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The $cost of losing a finger

Started by sawyerkirk, January 16, 2005, 05:17:24 AM

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sawyerkirk

Some of you may know, back in September I got in an argument with a chop saw blade and lost my ring finger on the right hand. My bookeeper totaled up the actual cost of all the hospitals etc.......keep in mind all I did was cut off my finger, and tear the heck out of 2 others........$16,596. is that a stupid number or what? 4 pages of expensesIt happened at 8:30 pm, and I was back in bed by 12:30. 4 hours I wish I could make $4149/hr. Now granted some of that was followup dr. visits, but who cares!! They wanted me to ciome to therapy 3 tuimes a week for 2 months, I went twice, cost me $125 per visit. Fortunately we have insurance, I think our portion we owe is about $1600. sad part is I never have found the missing part. All  can say is I'm glad it was me and bnot an employee. Y'all be safe out there.

sawguy21

old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Frank_Pender

Glad you still have some on the same hand.  Thanks for the sobering wakeup call. :-/
Frank Pender

SwampDonkey

I had an old friend who done it 3 times. Once ona  jointer and twice on a tablesaw. Must'a been fun the first two times I guess.  :-/   ::)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Larry

Gee, my finger was not near that expensive....$3,000 bout 30 years ago and I even got 3 nights in the hospital.  There is a big benefit to losing one early in life...every time I turn on a tool with teeth I think.  And I use my guards, chainsaw chaps and on and on.
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

Phorester


Cringing when I read that, Kirk.  Hope you get along well with all the recuperation and therapy.

I worked in a furniture factory one summer in college. Miter saws, horizontal and vertical borers, band saws, sanding machines, edgers, splicers, shapers, molders, every wood using tool you can think of.  Those things cut fast. Most of the people who had been there 10 years or more were missing a digit or two.  A couple of 25+ year ones were missing several.  One lady cut off 1/2 her ring finger while I was working there.  Seems the longer you do such an occupation, the more chance you have of losing one, no matter how much safety is built into the machines and how much experience the operator has.

Good luck.

Percy

Whoooa, bummer abouth the finger(s) Sawyerkirk and others. I have been blessed as Im 50 and still have all my fingers. I play guitar alot and it would really upset me if I couldnt play anymore. I can only imagine what an excellent typist might feel like after loosing a finger or two. As far as the money goes, Im sure you couldda found someone to cut them off for alot less..... :D Just kidding :D :D
GOLDEN RULE : The guy with the gold, makes the rules.

CHARLIE

SawyerKirk, I'm sorry to hear that you lost your finger, but glad there was someone that chose the profession that could get you stitched up before infection set in.

Sometimes I think the reason hospitals charge so much is because they know the insurance company will pay most of it. If the insurance company ever says they will cover more, the hospitals will raise their prices.  Don't get me wrong though.....I think insurance companies are crooks too. In fact, I'l bet they'll get every dime of what they paid,  back out of you.....higher premiums.
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

Fla._Deadheader


  Just read this morning about a guy that was using a Nail Gun. It backfired and shot a nail into the roof of his mouth ??????  Didn't realize it for 2-3 days. Thought he had a toothache. ??????
  Ennyhoo, total hospital bill was between $80,000.00--$100,000.00.  Who's making all the money, here ??????
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

D._Frederick

The hospitals are covering the cost for people they are forced to provide medical care to that do not pay. If we would keep the illegals out of the country, are medical costs would be lower.

rebocardo

I am sorry for the loss of your finger. I know it is a stinky empty type of feeling losing a finger. I hope your recovery goes well.

I know our personal medical disablement plan pays something like $5k for a finger loss, after the medical bills. Though it does not begin to cover future monetary loss, it certainly is more then our grandfathers ever had.

LIL



HEY FLA

I just read this mornings newspaper and read the same article here in NZ!!!  :)

Was that the guy with the wife whose the Dental Assistant????  The article said that it happened often - nailguns misfiring and those using them not realising they had hurt themselves :-/
Hobbies and Interests  

Interests revolve around my partners love of sawmills! - Hence being his NUMBER ONE OFFLOADER - Myself - I like the smell of sawdust. If I had my choice I would have BIG MACHINERY - who wouldn't want their own combine harvester and an 18 wheeler (Scania)

DanG

I just saw that on tv. They showed an Xray of it. The nail was imbedded vertically in the roof of his mouth, with the point up. I also looked at my nail gun. There ain't but one place for a nail to come out of it, and that is on the bottom. Besides, the nails point downward, and that one was pointing upward. Something smell's of fish, here.  Now I can believe that he tricked out the gun and the nail ricocheted(sp) into his tater trap, but the gun didn't backfire, and wasn't fired directly into his mouth. In the latter case, it would have come out the top of his haid!  Whatcha bet he's just trying to sue the folks that made the nail gun? ::)
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

UNCLEBUCK

Hope you are able to deal with your accident, I play alot of 5 string bluegrass banjo and I never stop to think about what if something ever happened like that to me because I spend alot of time pushing wood through a bandsaw each week and I think that it would mentally beat me down and out where I couldnt do the things that make me happy but then knowing me I would think about the boys over in Iraq and be glad I am alive and well here minus some fingers .. You will be allright but I bet it isnt easy on the mind for many years . Take care
UNCLEBUCK    bridge burner/bridge mender

Faron

Kirk, sorry to hear about your accident.  My dad lost two fingers years ago in a cornpicker.  I hope you get along as well as he has, although he says it still hurts if he bumps the end of his stubs.
The fellow I bought my farm from had a ford tractor that wasn't charging.  He thought the belt might be loose, and tapped it with his index finger.  It caught his finger and took it through the pulley, cutting the finger off about the middle of the fingernail.  ER trip.  After the finger healed, the tractor still wasn't charging.  He again wondered if the belt was loose, and again tapped it with his index finger.  You know the rest of the story. This time it cut the finger off at the first joint.  He said it was awfully embarrassing to make that second ER trip ::).
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner.  Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote. - Ben Franklin

whitepe

I just heard this story yesterday as my friend and I spent the
day cruising the local area woodworking stores and had lunch at pizza hut. I have done some sawing for him. We used to work together but he now has retired.  He has a step daughter who went into premature labor back in Nov. She delivered the baby at home before medical assistance arrived and unfortunately the baby passed away. When they finally arrived at the hospital, the baby was already gone and the hospital charged them for delivering a baby.   Several phone calls later and they eventually got the charge removed.
All in the interest of trying to get revenue from insurance companies.  It's no wonder medical costs are skyrocketing.
blue by day, orange by night and green in between

sawyerkirk

Everything is healed up now, it is still tender if I hit it on something. About the only draw back I have had with it is that I can't grip a hammer as well as I use to and it gets cold easily.. My wife was a nurse before we had kids, so she took pretty good notes when the doc sewed me up.  

pasbuild

Kirk you should see the bill when they put a finger back on took me three years to pay the bill  :(
the real sad part is I told  the doctor to leave it off and just do a little flap with what was left and he wouldn't hear of it  >:(
If it can't be nailed or glued then screw it

Phorester


Many years ago I saw a fellow in a bar who had lost both hands almost to his elbows in a corn picker.  The bartender would open his can of beer for him and turn the can so the hole faced him. The guy would pick it up in his teeth, tilt his head back and drink.  We learn to adjust........

sawyerkirk

My family has always been in the sawing/logging business, I can remember as a kid going to family reunions down in Kentucky and all the old men and their disfigurments!! One had his hand ripped off when a chain got wrapped around it and the horse got spooked, his son had his cut off by a skidder cable! The list goes on! Oh yeah, when people say " I really didn't know it happened till (insert reason here)" I knew it happened the exact second it happened! Had an uncle that got his thumb cut off in a haybinder when he young, his mom sewed it on as best she could, and he lived to be 90 with a floppy thumb!! neighbor of mine lost his leg as a kid in a grain auger, went on to win state wresting 4 years in highschool, and college! never had or used a fake leg, could run faster than most guys! everyone be carful!!

Faron

I guess my dad was very lucky just to loose two fingers in his corn picker accident.  The machine caught his glove and was pulling him into the machine.  He got hold of the roller with his left hand and applied enough pressure that he broke the drive chain.  He was 22 at the time, and a man of extraordinary strength.  I suppose  the burst of adrinaline from being dragged into the machine helped him stop the machine.  Also I think the good Lord knew he had three little kids at home who were going to need his guidence in the years to come.  
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner.  Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote. - Ben Franklin

Don_Papenburg

One of the neighbors got circumsized by a pto shaft years ago .  Just steped over the shaft like so many times before and it caught his pant leg .  Stay away from those turning things
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

Swede

Was sawing for a customer last year. He wanted to help but ran too close to the blade. . I told him the speed was 72`/sec. and on every inch there is one ugly teeth. If the blade breake this would happen;

1 You look at Your arm laing in the mud.
2 You look where Your arm used to be.
3 You look at the arm in the mud again and understand it´s YOURS.
4 You´ll be screaming MY ARM, MY ARM!!!!  :o :o :o

He went on runing to close to the blade  >:(

I turned the mill off and told him he had to pay for the time I didn´t saw. He never ran before the blade again. ;D ;D ;D
Had a mobile band sawmill, All hydraulics  for logs 30\"x19´, remote control. (sold it 2009-04-13)
Monkey Blades.Sold them too)
Jonsered 535/15\". Just cut firewood now.

johncinquo

Hey let us know if you find that finger come spring.  That'll make quite the souvenere!
To be one, Ask one
Masons and Shriners

sawyerkirk

I'd say it is long gone, I called my brother in law on the way to the hospital to have him go look for it, he said all he saw were a bunch of cats fighting over what looked like a little bloody mouse. We have since put in a new floor where it happened, so I'd say its gone for good.   I bet I was a site to see trying to drive a stick shift, with a coat wrapped around my hand and talk on the phone at the same time!!!   Did I mention the flat bed I was driving only tops out about 50 on the highway?  

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