Comics legend and crusading lawyer Bill Mantlo now brain-injured and warehoused in Queens

National Underwriter Life & Health Magazine has the insanely depressing story of comics legend Bill Mantlo, an incredibly prolific comics writer who created ROM and wrote Micronauts before getting a law degree and taking a huge pay cut to work as a crusading New York public defender, right up to the time that a hit-and-run driver left him with a near-fatal brain injury. Mantlo's insurer, Cigna, rode his family hard, pushing to get him moved out of top-flight rehab institutes (where he'd been making progress, even writing) and into a cheap warehousing facility for seniors and head-injury cases. Mantlo is still in that facility, in Queens, where his life is a kind of waking nightmare.

Bill can hear and recognize when people speak to him, but his own speech is slow, labored and typically consists of single words or very short sentences. Most times, he simply yells at anybody who enters his room. He has a history of lashing out violently at staff and patients, though in his current condition, the only person he is likely to hurt with a swing is himself.
His room is nearly empty. No television. No radio. No books, magazines or newspapers. No decorations on the walls. No mementos from previous visitors. Nothing at all to mark the individual who has lived here since 1995. A solitary prison cell has more personality than this, even though Bill is not prohibited from going anywhere. He just lacks mobility, and most times, the will. His average day consists of waking up, getting changed and cleaned by the morning shift nurses, and then a sit in his wheelchair, where he stares at nothing. When he has had enough, he is transferred back to his bed, where he closes his eyes and tries going back to sleep. At some point he will be fed, and after that, more sleep.
Today, however, he has a visitor. A man comes to his room, but immediately Bill wants no part of it.
“GO.” he shouts. “GOOO!”

Tragic Tale

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Scott Slemmons

I’d read this a day or two ago. Very, very long, but spectacularly heartbreaking.
http://twitter.com/MartianEmpress Rezeya Montecore

Cigna now gains a special place of hatred in my heart.
- Cowicide
  
  Cigna now gains a special place of hatred in my heart.
  
  You should have hated CIGNA long before this…
  
  Interview with former top person at CIGNA:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QwX_soZ1GI
  
  This video proves once and for all that the only reason we don’t have a single payer system in America is because too much of the American public has been LIED to and continues to eat up the lies like fools. Don’t be a product of manufactured consent. Watch this interview with the former top guy at CIGNA and see the truth.
cjeam

And why did Cigna do that? Is it in their company policy to act like twats?
- EH
  
  The bonus motive is.
- Bottle Imp
  
  Of course it’s the policy of Cigna to do that. Insurance is always a game of actuarial tables and cost benefit analysis, reducing us, as a society, to our least human.
  
  From their entirely bottom line oriented perspective, they provided “care” and he was going to need it for a long time. If his prognosis was bleak for getting out of some form of care later in life, then their “best” bet was to minimize the cost of this remaining lifetime cost burden they faced.
  
  Corporations: definitionally not human.
  - cjeam
    
    Hehe, totally going to take that as a ‘Yes’ and leave it at that.
    - Bottle Imp
      
      Ha, yeah, sorry, hope I didn’t come off as too condescending there. Apparently I can’t pass up a chance to hate on the modern corporate form, even if it’s in response to a rhetorical question.
  - digi_owl
    
    Corporations are, if considered in human terms, sociopaths…
- wygit
  
  If you had read the article, (I was kind of put off by that whole “page 1 of 9″ thing too), you would have read that ALL insurance companies behave the same way. It’s part of having a for-profit health insurance industry. The USA, as several other articles have pointed out, is the only industrialized country in the world that has for-profit health insurance, because anyone who proposes anything else is a fraking socialist commie.
Carsten Agger

Insurance companies should not be allowed to be involved in any kind of health care decisions, is all. Cigna are probably doing right by their shareholders. If not by their customers.
- digi_owl
  
  I suspect, like it is with media corporations, that “customers” are the product to be sold off to investors…
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  Their shareholders probably pray never to be subject to Cigna’s tender mercies themselves.
Guest

The invisible scream of the free market.
santamanwalk

My son has been living like this for over 20 years ever since he was injured while attending the local public school. Only difference is that he is not gotten out of bed, simply left to lie in bed for 20+ years. This is what happens to the brain injured in this country. Doctors and institutions are paid large sums of money to do nothing; the brain injured are warehoused until they die. They lose all rights as human beings and become a meal ticket for the medical establishment. But not to worry, all the bills – even the outrageous ones with no justification or proof that the services were even actually provided – are paid for by Medicaid, so it doesn’t cost the taxpayers anything, it’s all government money, paid for by the state!
- Michael Hasse
  
  “are paid for by Medicaid, so it doesn’t cost the taxpayers anything”
  
  Ow, brain sprain! Now where’s my cognitive-dissonance meter…
http://twitter.com/bigbadchang Chang Terhune

What a horrible story. So sad. How fucked is that? I can’t find any better words for it, sadly.
asuffield

Corporations: definitionally not human.

That’s just disavowing responsibility. It’s the same thing every person responsible for this did. To harm others for personal gain is possibly the most human action there is.
- Bottle Imp
  
  No doubt, but I tacked that on less for this situation and more for the fact that U.S. law grants corporations a limited set of rights afforded to humans, despite the fact that they have no corpus to habeas (poor Latin, really victimized it there). The fact that a corporation’s motivation to disavow responsibility is a very human thing to do does makes this ironic though.
  
  Also, in a naive and idealized world, not disavowing responsibility would be what signing an insurance contract meant. “We’ll take responsibility when the guy who causes the accident runs away/can’t pay/is a dick, you’re insured.” Ah to dream.
- https://twitter.com/misterjayem MrJM
  
  To harm others for personal gain is possibly the most human action there is.
  
  Rubbish.
cdh1971

You liberals (and hippies in general) support Darwinism only when convenient!

You people are ‘all over’ hoisting the banner of Darwin’s theory of evolution while heaping scorn, yes scorn, on the Right Godly Truth of Creationistism/Intelligent Design.Yet when you witness Darwinism happening in the Real World – you say OMG and hyperventilate at the injustice. For example, when some heathen made poor life choices leading to having cut-rate health insurance finds he cannot afford lifesaving cancer treatment – you liberals bleat about the tragedy and your hearts leak buckets of blood.

Another example is the hippie practice of forcing swimming pools – public & private – to hire life guards. If someone is stooopid enough to either drown, or let their kids drown – it’s Not My Problem – just remove the body and be done with it. (This isn’t my idea – I have to credit the Right Honourable Glenn Beck.)

IMHO – eliminating those who cannot swim and those with cancer will only Add Strength to Our Strain! As the great sage Stossel once said ‘Give Me a Break!’

/satire
- http://twitter.com/MartianEmpress Rezeya Montecore
  
  Just for the sake of sport, if this were real, I would have countered by saying there’s a dramatic gulf between “believes a certain thoroughly evidenced and studied theory about how life arose” and “believes that this theory is therefore some kind of moral law.” Thinking nature is red and tooth and claw, and thinking humans have to abide by any such destructive tendencies, are two totally unrelated concepts… and it’s wholly disingenuous of you to conflate them like that.
  
  But then ya had to go confirm my suspicion that this was (skillful) satire and ruin a perfectly good rebuttal. ;D
BarBarSeven

Just read this courtesy of some fellow Micronaut fans who passed it my way. It’s a profoundly sad state of affairs. And for those who don’t know, Bill Mantlo scripted practically all of the Micronaut comics back in the day. Sad irony? J.J. Abrams production company & Hasbro are teaming up to create a new Micronaut film. Slim chance any of the Marvel characters will be in the film, but the whole reason the film will exist in the U.S. is because of Bill Mantlo’s work. What’s his reward? Rotting away and wishing to die in a bed in a nursing home.

Truly sad.
- cdh1971
  
  It is truly sad – and I wonder if his current circumstance isn’t a result not only of neglect, but of systemic, institutional cruelty.
  
  What I would like to write is too long for a comment section so I’ll just leave this here….They won’t even give him a bloody TV with a simple antenna or at least a radio?
  
  They might not sound like a lot, and a lot of people (me too) hate a lot of what’s on TV – but TV can be a vital distraction/salve/link to the outside world for shut-ins. Plus TV’s are cheap.
  
  You know what? I bet the staff have found him difficult and are making his life hell – if only by using passive-aggressive tactics.
  - BarBarSeven
    
    Won’t go deeply into my family’s history with the medical system, but it’s all crap. Unless you are rich enough to have homecare, expect this kind of treatment as the rule and not the exception.
    
    Both of my parent’s died in NYC hospitals after some extended periods of care. The “better” place was worse than the “worse” place. And with age and distance as perspective, the main reason that happened is the “worse” place was 3 blocks away from our home so someone could swing by and check up on every now and then. I believe that was the key to decent care. Not riding the staff or treating the staff like crap, but being there if at least to send the subtle message, “You do anything, I am here and I will report you…”
    
    As far as you mentioning TV & radio goes, another parent was in the “better” facility and the staff would not let a TV in unless we bought it ourselves. We did buy it, but it had to be “installed by staff” which was bullshit. Just mount it on the rack and hook up the coaxial and there you g0. But the staff at the place gave me tons of shit for doing that even saying “Do you know how to properly hook that up?” referring to the coaxial. The same stupid coaxial cable every TV set in the world has. I had to actually fight with the guy and undercut him by saying if he removed it for any reason because of union rules I would make sure he was either fired or personally held accountable. Then he backed off.
    
    Seriously, if you have a loved one in the U.S. who is ill and needs 24/7 care start exploring options as soon as possible. I assure you the system is not there to serve you and the earlier you get acclimated to the bullshit the easier it will be to swallow it and fight it when it happens for real.
    - cdh1971
      
      What you wrote – spot on.
      
      My grandmother had dementia – vascular – and my family knows that the only reason her remaining years were pleasant is because we visited 3-4 times a week and called often. Her memory care facility was a good one, and the staff was okay-to- great. The head Administrator of the place seemed ‘nice’ in the same way Eddy Haskell seemed ‘nice’.
      
      But there weren’t enough of them – although it seemed like there were at first. Constant vigilance we maintained to prevent and correct the frequent disappearance of my G-mother’s possessions – we even found her rather heavy, motorized easy-chair in another resident’s room.
      
      The staff claimed to know nothing – I had to hunt for it under the pretence of finding the restroom. The staff did help us move it back….
      
      Your observations I agree with completely – proximity and ability to visit assures better care, and the system does not put us first.
      - BarBarSeven
        
        Also, another bit of advice that may or may not apply to most people, but if you have a loved one who needs 24/7 care, do this: Sit down and seriously look at your financial situation, your cost of living and your job prospects. And also—this might sound gruesome, but we need to be realistic—look at how long your loved one is expected to live. Do the math. If you can somehow wing quitting your job to care for them or go part-time do not hesitate, just do it!
        
        Most workplaces will understand you leaving. And if you want to jump back in the workforce you can simply say “Look, my [loved one] was dying and I took time off for them.” Anyplace that is staffed with human beings would understand that.
        
        But honestly, if there is one thing I deeply regret is not playing hardball with employers and looking at the bigger picture. Jobs come and go; lives don’t last forever. If you can wing it, lessen your workload. It’s worth it in the long run.
https://twitter.com/misterjayem MrJM

Mantlo’s insurer, Cigna, rode his family hard, pushing to get him moved out of top-flight rehab institutes (where he’d been making progress, even writing) and into a cheap warehousing facility for seniors and head-injury cases. Mantlo is still in that facility, in Queens, where his life is a kind of waking nightmare.

The System Works™
Mister44

Something tells me someone reads Jim Shooter’s blog, which has mentioned Mantlo several times recently and had a link to this story. He has several stories about working with him.
eryximachus

I want to hear a Libertarian weigh in on this.

I could use a good laugh.
- Mister44
  
  I don’t know where all the libertarian angst comes from. Encouraging freedom and self reliance are two things one can’t get enough of (Abuse of freedoms and DIY are two often visited topics on BB). And just because one strives for self reliance doesn’t mean they ignore the plight of others.
  - eryximachus
    
    Okay, now what do Libertarians do when they CANNOT be self-reliant, like say, the guy in the story above.
    
    Do you crawl into a corner and die like your philosophy demands?
jnordb

So, in the end, what is the solution? The system we have is fatally flawed, in this instance as well as countless others – we desperately need something else. Many favor the idea of a single-payer system, but I fear this may end up being only marginally better than what we have now in the US. I trust the corporations only slightly less than the government….
- Cowicide
  
  I fear this may end up being only marginally better than what we have now in the US. I trust the corporations only slightly less than the government….
  
  The solution IS a single payer system for health care.
  
  Your fears are unfounded and come from corporatist babble… and I can prove it. Watch the video in my post above yours and take the red pill.
  - jnordb
    
    I am aware of the insurance industry’s propensity to, for lack of a better description, screw its policyholders so they can pad their (and their shareholders’) pockets. I’ve been on the receiving end of this; fighting with them to pay medical bills for services that were clearly covered, arguing with them about which company would pay for which charge (we were double covered for a short time…it was amazing how both companies insisted that the other was the primary insurer to try to get out of paying claims) as well as them putting off payments until the doctors were ready to send them to collection, etc. I am not opposed to a single payer system; as I said, though, I’m not very trusting of our government to not screw it up. I guess it comes down to which system would be screwed up less…at least for a single payer system, everyone would be covered – this would be a big plus. And really, it’s not like it could be worse then what we have now.
- freshacconci
  
  All I can say is that this wouldn’t happen in Canada. Our system is far from perfect but the government has no say in what treatment you receive. Where the government has negative effect is in funding and more to the point, funding cuts but the idea that government bureaucrats make medical decisions on what treatment you receive or how much treatment you get is false. I know that gets thrown out a lot but it simply isn’t true. Both my parents had serious medical issues and were both free to seek whatever treatment they wanted, even experimental ones, and no government official was involved in any way. They were able to choose their doctors, choose where to seek treatment and didn’t have to worry about preexisting conditions. And they weren’t financially ruined. As I said, not a perfect system but I wouldn’t trade it for the US system.
  - jnordb
    
    Hey now….our system doesn’t financially ruin people…a full 40% of bankruptcies here in the US are not caused by medical bills…oh, wait.
nathanroberts

Mantlo’s insurer, Cigna, rode his family hard, pushing to get him moved out of top-flight rehab institutes (where he’d been making progress, even writing) and into a cheap warehousing facility for seniors and head-injury cases.

This is what Sarah Palin was referring to when she was talking about “death panels”, although she herself didn’t realize it.
Palomino

QUOTE: “ Barone also cites the 2011 National Health Insurer Report Card, a study conducted by the American Medical Association that gives CIGNA top marks for its low number of denied claims, at less than 1% of total claims processed.”

I worked for Blue Cross. Processing a claim from submission to acceptance, is long and involved. There is a difference between “Processed Claims” and claims that are rejected along the line. which are not considered “processed” but have some form or denial code attached and THAT list is ominous.
amy montgomery

Tragic existence for someone who was so full of life and gave so much in terms of creativity and compassion. Scary to think he could now live in such a sad and solitary way.
erimen

Man, this is depressing. ROM was one of my first comics. Cloak and Dagger was a favorite too.

I work in long term care as an Activities Professional, my job is to get someone engaged and involved. Someone like Mr. Mantlo would be a dream to me. He has a body of work he remains attached to, he apparently responds well to it, and might respond to dictating a journal. Hell, there are a hundred approaches I could take with someone like him.

Yes, he sounds like a difficult person to work with, but there is little excuse to isolate him and not meet stimulation needs. Hell, I like the hard ones, they’re often great personalities once you get through to them.

His brother deserves a kick in the a$$ for not having personal items in that room, pictures/posters of Mr. Mantlos works and family, a cd player and favorite music, favorite books, TV and DVD/VHS with favorite movies. If you ever have loved ones in long term care, do them and the staff a favor: Write a bio of what they did, share stories with staff about them, share in jokes, bring stuff in for their room. We do use those to learn about them.
Richard Plantagenet

These kinds of stories is why Saw VI is such an important movie.
http://twitter.com/misuba Mike Sugarbaker

Floating World Comics in Portland did a couple of great events a couple years ago to benefit Mantlo’s ongoing care – you can still see some of the ROM art they auctioned off from artists like Farel Dalrymple and Mike Allred. http://romspacenite.blogspot.com/