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To all the baalei rachamim in the CR:
I rarely have made personal requests here, but a life and death crisis has arisen in people extremely close to me who live just outside of Lakewood. Their son Dovi (Dov Nechemiah Hakohein ben Rochel Chai-Sorah), was just diagnosed with an extremely rare and aggressive cancer, which has already quickly metastasized to Stage 4, and he is undergoing equally aggressive and very painful treatments, following major surgery. Details are outlined below in a letter from his mom, a woman of tremednous Bitachon.
I can personally vouch for the integrity of this family, every word you read is true, and the family is unable to handle the mountain of expenses they are facing for his tests and treatment. I am appealing to you on their behalf.
First and foremost, PLEASE daven for this wonderful young man. All of our children are special neshamos, but he has a temimus and sweetness in him that is rare, with a loving heart, wonderful sense of humor, and love of Torah. If you were to meet him, you would instantly be taken with him.
His family’s and his Emunah have been unparalleled in the last several weeks, but he has faced one horrrific medical challenge after another starting with even getting properly diagnosed, and finances have become a very large part of that challenge, as they are presently unable to continue making a parnassah. The bills are astronomical, and their insurance is not good.
Whatever you can contribute will help them. Any amount. May Hashem be Meracheim on Dovi and all cholei Yisroel b’korov. Thank you for taking the time to read this. It was not easy for me to reach out in this way, but I could not stand by and do nothing.
(Letter from the family):
Make Check Out to: The Special Fund
Write on the Lower Left side of Check: Dov Muchnick
Mail out to:
Attn: Naomi Stavsky
Chai Lifeline
106 Clifton Ave.
Lakewood NJ 08701
OOmis – While Chai Lifeline is a good org.; tell the family the best org. to get financial help is –
Rofeh Cholim Cancer Society
http://www.rofehcholim.org – Info
768 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 722-2002
I actually think I know this family
FYI since the son is 22, He might be eliglbe for Medicaid as it would be based on his income and not his parents especially if he is not working because of illness
I will, bli neder, mail in a check.
May he have a refuah shleimah bikorov!
Even though he is 22. because of his disability the family should apply for Medicare to help pay for RX.
Also supplemental social security disability SSI.
There are sites online where you can raise money. You should google it and post the letter there. There are many people who would contribute something for a situation like this. I think one such site is called ‘gofundme’ another is called ‘kickstarter’. I think these are really more business oriented but there are some sites like these that raise charity.
What a sad sad story! He should have a refuah shelaima! I will I”YH send in a check.
Refuah shelaima!!!
Do you know if we can donate online, maybe by putting Dov’s name in the “additional comments” section of the Chai Lifeline form?
Is his name
Dov Nechemiah HaKohein ben Rochel Chaya Sorah
or
Dov Nechemiah HaKohein ben Chaya Sorah ?
The US is the only advanced, developed, post-industrial nation on Earth where illness can be a financial calamity for a patient and/or his/her family. The Torah requires that no one go without medical care, and the obligation to provide it is on the entire society, not the healthcare providers alone. (I apologize for not having the relevant citations to the Torah on this important point.) In light of the Torah requirement for health care, I continue to be puzzled by the vehement opposition of so many readers on this site to Obamacare or “European socialized medicine”. It is a Torah obligation, and I have not read a cogent, Torah-based reason to oppose Obamacare or some other government assurance that we all will have medical care without financial ruin – of the patient or society.
I am sorry to bring up this political issue in connection with the very serious personal crisis described here, but I cannot think of a better time or place to make the point about the Torah’s requirements that we provide for the health care of all. I hope the patient and his family get the medical and financial relief they need. My modest check is in the mail.
Can you post your message on the Lakewood Scoop as well. I know many people in Lakewood will see that.
NFGO
You bring up a bigger issue, I dont know what this families bills are, but lets just say $50,000
Everyone wants to help, but realistically its very hard to raise $50,000. The best way to raise that money is from the goverment where it is possible to raise money for the medical bills and even some extra expenses via Medicaid, Medicare and SSI.
If you give $50 to this cause, 1000 other people also have to give to raise the $50K. Thats really hard to do.
I spoke with Naomi at Chai Lifeline and she said I could post her cell phone number for credit card donations. 908-770-5145
Re oomis’s 4th comment: It is regrettable that your drug costs have gone up. I do not know whether the price rise is caused by Obamacare or something else. My point is that if, as Americans, we all agree to provide health care for all, as the Torah commands, no one will suffer financial ruin because of medical bills, and everyone will have access to good medical care. Some of the details need to be fixed, but Obamacare follows and supports the fundamental Torah principal.
Re zahavasdad’s 2nd comment: I interpret your comment as complete agreement with mine. Yes, it is hard to raise $50,000 from the readers of a small web site, and easier to raise the same amount from 200,000,000 taxpayers, which is exactly why government-funded health care works so well in Europe and will work in the US when its ideological and political opponents get out of – or are pushed out of – the way.
I would love to see the citations proving that the Torah requires universal healthcare.
I can’t speak for anyone else but I can tell you I am vehemently opposed to socialized medicine. When you separate the people who pay from the people who use the service, the consumers have no idea what anything costs and no incentive to make fiscally responsible decisions. This ends up overburdening the system so that healthcare is not truly universally available. If someone lives long enough, they might eventually get help. The Lockerbie bomber was released because he was expected to die of prostate cancer within a few months but he ended up living another 3 years. Scotland’s healthcare protocols did not offer treatment that was provided in Libya. Do you want to live under a healthcare system worse than Libya’s?
Our system in the US has the same problem of people not having any idea what their healthcare costs. If you’ve ever had basic lab work done you know that insurance pays pennies on the dollar. Why maintain the charade of charging $100 for a test that’s reimbursed at $7? So people without insurance can subsidize the insured? Of course people without insurance can’t always pay their bills but maybe their bills wouldn’t be so high if everyone was expected to pay the fair price for the test.
You think universal healthcare will prevent financial ruin due to medical bills? I guess it might, if people are prohibited from paying for care outside their insurance plan and if they are prohibited from leaving the country to obtain medical care elsewhere. Neither of these methods will guarantee the best medical care but if avoiding financial ruin is the primary goal then I suppose you could call it a success.
nfgo3 -“In light of the Torah requirement for health care, I continue to be puzzled by the vehement opposition of so many readers on this site to Obamacare or “European socialized medicine”. It is a Torah obligation, and I have not read a cogent, Torah-based reason to oppose Obamacare or some other government assurance that we all will have medical care without financial ruin – of the patient or society.”
Either you are extremely naive or you’re a born and bred Socialist. You’re like the early Communists -Communism is a perfect system. E/o, including the Conservatives would be pro Obamacare if it was reality. There is a reason the US has the best medical care in the world. There is only a certain amount of money that the Gov. can and will spend on Healthcare. What happens when they reach that limit? I’ll tell you -they limit Healthcare (which btw is against the Torah). Well how do I know this will be bad? Because it already occurs in countries with socialized medicine. Eg. – you reach a certain age with a disease like Cancer and they will refuse to treat you – your life, no matter how good of a chance you have in beating the disease, is Not of any value to society anymore. This even occurs in Israel -I don’t know if this exact scenario does, but other similar things like this do. So, do you think this is consistent with the Torah view????
Whats mine is Mine and whats yours is yours is a trademark of Sodom
A more logical idea would be to raise enough money to get a better health plan for this individual. As RCCS does.
And amounts that are raised individually can definitely help with other needs that are beside for medical costs.
There is no need to go to socialized medicine which results in subpar medical care and subpar access to medical care.
The government will provide funds to this family if they need incidentals.
Israel has Socialize Medicine (Kupat Cholim)
My teenage daughter in NY had severe abdominal pains so we took her to our pediatrician who sent us to the emergency room. She was seen, scanned for appendicitis and some other stuff and sent home in a few hours. My friend’s teenage daughter in Israel had similar symptoms but she sat in the hospital for close to 24 hours. In my experience the care in Israel is generally high quality but the system is overburdened. Not enough money = not enough facilities and providers. Although I do have to say it was nice walking out of the hospital with my newborn and a check from the government rather than a bill 🙂
I know someone who moved to Israel. He got cancer at a young age and I wounded why he did not come to the states to Sloane-Kettering or Johns Hopkins.
He stayed in Israel with Kupat Cholim and they cured him.
The must have known what they were doing.
Zdad,
Right, and that is why for anything serious, many people opt to go outside the kupat cholim and use private doctors.
Thus proving my point.
And to correct what I said before, the government will NOT fund incidentals.
But private donations can.
Zdad,
Right, and that is why for anything serious, many people opt to go outside the kupat cholim and use private doctors.
Thus proving my point.
And to correct what I said before, the government will NOT fund incidentals.
But private donations can.
To ChanieE: I am sorry that I cannot provide citations to the Torah authorities that call for universal health care, but for personal reasons, my personal library is packed up and I cannot access the source at this time.
health: you make a number of unsound conclusions but you make one good point. End-of-life care under Torah is complicated by a number of considerations. As I said to ChanieE, my personal library is inaccessible, and I cannot check on the requirements. But if government care covers all other situations, then it would be relatively easy for a small group, like frum Jews, to provide reciprocal-style insurance coverage for Jews who want to make their end-of-life health-care decisions in accordance with Torah, without worrying about the financial ruin of their families.
I said he DID go to Kupat Cholim Doctors and did not return to the US for treatment.
If I was me I would have gone to Sloan or Johns Hopkins (I think he had a relative who had connections at Johns Hopkins)
The telephone for Naomi Stavsky has a full mailbox and does not accept any more messages. Is it possible to donate via the chai lifeline website and designate for this purpose?
I had asked Naomi about donating online and she didn’t know if that would get to the right account.
nfgo3 -“health: you make a number of unsound conclusions but you make one good point.”
Name the so -called “unsound” conclusions.
“End-of-life care under Torah is complicated by a number of considerations. But if government care covers all other situations, then it would be relatively easy for a small group, like frum Jews, to provide reciprocal-style insurance coverage for Jews who want to make their end-of-life health-care decisions in accordance with Torah, without worrying about the financial ruin of their families.”
I wasn’t talking about complicated cases. I was talking about cases where it’s pretty clear cut that you can survive and no exorbitant amount of pain. The Torah would require in cases like these to save yourself. And your delusion that the Jews can just pay for something, eg. refusal to treat old people, is nonsense.
Once the Gov. universal healthcare won’t pay for it -it won’t exist anymore. If there is a certan drug and only this drug for a certain disease and the Gov. decides it’s too expensive and they won’t pay for it. Guess what? The company won’t make it anymore.
Zdad -“I said he DID go to Kupat Cholim Doctors and did not return to the US for treatment.”
So what? He got lucky. Medical care exists in these socialized countries, just it isn’t too good. In Israel -the wonderful Kupat Cholim get together every once in awhile and decide which drugs they will pay for and which not. You can’t get drugs from them not on their list, even if this is the only drug to cure your illness!
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