Health
Related: About this forumHusband kills wife, then himself over medical bills
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The sister of a man who killed his wife and then himself in a San Souci home Wednesday night said he did it because he couldn't stand to see his wife suffer any longer.
Officers found the couple dead in their home on Goltare Drive about 3:30 p.m. when a man called 911 to report that he had shot his wife and was prepared to take his own life.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office won't identify the victims, but family members said John and Gwendolyn Thombleson died in the home. The husband's sister said after the wife had surgery eight months ago, her health began declining rapidly and she developed several health conditions, including dementia.
The medical bills were piling up, and neighbors told News4Jax that John Thombleson had said their insurance was expiring, leaving them no way to pay for the mounting expenses.
According to police, officers sent to the home made numerous attempts to contact the people inside but the attempts were unsuccessful.
Eventually, members of the SWAT team entered the home, finding the man and woman in a bedroom.
The couple were high school sweethearts and had been married 47 years. John Thombleson was retired and Gwendolyn Thombleson worked for the school district.
This was not a domestic dispute, according to the family. They said they tried to help as much as they could during the time when the wife's health was deteriorating.
Family members called this a mercy killing and said that John Thombleson was motivated by his love for his wife.
The neighbor who lives across the street said the last time he spoke with John Thombleson, the conversation was about the couple potentially losing their home because of their mounting medical bills.
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/jacksonville/family-husband-kills-wife-then-himself-in-mercy-shooting-?__vfz=rtw_top_pages%3D1033200018770&fbclid=IwAR3W2CetpnGPeajhh5m88Xi3c8ofXFwAf4TF7sHvT0sfzYnz6eY3Kq5nCeo
Ohiogal
(33,764 posts)Welcome to healthcare in America. Aren't we exceptional?!
Raster
(20,999 posts)...and the rest of us get thrown to the wolves. This is especially true with our employer-provided health insurance. Once you lose your job or "get retired" you lose your healthcare, your home, your lives. This is NOT the way in other developed countries, where big pharma and healthcare insurance companies are not allowed to predate upon their citizens, as allowed in the United States, home of carnivore capitalism.
iluvtennis
(20,464 posts)enid602
(8,861 posts)They couldnt afford their bills and were runnng out of insurance? Guess they never heard of Medicare. He couldnt stand to see his wife suffer but shot her? Then called 921 so she could be revived? This doesnt make a lot of sense.
KatyaR
(3,505 posts)They may have been just under the age minimum.
LuvLoogie
(7,412 posts)I don't get insurance "expiring," though.
2naSalit
(90,749 posts)damned quickly if you can't pay the premiums.
Theyd been married for 47 years.
pazzyanne
(6,576 posts)so they would be found in a timely manner. He didn't want to wait for family/ friends to find them.
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)say the US has the best healthcare in the world! Nowhere else would a tragedy such as this take place. Desperation is the only word to describe this.
pazzyanne
(6,576 posts)The desperation that drove this man is heartbreaking. We can and should do better for our citizens.
More_Cowbell
(2,198 posts)They were losing the house. His wife, who had dementia, would have suffered more from being taken away from her familiar surroundings.
It's not hard to understand.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)He called 911 to report his wife was dead and that he was killing himself.
AZ8theist
(6,117 posts)delisen
(6,330 posts)Some states offer medicaid for co payments and such but many of these states require that you have very little assets.
I don't know what Florida offers but in some states you are allowed to keep your house as long as you are alive, but can only have $2000 in a bank account in order to get co-pays and some other expenses like drugs.
Most people can't afford to even keep a house in repair and insured if they only have $2000 in cash assets in the bank
Many caregivers just get very depressed and can't see a way out.
Stuff like this is why I am skeptical of politicians who claim to be for the people but vote to benefit big banks, pharmaceuticals, credit card industry insurance companies.......its gotten old...
Merlot
(9,696 posts)Most people recognize how quickly this could become them.
appalachiablue
(42,341 posts)dameatball
(7,528 posts)hearing about.
fleabiscuit
(4,542 posts)Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Just Damn Sad.
MarcA
(2,195 posts)How? Be Creative.
McKim
(2,412 posts)This murder-suicide among older couples whose money has run out or who are overwhelmed by bills is not that uncommon. There are several each year in Oregon. Our society has refused to take care of one another......then there is the trillions wasted on wars of choice. I support Medicare for All!!!!
Lady Freedom Returns
(14,120 posts)And not just from medical debt, but all kinds.
CaptainTruth
(7,095 posts)sinkingfeeling
(52,575 posts)yuiyoshida
(42,271 posts)The bastards. The Entire Republican party is to blame!
AZ8theist
(6,117 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)Evolve Dammit
(17,972 posts)And should never happen. #1 cause of bankruptcy. The system needs immediate change. Enough.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Heartbreaking. I've been in that dark place before. I know the anguish. The feeling (or knowledge) that there's no way out of the situation. You've used all the tools you have. Despair.
It breaks my heart to think about what should have happened: decent health care for a couple who lived and worked in one of the largest democracies in the world.
playaseeker
(59 posts)The medical industry in America is set up to take all of your money at some time in your life. So you work hard, pay your bills, pay your taxes, save your money and make it to retirement. Unless you have top shelf insurance (who can afford that), at some point you will have to either a) accept that the treatment you need will not be covered by your insurance or b) give all your hard earned cash to "the doctors".
I have lived in two countries that have socialized medicine and it is a slam dunk. Works great. No insurance claims, no 13 page bills. Every other first world country does it this way, but due to American exceptionalism, we will continue to fight for the right to get totally screwed by the medical industry.
jmbar2
(5,831 posts)A few years ago, when I recognized that I was going to have inadequate retirement, according to the 'rules of thumb', I began asking my more affluent friends how much it really cost for them to be retired.
Most of them are by nature frugal - not invested in fancy cars, etc. They were able to live on very little, outside of home expenses. However, they had saved up vast sums of money in case they got seriously ill in the future.
That's when I figured it out. It doesn't matter how much money you save - the medical system IS set up to take everything you save. All of the retirement advice is just to make you save more to give it up to the hedge funds at the end. They are major investors at end-of-life senior housing and nursing homes.
I decided to quit fighting it and retired poor enough to qualify for extended Medicare. If I become disabled, I may or may not qualify for the lowest level of care. I hope that I am cognizant enough to go out on my own steam.
It doesn't matter how much you save. They are waiting to take it all.
Politicub
(12,261 posts)This is only one of the medical-cost suicides we hear about, and it's incredibly tragic by itself. I can't help thinking, too, about the slow suicides of people who give up on trying to pay for their expensive, critical meds because of outrageous costs. Those people will never be counted and suffer in silence until their final breath.
It is immoral to prolong the agony of any citizen when a medicine or treatment would alleviate pain or suffering.
Above all, this is heartbreaking... this should never happen to anyone. It makes me angry and sad at the same time, and brings that sick, helpless feeling that I have had so often since 2016.
liberalmuse
(18,832 posts)But won't so billionaires can loot our public treasury instead. This is unacceptable. Barbaric!
BigmanPigman
(52,129 posts)People can not afford the healthcare! I know this is the tip of the iceberg. I am sure the real number of people allowing themselves to die or killing themselves is much higher than this couple. When you have very little or no quality of life and then you can't afford to even live in pain in your own surroundings you do things that you never imagined you were capable of doing. It will get worse...watch.