48 Hours Program - Invisible Killers

[Guest guest]

I was very glad that I taped the program because, by the time Melinda Ballard

scooped up her precious son Reese and started reading to him, I was already in

tears. Those of us who have never lived through losing everything that is a

part of your life can only stand on the outside, humbled by the enormity of the

loss.

I often heard about the fire that destroyed all of our family's treasured

heirlooms when I was growing up. As a young girl there was no way I could

possibly understand the grief my mother and her sisters felt. To lose your

whole history - family bible, photo albums, great-grandmother's quilts - you

name it - and stand among the smoldering ashes of your life must be one of the

most horrible feelings there is. When my mother talks about the fire that

destroyed her family home, even now at the age of 76 (56 years after the fire)

she always gets a tear in her eye. But she always says, " we were so lucky that

no one was hurt. "

When I watched the news accounts of North Carolina flooding and saw people

wandering around dazed clutching everything they could save from the putrid

stormwater, I began to get my arms around what total loss feels like. Knowing

what I now know about toxic mold, I knew that many of them would never be able

to go home again and if they did, they would never be the same again. None of

this prepared me for last night's program though.

So many of our most primal emotions are wrapped up in the concept of home - our

fortress, our castle - the place we go when everything goes wrong and the place

we go to celebrate all the best things - holidays, birthdays, etc. To lose

that - that security - that anchor - not through fire or flood but through the

arbitrary and capricious actions of an insurance company that did not want to

pay a policyholder's claim, even though they had been warned by a repairman of

the danger - that is enough to make you ill. But to sentence a family to brain

damage and scarred lungs on top of losing all their memories and possessions -

that is enough to sink your soul. Whether you live in a mobile home or a 22

room " mansion " - that is just plain wrong anyway you slice it.

I am sure Melinda's insurance company has hired a whole cadre of high priced

defense lawyers who will do their level best to further kick her injured family

while it is down - after all, that is their " job " as they see it. They will try

by every means possible to minimize the insurance company's exposure and save

them a few nickels. They will depose and confer and send their assistants

scurrying to law libraries - they will posture and pose and attempt to out " bad

ass " her attorneys. They will run up multimillion dollar fees trying to prevent

Melinda from being compensated for her loss, fees that the insurance company

will pass on to their policyholders if the company's lobbyists in Washington can

grease enough palms to get a rate increase. And after all is said and done and

the law firm drags the case out just as long as possible to wring every last

cent out of the case - they will settle, shake hands and walk away to do battle

in the next case, leaving Melinda to cope with her brain damaged husband and

asthmatic son, trying to rebuild her life - forever looking over her shoulder

what might have been.

All because they were too darn cheap to pay a simple policyholder's claim when

it came across their desk.

Kinda makes you sick, doesn't it?

Barbara

[Guest guest]

Well, we lost our home and everything in it from this stachybotrys-atra and

we're not getting any support from anyone. Its a shame we live in a world where

they don't care except for themselves. Wait until it happens to someone big then

see how loud they yell.