Reason #5,634 NOT to go to Wal-Mart

I found out about this via YKWIA, who in turned heard about it from T:

Brain-damaged woman at centre of Wal-Mart suit

The human cost of Wal-Mart's great prices

Debbie Shank vs. Goliath

Wal-Mart Rethinks Its Move on Deborah Shank

Summary: Eight years ago, Deborah Shank was stocking shelves for Wal-Mart. She went out visiting yard sales and was hit by a large truck, nearly killing her and leaving her with permanent brain damage and memory issues. She is currently in a nursing home receiving care.

Shank's family sued the trucking company and won enough money to pay legal fees and put money into a trust fund to take care of her future care. That's when Wal-Mart stepped in and sued the family based on something buried in the fine print that allows them to recoup medical costs through covered employees' settlements. Most people would never see that fine print, and if she hadn't signed that agreement she would not have had any health insurance. They wanted more than the trust fund could cover, leaving the family with no way to pay for costs and actually further in debt. The family lost the case at every level. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case, giving Wal-Mart the victory.

Mr Shank divorced his wife so her Medicaid benefits would be greater. A survivor of prostate cancer himself, he works two jobs to pay for his family.

A week after they lost the case, they lost something far greater. Their eighteen-year-old son, who had been deployed in Iraq for two weeks, was killed. Even though his mother attended the funeral, her memory is such that she will speak as if he were alive and when reminded of his death, grieves anew as if being told for the first time.

Apparently after all the bad publicity (and who wouldn't have predicted that), Wal-Mart has now come out and said that they won't take the money from the Shanks.

That's good. But it should tell a lot of people to look at the fine print of their own health care plans (or at least look at the laws in your state--many prohibit this kind of thing). It does make you wonder why Wal-Mart even tries to rehabilitate its image. It puts its foot in its mouth at every turn.

The only time I step into a Wal-Mart is if I've received a gift card (as the money has already been given to the company). I'm rethinking that. I could just pass it on to someone who will use it gladly. I have to think of my own conscience, whether it's for Bangladeshi workers, gays who face discrimination in the job, or the Deborah Shanks of the world.