Ivan....

I think there's TWO problems here, m'dear.  One is a monetary issue, and the
other's your inability to move past the event/person/entity that caused you so
much grief in the first place.

There's one action I can think of you may possibly be able to make which MIGHT
get you that money back.  Why not take the both the physician AND the PD
Assoc. to Small Claims Court?   Filing fees are just a few dollars, you get to
court really fast (often within a few days of filing) and this is, in my
opinion, a place where you will find a fast, "down-to the-level
of-the-common-man" kind of justice.  In addition, monetary reward limits in
Small Claims actions, while set by each individual state, are generally within
the amount you've lost (most states are set between about $3000 to $5000).

The "other side" might even end up in default because it's unlikely they'll
send a representative to a Maine courtroom (presuming the jurisdiction of this
case is the state of Maine rather than the state of Florida) as that would
prolly cost them a significant amount of money above what they stand to lose
if they meet you in a court of law.

This does NOT _guarentee_ you a return of the money!  But I believe IF you
make up your mind BEFORE you go to court that WHATEVER the results may be,
you'll accept the decision as the END of the problem, THAT will lay this issue
to rest - FINALLY.

Ivan, it would be nice if the world was a fair place - where all would be
treated with the respect and compassion.  But HEY - it ain't, and it's going
to go rolling on no matter what happens in our respective lives.  Let go of
the grief, m'friend, and don't take anything that happened to you in this
event personally.  It was just "one of life's dirty tricks," over which we
have no individual control.


Barb Mallut
[log in to unmask]

----------
From:   Parkinson's Information Exchange on behalf of Ivan M Suzman
Sent:   Friday, September 05, 1997 5:35 AM
To:     Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN
Subject:        Dear Friends, please help...

Dear  World Listfriends,

    I am in great pain as I write this letter to all of you. What you are
about to read is not what I visualized I would ever have to write you
about.

    Every time I turn on my computer to get my e-mail, and see among the
many wonderful messages, the informative and encouraging posts by Larry
Hoffheimer, who is not only a list member, but also the National
Parkinson's Foundation's Counsel, a Udall Bill star proponent, and a
top-notch Muhammad Ali promoter,  a wrenching, deep, painful,  wound
stabs and stabs at me. This happened to me again about an hour ago.

     Like any person living with Young Onset Parkinson's Disease, I want
to feel hopeful and encouraged by Mr. Hoffheimer's  energetic work,  but
instead I feel  jaded, disheartened, used and abused, and my stomach ties
up in knots.

      I am going to pour out my guts to you, and tell you what happened.
Maybe somebody can be the healer I need so badly.

    Please consider this letter to be  an Open Appeal to all list members
 who have time,  to PLEASE help me close a TERRIBLY painful wound.
.
   I need YOU to help, because, I feel that we are a Caring Community of
Support,  unlike any other. Somewhere there is a list member who has the
answer, the resources, the ideas, the contacts, the negotiating skills.

   In May of 1995, after 4 months of detailed preparations,  I was
thrilled, because I had saved and borrowed $3400.00. I could finally
travel to Florida with a hired Certified Nurse's Aide, for an appointment
with a FAMOUS neurologist at the reknowned National Parkinson's
Foundation Clinic in Miami.

    My dream of getting help from a world-famous clinic dominated a
happy, but cautiously undertaken, plane ride to Florida. The two of us
first spent a week on the beaches,  resting from the exhausting Maine
winter, and then, both somewhat restored, drove to Miami and registered
at the Day's Inn, near the NPF office and laboratory complex. We began to
make the final preparations to see the NPF's doctors.

     During,the soothing, warm evening in Miami,  the CNA (Arthur
Lemieux) and I reviewed, refined and re-defined  my many questions for
the young neurologist.  Both of us hoped this appointment would
dramtically improve our handling of my symptoms, and our understanding of
Parkinson's.  I planned to share our Florida experience with my friends
in the Greater Portland Parkinson's Disease Support Group, which I had
founded two years earlier, in the spring of 1993.

    TO our absolute HORROR,  when we presented ourselves at the appointed
time, 2:00 PM,  the doctor was NOWHERE to be found ( Juan Sanchez-
Ramos). He is the NPF magazine editor, and one of five doctors at the NPF
clinic.

     I have never recovered from the shock I experienced at that moment.

    The NPF staff had set up my appointment, and had confirmed it just
hours before, by phoning our room at the Day's Inn.  No one ever told me
why the clinic doctor was not present for my 2:00 PM appointment, or why
the NPF had no covering or substitute doctor available to see me.  They
BUNGLED my plans, and I am still suffering the consequences.

   Mr. Hoffheimer eventually wrote me, in his official role as NPF
counsel in Washington DC,  to say it was NOT the NPF's responsibility to
refund me the $3400.00 I had to spend on two round-trip flights from
Maine ( about 6,000 air miles), hotel costs for two nights, and three
days' transportation, food, and other basic traveling expenses, plus Mr.
Lemieux's fees.

    Larry's letter killed any hope of restoring me the $3400.00 I had
spent. I didn't realize that I was being discarded and buried.  But now I
RISE to ask again for help.  I think many listmembers know me now, and my
dear cyberfriends, somehow, I think you can answer.

    I had to go back to Maine with my Certified Nurses' Aide immediately
after the scheduled, but unfulfilled appointment.  The airplane tickets
were not transferrable to other flights, and Mr. Lemieux (my CNA), who
had been given permission to go on temporary leave to travel with me, had
to be back in Maine at work at the Nursing Agency that employed him to
care for me and other patients.

    Much of the money was borrowed.  Because I live from one month to the
next on Social Security, which is $664.00 per month, and charity,  I have
suffered a devastating loss.

    Every time I see "National Parkinson's Foundation" I feel like
throwing up
and I get depressed.  I do not want to feel this way, but I can't stop
the pain.

     Mr. Hoffheimer, NPF staff, and fellow PWP's and caregivers, would
you PLEASE help me resolve my horrible loss. Two and a half years of pain
is eating at me. Enough is enough!

     Painfully,

     Ivan Suzman  47/10