John Brown

I knew a young man named John Brown. He was a big guy; nearly 300 lbs., with a big round face that was open and handsome. He was perfectly kind and friendly, with a very easy-going manner. When he was a kid, I think he had seizures, or something that made him brain damaged in a lot of ways that made him slow learning, but he seemed to keep up an ordinary appearance to people that would not know this. Asthma was a problem, and diabetes, so he was always on medicine and had a hard time breathing and would often feel sick. The schools would constantly neglect the learning problems he had, and preach that he needed to be in the regular classroom for the sake of his self-image, etc, but they were really just denying him the hard work needed by the school to help him. Natually, he would fail if they didn't dumb-down his work requirements drastically, and give him lots of time to finish. They socially passed him, but he learned very little. Eventually, they said he needed to have a regular job by the time he was a senior in high school, or they couldn't let him graduate. He was on SSI, so this was kind of a problem, since he was not supposed to work, and doing so made him sick. The school was right on the spot with a lady named Ms. Fields who placed the problem kids in fast food jobs. She just happened to own two McDonald's restaurants, and a Wendy's nearby, and placed lots of kids like John in kitchen and food prep jobs. I tried many times to get Ms. Fields to tell me why she took so many kids from the school district for this purpose, since they almost never lasted much more than six weeks after they had "graduated." But she would never be around when I came by, and never returned my phone calls. You see, the other people who worked at the restaurants owned by Ms. Fields would have to work extra hard to make up for the work that wouldn't get done, or couldn't get donw by the "slow" kids sent by the school. This would result in tauntings, insults and harrassment of the kids like John who got their jobs so they could finish high school with a diploma.

The work in the kitchens made it even harder for John to breath, and standing all day would make his feet hurt from the diabetes. He would try hard, but found it difficult to remember things. He was teased constantly and made to feel stupid and worthless by the other worker's. Once SSI found out he was working, they stopped his SSI temporarily, and once he was 18, they totally stopped his benefits. Later, his mom got a letter from SSI telling her to paythem back $17,000.00, because he wasn't disabled when he says he was. They couldn't pay any money back, of course, because John's family was poor, and his dad was disabled on a small amount of Social Security. The government would make harrassing phone calls, at night and on weekends, demanding payment, and they threatened to cut of John's dad's tiny stipend. His insurance under Medicaid stopped, and the doctor's and hospitals made John promise to stay home when he got sick or needed a breathing treatment because he could no longer pay the bills that were piling up. He felt he had to keep working, but he couldn't keep a job because he missed work or was too slow because he was sick a lot. So, he went to fast food job to fast food job, rarely being able to stay for more than a few months or weeks. Since work made his illnesses worse, he would frequently have to go to the free clinic, and from May of 2004, and May of 2005, he had to go to the doctor or stay in the hospital 26 times, because of his asthma and other things. On occassions, his breathing was so pinched to where he was practically strangling, and he would have to call an ambulance and go to the nearest Methodist Hospital. In April, 2005, Methodist Hospital left him alone in the emergency room and he almost died. He said later, "momma, I'm afraid to go there anymore." In May, 2005, John was stricken by another asthma attack so severe that his mother felt compelled to call an ambulance, who took him to Methodist. John died in the emergency room, on a table nudged into a lonely hallway, alone.

He was 23 years old.

No lawyer in Texas will take this case because George Bush had the Emergency Room Treatment Act Amended to make doctors and hospitals not liable for lawsuits.