Man's skull put back together

http://www.bakersfield.com/news/loca...-back-together

Lee Lyle beamed Monday as his surgeon explained that Lyle was doing
fine three days after a piece of his skull was removed from his
stomach and put back in his head.

"The surgery went completely complication free. It went exactly as
expected," said Dr. Vipul Dev, a plastic reconstruction surgeon and
medical director of Bakersfield Memorial Hospital's Center for Wound
Care & Hyperbarics.

Lyle suffered a brain injury last year after his motorcycle was hit by
a truck that fled the scene after the accident. He was wearing a
helmet, but his brain was bleeding and swelling after he flew head-
first into a curb.

Doctors at Kern Medical Center removed part of Lyle's skull to deal
with the swelling, and inserted the bone in his abdomen to preserve it
while Lyle's head healed. Nestled in abdominal fat, the bone could
continue to get a blood supply and was protected from infection.

The plan was to retrieve the bone after Lyle healed, but he didn't
have insurance, and Kern Medical Center declined to complete the
process barring some form of payment.

Kern Medical Center would have been happy to assist Lyle "a long time
ago" if he had applied for MediCal, but he refused, said KMC Chief
Executive Officer Paul Hensler.

"We can't give away care to everyone just because we're a county
hospital," Hensler said. "We have an obligation to taxpayers to see if
patients have other coverage."

Lyle said he applied for MediCal, as well as Social Security, but was
turned down for both.

In the year since the accident, Lyle said he's been unable to work. He
said his concave head was too great a liability for employers, who
feared what would happen if he bumped the portion of his brain
protected only by skin.

On Friday, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital did the surgery for free. It
would have cost at least $50,000 if he had paid for it.

"We are a faith-based hospital, and this is part of our mission,"
Bakersfield Memorial Chief Executive Officer Jon Van Boening said at a
press conference Monday. Lyle, who had come in for a check-up, was at
his side.

Lyle patted his heavily bandaged head, thanked the hospital profusely
and announced, "Humpty Dumpty is put back together again."

Nearby, his daughter-in-law, Tabitha Lyle, smiled and wept.

"It's so nice to have him home with a nice, round head up there," she
said, lips trembling.

On Jun 30, 7:53*am, € <macmi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Gee I was hoping they finally fixed your fucked up head...oh well. Any
way I'll bet a plugged nickle he was wearing a either a beanie or some
other form of protest helmet and that it wasn't even DOT certified,
just had forged sticker.

€ wrote:
> Man's skull put back together
>
> http://www.bakersfield.com/news/loca...-back-together
>
> Lee Lyle beamed Monday as his surgeon explained that Lyle was doing
> fine three days after a piece of his skull was removed from his
> stomach and put back in his head.
>
> "The surgery went completely complication free. It went exactly as
> expected," said Dr. Vipul Dev, a plastic reconstruction surgeon and
> medical director of Bakersfield Memorial Hospital's Center for Wound
> Care & Hyperbarics.
>
> Lyle suffered a brain injury last year after his motorcycle was hit by
> a truck that fled the scene after the accident. He was wearing a
> helmet, but his brain was bleeding and swelling after he flew head-
> first into a curb.
>
> Doctors at Kern Medical Center removed part of Lyle's skull to deal
> with the swelling, and inserted the bone in his abdomen to preserve it
> while Lyle's head healed. Nestled in abdominal fat, the bone could
> continue to get a blood supply and was protected from infection.
>
> The plan was to retrieve the bone after Lyle healed, but he didn't
> have insurance, and Kern Medical Center declined to complete the
> process barring some form of payment.
>
> Kern Medical Center would have been happy to assist Lyle "a long time
> ago" if he had applied for MediCal, but he refused, said KMC Chief
> Executive Officer Paul Hensler.
>
> "We can't give away care to everyone just because we're a county
> hospital," Hensler said. "We have an obligation to taxpayers to see if
> patients have other coverage."
>
> Lyle said he applied for MediCal, as well as Social Security, but was
> turned down for both.
>
> In the year since the accident, Lyle said he's been unable to work. He
> said his concave head was too great a liability for employers, who
> feared what would happen if he bumped the portion of his brain
> protected only by skin.
>
> On Friday, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital did the surgery for free. It
> would have cost at least $50,000 if he had paid for it.
>
> "We are a faith-based hospital, and this is part of our mission,"
> Bakersfield Memorial Chief Executive Officer Jon Van Boening said at a
> press conference Monday. Lyle, who had come in for a check-up, was at
> his side.
>
> Lyle patted his heavily bandaged head, thanked the hospital profusely
> and announced, "Humpty Dumpty is put back together again."
>
> Nearby, his daughter-in-law, Tabitha Lyle, smiled and wept.
>
> "It's so nice to have him home with a nice, round head up there," she
> said, lips trembling.
>

Next time don't wear a helmet and save on medical expenses.

Hipupchuck wrote:
>> Lyle said he applied for MediCal, as well as Social Security, but was
>> turned down for both.
>>
>> In the year since the accident, Lyle said he's been unable to work. He
>> said his concave head was too great a liability for employers, who
>> feared what would happen if he bumped the portion of his brain
>> protected only by skin.
>>
>> On Friday, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital did the surgery for free. It
>> would have cost at least $50,000 if he had paid for it.
>
> Next time don't wear a helmet and save on medical expenses.



What medical expenses? The cheap bastard didn't have insurance before
the accident; it doesn't even say if he had a job *before* the accident.
It just said he couldn't get either *after* the accident. He's not
going to pay a dime... whoever supports Bakersfield MH is going to eat
the cost.

I have to say it irks me a bit when people that don't accept the
responsibility of making sure they can pay for care insist on exercising
their "rights" when it comes to helmets or protective gear. My state
mandates helmets but South Carolina (10 miles down the road) doesn't.
And I can guarantee you that damned few South Carolinians wear helmets
in their own state... most of the helmeted riders I see down there are
from North Carolina. YMMV.

I recognize this guy was wearing a helmet but I just wanted to bitch
anyway.


Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerd at carolina.rr.com

On Jun 30, 9:13*am, Mortimer Schnerd <mschn...@carolina.rr.com.XXX>
wrote:

> What medical expenses? *The cheap bastard didn't have insurance before
> the accident; it doesn't even say if he had a job *before* the accident.
> * It just said he couldn't get either *after* the accident. *He's not
> going to pay a dime... whoever supports Bakersfield MH is going to eat
> the cost.

The business about Bakersfield MH having to retrieve a piece of the
patient's skull from his stomach was what first caught my eye. I
wondered how it got in there in the first place.

The screwed up part of this story is that Kern Medical Center put it
there, during trauma surgery and then didn't want to finish the job
they started.

BMH picked up where KMC dropped the ball.

On Jun 30, 9:13 am, Mortimer Schnerd <mschn...@carolina.rr.com.XXX>
wrote:
> Hipupchuck wrote:
> >> Lyle said he applied for MediCal, as well as Social Security, but was
> >> turned down for both.
>
> >> In the year since the accident, Lyle said he's been unable to work. He
> >> said his concave head was too great a liability for employers, who
> >> feared what would happen if he bumped the portion of his brain
> >> protected only by skin.
>
> >> On Friday, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital did the surgery for free. It
> >> would have cost at least $50,000 if he had paid for it.
>
> > Next time don't wear a helmet and save on medical expenses.
>
> What medical expenses? The cheap bastard didn't have insurance before
> the accident; it doesn't even say if he had a job *before* the accident.
> It just said he couldn't get either *after* the accident. He's not
> going to pay a dime... whoever supports Bakersfield MH is going to eat
> the cost.
>
> I have to say it irks me a bit when people that don't accept the
> responsibility of making sure they can pay for care insist on exercising
> their "rights" when it comes to helmets or protective gear.

He was wearing a helmet and wasn't required to have
medical insurance though obviously this was the smart
move.

The guy who really should have borne the cost of this
accident was the SOB who hit him and then fled the scene.

I'm a little surprised that he was supposedly turned down
by both SS and Medical. I'm not a big fan of the present
state of medical coverage and damn glad I'm not trying
to deal with it while unemployed.