R
RobinBuddi
Guest
Hello,
I'm in need of some legal advice. I am a 29 year old man living in Iowa. On February 13th, 2000, after five or six months from the time I had first discovered a rather large lump in my left armpit, I was diagnosed with cancer, Non-Hogkins Lymphoma Stage II, (possibly even Stage III)
In short, I was between jobs at the time and wasn't employed during the time of the diagnosis, thus had no medical insurance. Without any medical insurance, I am very limited to treatment options, and very limited as to where I can go to get the much needed care and treatments. The city that I live in, has a pretty good "Cancer Center" where those people with medical insurance can go for any care or needed treatments of chemotherapy and radiation, however, I'm indigent and this is not an option for me. For anything that I need or must have, like my regular scheduled appts., staging or progression check-ups, and the much dreaded chemo and radiation treatments etc., I have to travel roughly 500 miles, way across the state of Iowa to the UIHC (University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics) They accept and treat people like me without insurance.
Anyways, I can honestly tell you that I have always been really good with paying my child support payments, I've always been on time, and payed the payments in full (very rarely have I ever been late, but it has happened, as I'm only human) Well, it was right around the time that I first discovered the golf ball sized lump, which as you might imagine, required several frequent visits to my family doctor, in which over a period of about five months of various testing etc., had really turned out to be an extremely expensive situation to deal with, and therefore, I had become unable to make my child support payments, and worse yet, eventually I was unable to pay my local doctor appointment bills. Even though this is an unmanagable situation for me, being unable to fullfill my obligation, it has had a major effect on my life in many ways, it has lowered my self-esteem, lowered my self worth, and has replaced my, what some dads might refer to as "a fathers sense of pride", with a lot of heartache, saddness, and pain.
It really has been one crazy, white-knuckled roller coaster ride to say the least, from that point in time, right up to the present day. I had received a letter in the mail from the assistant county attorney saying that there was a warrant to be issued for my arrest for non-payment of support. I'd then personally delivered copies of my diagnosis papers to my appointed public defenders office (a very sorry excuse for an attorney) and to the assistant county attorneys office, whom is also in charge of the Child Support Recovery court, because he was threatening to issue a warrant or mittimus to have me thrown in jail for a manditory of 10 days for non-payment of child support. The assistant county attorney that is involved here, is a very difficult man to deal with. He don't have the slightest care if you are out in the cold and sleeping under a bridge inside of a cardboard box without having so much as even a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out, a very cold man, to say the least.
After returning home from a trip to see my doctor at the University of Iowas Hospitals and Clinics, in the mail was another notice that there was still a bench warrant for non-payment of support, I was just furious over this. The next day I ended up going in to talk to a federal magistrate judge who had then ordered that the "said warrant or mittimus be withheld at this time, the court finds that the said defendant has cancer, and that no mittimus shall be ordered until defendants cancer has gone into remission." The assistant county attorney didn't want to accept that, he wanted a document from my doctor stating reasons as to why I am unable to work. So I had my doctor provide the document that was requested, it had stated the following:
"Dear Mr. John Doe (Asst. Cty. Attorney),
John Henry (Me) has been under my continuing care. He has just been diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma, although treatable, it is a non-curable form of cancer. I have referred him to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Oncology section. His prognosis is guarded. I remain optimistic, however, at a minimum he can expect a long and difficult period of aggressive treatment. Obviously, this has created a tremendous emotional and financial hardship for him. It will necessitate many trips to Iowa City. I would ask your understanding on Robin's behalf during this difficult time. Please feel free to contact me if I can provide any additional information.
Sincerely,
(Doctors Name) D.O. "
Well, I couldn't hardly believe it, but apparently he was still not satisfied with that, because two weeks later I received another letter from the assistant county attorney stating that he needed "more specific information as to what it is about my cancer that makes me unable to work."
This man has no sense of basic common understanding, and he has absolutely no compasion for human life.
Two weeks ago, I was pulled over and arrested for nonpayment of child support, a bench warrant mittimus was ordered to serve ten days in jail manditory. I went to jail and served five days before I finally was released after a federal judge ordered that I be released forthwith. Also, a date was set to go to court to provide the court with a medical opinion from my doctor that my illness prevents me from working. My public pretender wanted me to sign some agreement that said if I failed to provide this documentation, that I would then agree to serve the remainder of the original ten days in jail. We got into a big argument because I didn't want to sign anything that agrees for me to go to jail. I don't feel as though I did anything wrong for me to be put in jail to begin with. He was mad and walked off and came back five minutes later with the same agreement, only he had crossed out with a pen, the part stating that I would agree to serve the remainder of the ten days, and instead, he then wrote at the bottom: "will let the judge decide." I didn't really want to, but I figured that was almost fair, and I signed it. I really feel like I'm on one side of the fence, and the public defender and assistant county attorney on on the other side.
Something has just got to give!!! At this point, I really feel that I have exausted my efforts to provide the necessary documentation that has been requested. I now feel as though that this is really turning out to be just unnecessary harassment. Point blank, I have enough going on in my life right now. Yes, I do feel that child support is a very imortant issue and I have always felt that way about it, however, when someone is dealing with an extremely serious illness such as cancer, nothing takes priority over it. The gathering of all the information that's available and learning as much as possible about that illness, as well as the whole process of receiving the necessary treatments and therapy, and then eventually healing and getting better. Don't get me wrong, I do plan on eventually going back to work and getting back with the responsibilities that naturally come with life. In fact, not working is too boring, and I'm tired of being poor, I really can't wait to go back to work again.
I am asking for anyone with has any legal advise, tips, suggestions, or comments, Please e-mail me, Robin, at: [email protected] It would really be very much appreciated. I need all the help I can get.
Thanks a million!!!
Robin
I'm in need of some legal advice. I am a 29 year old man living in Iowa. On February 13th, 2000, after five or six months from the time I had first discovered a rather large lump in my left armpit, I was diagnosed with cancer, Non-Hogkins Lymphoma Stage II, (possibly even Stage III)
In short, I was between jobs at the time and wasn't employed during the time of the diagnosis, thus had no medical insurance. Without any medical insurance, I am very limited to treatment options, and very limited as to where I can go to get the much needed care and treatments. The city that I live in, has a pretty good "Cancer Center" where those people with medical insurance can go for any care or needed treatments of chemotherapy and radiation, however, I'm indigent and this is not an option for me. For anything that I need or must have, like my regular scheduled appts., staging or progression check-ups, and the much dreaded chemo and radiation treatments etc., I have to travel roughly 500 miles, way across the state of Iowa to the UIHC (University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics) They accept and treat people like me without insurance.
Anyways, I can honestly tell you that I have always been really good with paying my child support payments, I've always been on time, and payed the payments in full (very rarely have I ever been late, but it has happened, as I'm only human) Well, it was right around the time that I first discovered the golf ball sized lump, which as you might imagine, required several frequent visits to my family doctor, in which over a period of about five months of various testing etc., had really turned out to be an extremely expensive situation to deal with, and therefore, I had become unable to make my child support payments, and worse yet, eventually I was unable to pay my local doctor appointment bills. Even though this is an unmanagable situation for me, being unable to fullfill my obligation, it has had a major effect on my life in many ways, it has lowered my self-esteem, lowered my self worth, and has replaced my, what some dads might refer to as "a fathers sense of pride", with a lot of heartache, saddness, and pain.
It really has been one crazy, white-knuckled roller coaster ride to say the least, from that point in time, right up to the present day. I had received a letter in the mail from the assistant county attorney saying that there was a warrant to be issued for my arrest for non-payment of support. I'd then personally delivered copies of my diagnosis papers to my appointed public defenders office (a very sorry excuse for an attorney) and to the assistant county attorneys office, whom is also in charge of the Child Support Recovery court, because he was threatening to issue a warrant or mittimus to have me thrown in jail for a manditory of 10 days for non-payment of child support. The assistant county attorney that is involved here, is a very difficult man to deal with. He don't have the slightest care if you are out in the cold and sleeping under a bridge inside of a cardboard box without having so much as even a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out, a very cold man, to say the least.
After returning home from a trip to see my doctor at the University of Iowas Hospitals and Clinics, in the mail was another notice that there was still a bench warrant for non-payment of support, I was just furious over this. The next day I ended up going in to talk to a federal magistrate judge who had then ordered that the "said warrant or mittimus be withheld at this time, the court finds that the said defendant has cancer, and that no mittimus shall be ordered until defendants cancer has gone into remission." The assistant county attorney didn't want to accept that, he wanted a document from my doctor stating reasons as to why I am unable to work. So I had my doctor provide the document that was requested, it had stated the following:
"Dear Mr. John Doe (Asst. Cty. Attorney),
John Henry (Me) has been under my continuing care. He has just been diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma, although treatable, it is a non-curable form of cancer. I have referred him to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Oncology section. His prognosis is guarded. I remain optimistic, however, at a minimum he can expect a long and difficult period of aggressive treatment. Obviously, this has created a tremendous emotional and financial hardship for him. It will necessitate many trips to Iowa City. I would ask your understanding on Robin's behalf during this difficult time. Please feel free to contact me if I can provide any additional information.
Sincerely,
(Doctors Name) D.O. "
Well, I couldn't hardly believe it, but apparently he was still not satisfied with that, because two weeks later I received another letter from the assistant county attorney stating that he needed "more specific information as to what it is about my cancer that makes me unable to work."
This man has no sense of basic common understanding, and he has absolutely no compasion for human life.
Two weeks ago, I was pulled over and arrested for nonpayment of child support, a bench warrant mittimus was ordered to serve ten days in jail manditory. I went to jail and served five days before I finally was released after a federal judge ordered that I be released forthwith. Also, a date was set to go to court to provide the court with a medical opinion from my doctor that my illness prevents me from working. My public pretender wanted me to sign some agreement that said if I failed to provide this documentation, that I would then agree to serve the remainder of the original ten days in jail. We got into a big argument because I didn't want to sign anything that agrees for me to go to jail. I don't feel as though I did anything wrong for me to be put in jail to begin with. He was mad and walked off and came back five minutes later with the same agreement, only he had crossed out with a pen, the part stating that I would agree to serve the remainder of the ten days, and instead, he then wrote at the bottom: "will let the judge decide." I didn't really want to, but I figured that was almost fair, and I signed it. I really feel like I'm on one side of the fence, and the public defender and assistant county attorney on on the other side.
Something has just got to give!!! At this point, I really feel that I have exausted my efforts to provide the necessary documentation that has been requested. I now feel as though that this is really turning out to be just unnecessary harassment. Point blank, I have enough going on in my life right now. Yes, I do feel that child support is a very imortant issue and I have always felt that way about it, however, when someone is dealing with an extremely serious illness such as cancer, nothing takes priority over it. The gathering of all the information that's available and learning as much as possible about that illness, as well as the whole process of receiving the necessary treatments and therapy, and then eventually healing and getting better. Don't get me wrong, I do plan on eventually going back to work and getting back with the responsibilities that naturally come with life. In fact, not working is too boring, and I'm tired of being poor, I really can't wait to go back to work again.
I am asking for anyone with has any legal advise, tips, suggestions, or comments, Please e-mail me, Robin, at: [email protected] It would really be very much appreciated. I need all the help I can get.
Thanks a million!!!
Robin