Sunday, September 19, 2010

Woodrow Wilson Versus the Insurance Companies

Insurance companies have been standing between doctors and their patients for years, decades even. Nor are the rich and powerful immune. Note this passage from
Starling of the White House: The story of the man whose Secret Service detail guarded five presidents from Woodrow Wilson to Franklin D. Roosevelt, as told to Thomas Sugrue, by Col. Edmund W. Starling. NY Simon & Schuster, 1946:

There were a lot of overhead pipes and one of the soldiers told him to grab one. He did, but unfortunately the one he chose was carrying the exhaust and was very hot. It burned the palm of his right hand severely and he had to go to the White House immediately to have it dressed and bandaged.

It was two weeks before he was able to use his hand again, but the insurance company showed little sympathy. He carried an accident policy, but the company held that he was not incapacitated, since he could sign bills with his left hand. (pp. 109-110)

No comments: