from the ER or low-cost clinics. I really don't think health care was this couple's problem.
And their poor kids -- I hope they are mostly grown up, because this will really damage them.
Weekend Warrior
(1,301 posts)He should have had access to valuable information.
edhopper
(33,483 posts)not a medical Dr.
B2G
(9,766 posts)How much does a Chiropractor in New York, NY make? The median annual Chiropractor salary in New York, NY is $171,128, as of June 28, 2017, with a range usually between $145,414-$235,908 not including bonus and benefit information and other factors that impact base pay.
http://www1.salary.com/NY/New-York/Chiropractor-salary.html
I would think his income vs his expenses have something to do with it.
As others have sadi, there is more to this story.
This type of murder/suicide would be very hard to detect. I assume investigators are going through their computers since the notes weren't hand written.
Weekend Warrior
(1,301 posts)edhopper
(33,483 posts)a minor point about being a Dr.
Weekend Warrior
(1,301 posts)Good point.
linuxman
(2,337 posts)Chiropractors aren't physicians.
edhopper
(33,483 posts)Last edited Fri Jul 28, 2017, 03:42 PM - Edit history (1)
a medical one.
My brother is more of a Dr.
He has a PhD.
Weekend Warrior
(1,301 posts)And congratulations to your brother. Becoming an MD is impressive.
Borchkins
(724 posts)I'm a J.D. Juris Doctor
Stargazer99
(2,576 posts)Republican (so called family) values apply only if you are monied
Worse than animals....only animals feed on each other...
Recently Republican values are showing for how inhuman they really are despite the words they so easily use to trick those without critical thinking skills
MineralMan
(146,262 posts)jehop61
(1,735 posts)It is the selfishness of two people who were too full of cowardness to raise their children and figure out a way to fix their financial difficulties. You don't have to pay medical bills after all.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)As others have said, I think there's more to this story.
B2G
(9,766 posts)They should have had options. Relocating to another areas for starters.
This seems off.
procon
(15,805 posts)that is attached to wealth. With a professional license they could have moved to anyplace in the country where the cost of living was better suited to their financial means and still made a comfortable living.
The hard truth is these people decided that their glitzy Manhattan lifestyle was more important than their children, or even life itself. Of all the options available to them, they took the low road and decided on a spectacular exit, abandoning their kids and burdening them with a lifetime of grief and guilt, and the putting their unresolved financial problems squarely in their laps. They were shallow, self-centered, and irresponsible people, and I have no sympathy to spare.
B2G
(9,766 posts)That's a very real possibility.
Weekend Warrior
(1,301 posts)But I think in that instance it's a little odd her letter was penned and his was typed. The other way around and I'd be more certain.
B2G
(9,766 posts)I've watched enough Reelz TV to know that. Lol.
Weekend Warrior
(1,301 posts)cwydro
(51,308 posts)Something so weird about this, and I'm guessing you're right - it was finances that caused this.
FM123
(10,053 posts)hamsterjill
(15,220 posts)If the situation is as explained, the sadness and hopelessness that these two people must've felt is staggering. I don't want anyone to feel they have no other alternative than to die.
I feel badly for those left behind, and for those that witnessed the event.
Just awful all the way around.
SharonClark
(10,014 posts)A law enforcement source at the scene told The Post that authorities at first believed that the couple struggled with health care costs. But an NYPD spokesman said later that there was no mention of medical-cost struggles in the notes.
The couple was in debt, another source said.
NY Daily News: The couple, who had two children ages 19 and 20, lived in downtown Manhattan. Neighbors said the chiropractor, who had recently shuttered his office, was a regular presence at the restaurants and bars on the block.
What is clear is that the chiropractor was drowning in debt to the state and federal government, records show.
He owed roughly $213,000 to the feds and nearly $42,000 to the state in unpaid taxes that dated all the way back to 2003.
B2G
(9,766 posts)You screwed them out of life insurance, SS benefits and any possible state intervention.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,144 posts)Both kids were in private colleges. They simply lived WAY beyond their means and now they've orphaned their children. Awful.