Oct 3, 2009: New Face for Chrissy

[xoxoxoBruce]

Neatorama had this story about Chrissy Steltz.

Ten years ago, Chrissy Steltz lost her eyes, nose, and part of her face when another teenager fired a shotgun from five feet away. She has been denied prosthetic surgery because the Oregon Health Plan considered the procedure “cosmetic”, but thanks to her doctor and some charitable friends, she’ll soon have a new face.

I followed the link to KATU and read...

Her injuries haven’t stopped her from living: she’s been teaching blind children life skills.
“Life is what you make it,” she said.
And now she and her partner, Jeffrey, who’s also blind, are raising their 2-month-old baby boy, which leaves no time for self-pity.
“Just because you have a tragic thing happen in your life, it doesn’t mean that your life is over,” she said.

Wow, good attitude. Then I started reading the comments there.

I hope all goes well for her. It sounds like she didn't let this get her down, but instead made a life for herself. It's nice that her Dr. and others are donating their services so she can have the surgeries done.

Yeah, that's my feeling.... next comment...

She was part of the group that stole the guns. She was the criminal. She was partying. the doctores are using her as a human guinea pig. .. This is wrong. Her fault and her problem.

Whoa Nellie!!

Lars Larson told the whole story on his KXL AM750 radio show yesterday. He even hosted the victim of the burglary, the owner of Foxx Guns who stated the burglary almost put him out of business.
These were not "harmless teenage pranksters", these were hardcore criminals on their way to a life of crime. Now, she's stealing from the State of Oregon for medical care. Seems to me, since she indirectly caused this to happen, she should pay for all of it, not we the taxpayers.
Before you go off on me saying how cruel that sounds, think. Think about the children, the innocent children who will not receive lifesaving or corrective surgery since this woman is receiving the funds they could have used. Think.
There is a finite amount of money in the state coffers for medical care. Who deserves it more, a former criminal or an innocent child?

WTF!!
So of course I had to Google Chrissy Steltz.
Results 1 - 10 of about 565,000 for Chrissy Steltz. (0.10 seconds)

Here

It was March 21, 1999, a Sunday evening. About a dozen teenagers had gathered to party in the Southeast Portland apartment where Steltz lived with her boyfriend. She was an A-minus student at Franklin High School. Her mother let her move in with the boyfriend as long as she kept her grades up.
One of the teenagers found the shotgun under a couch in the laundry room. He was fooling around when it went off.
"Everybody was drinking," Steltz says.
Police investigators called the shooting accidental. The 18-year-old who fired the gun was sentenced to 27 months in prison for second-degree assault. Steltz's boyfriend, also 18, was given probation for theft of 15 guns, including the one that nearly killed her.

And here.

Chrissy has had ten years to reflect. The shotgun that took her sight, along with fourteen other weapons, were stolen from a gun store in the coastal town of Beaver. Chrissy's then-boyfriend and several associates broke in while Chrissy waited in the car. Eleven days later, she was accidentally shot.

This is what they are planning for her.


Damn, so many people did the wrong thing, Chrissy, her mother, her boyfriend, his "associates", Oregon Health Plan.
And the good people of Oregon seem to have some strong opinions on the matter.
What do you think?

[Eclipse]

Tragic that she lost most of her face to a shotgun...even if she was an accomplice for gun theft of that same shotgun.

This is why reckless teenagers, booze and shotguns should not be at the same place at the same time.

[DanaC]

She was a kid who, along with some other kids, did a stoopid thing, in that way kids sometimes do. I think the idea that she's 'stealing' from the State of Oregan is a deeply uncharitable, unforgiving and downright unkind attitude.

And calling this 'cosmetic' is just getting out of it on a technicality. Cutting into a perfectly servicable face in order to change/improve it is cosmetic. We need faces. They're how we meet the world.

[Undertoad]

Damn, so many people did the wrong thing, Chrissy, her mother, her boyfriend, his "associates", Oregon Health Plan.

And a non-existent dad, I'll wager.

[Sundae]

I believe in giving people a chance to reform.
She associated with thieves, that does not mean she deserves to live without a face.

Not having one is less of an obstacle when working with blind people, who do not judge on sight, but is a terrible barrier in the rest of the world.

And after all, every complicated procedure performed on an ex teenage tearaway makes it more practised and successful for when lovely little Sally or Johnny gets their face bitten by their stepfather's dog.

What's next - no treatment for smokers? Drinkers? Battered women - who are complicit because they stay with an abusive partner?

[Adak]

I believe we can all agree she's more than paid for her participation in the burglary.

The medical care problem is the bigger issue. Points to the very real problem with socialized medicine - it's rationed, and not by a private insurance company you might take to court, either. Competition with other insurer's is not an issue once the gov't takes over - for better or worse, they run it as they please.

I sputter in amazement whenever I hear the expression "free medical care". Should we believe in the Tooth Fairy, as well? C'mon! It will be FAR from free! It never was "Free", and it never will be - nor should it be. Can't expect doc's and nurses to work for free, with donated medical equipt. and drugs.

The Oregon Health Plan is one of the most rational and sensible health plans, you can find. I have no doubt their decision was the correct one, for the welfare of Oregonians needing health care, as a whole.

This seems to me to be a case, where charity should be the driving force. Chrissy is still a part of the body of sentient beings, and should be given every consideration in this matter.

It seems a bit ridiculous to expect a blind young girl, without a face, to come up with the 1/4 million $$$ (roughly?), it would take to pay for this.

You know gun running isn't as profitable as drug dealing, anyway!

[DanaC]

We don't have 'free' healthcare in the Uk. But our healthcare is 'free at the point of need'. That's the guiding principle for most socialised healthcare systems. Paying for it is something you do across your entire lifetime in the form of taxes and national insurance contributions. This is the case even if you are receiving state benefits (anything above 4k a year or thereabouts, is taxed albeit at a low rate for low incomes). When the worst happens, the last thing you should be worrying about is paying for treatment.

Also, what's to say you can't take the 'rationing' body to court if it's not a private insurance company? We occasionally end up with various groups taking rationing issues to the high court. As an individual what are the chances of successful litigation against a major insurance company whose legal eagles have written in all kinds of loopholes to ensure they don't have to pay out on your policy?

The vast majority of the current 'rationing' which exists by default through 'pre-existing conditions' and yearly cost limits is perfectly legal and almost impossible to counter in the courts. The fact that you can in theory litigate doesn't make it an acceptable safety net for individuals.

There would be no question in the UK of this girl's case being refused as 'cosmetic'. Reconstructive surgery, and even cosmetic surgery can be had through the NHS as long as the medical benefits can be shown.

[TheMercenary]

Sad case. Good to see some people have stepped up to the plate to give her a hand. Sounds like she is doing some good work for personal attonement by helping others. I hope it works out for her.

[newtimer]

How did her boyfriend get blinded? Was he shot in the face, too?

How do 2 blind people raise a baby? When they change his diaper, how to they know when to stop wiping his little behind?

[TheMercenary]

I dono, taste their fingers?

[TheDaVinciChode]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

I dono, taste their fingers?

That'd bode well should an unexpected visitor arrive, during "changing time."

I can see it now... The mother's changing the baby, and just as she's tasting her finger, enter an occasional friend, who does not know the methods this couple engage in, to ensure their child is correctly, fully cleaned.

*Shock, horror!* "What are you doing to your baby?!" the friend would cry, swiftly running to call the police, and alert them to a potential child molester/rapist. Then, the father comes down, alerted by the noise, and tries to inform the occasional friend that, in fact, it was perfectly normal, in their house hold, to perform such an act!

*Shock, horror!* "The father is in on it, too! Please, hurry!" the friend continues crying down the phone.

Soon after, the police arrive, finding both parents, distraught, but defiant, explaining their situation, trying to make it seem normal that they'd be "tasting" their fingers, after touching their unclothed, possibly wailing child.

In shock at their admittance, the police would then arrest the parents, and have child services come to take the child away, never to see his (or her) parents, ever again.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by newtimer

How did her boyfriend get blinded? Was he shot in the face, too??

Perhaps after she lost half of her face, her criminal boyfriend thought perhaps she wasn't quite so cute any more?

Perhaps she went through a long and painful rehabilitation process, physically as well as emotionally, meeting people blind from birth and eventually forming ties with them?

Perhaps her blind boyfriend was part of her new life?

Or I dunno, perhaps an ex-criminal decided to fdo the right thing and stand by her...

How do 2 blind people raise a baby? When they change his diaper, how to they know when to stop wiping his little behind

Wait til they smell copper and realise they've wiped too much?!
Blind parents raise children. Contact a blind charity if you really need to know how. You might want to volunteer to help when you do so.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by newtimer

How did her boyfriend get blinded? Was he shot in the face, too?

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

Perhaps her blind boyfriend was part of her new life?

Yes.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

What's next - no treatment for smokers? Drinkers? Battered women - who are complicit because they stay with an abusive partner?

Not until Obamacare gets passed


JUST KIDDING!

[Sundae]

Well, that would fit with the general attitude towards welfare anyway.