The Clippers won't even help a cancer victim ......

[Ashy Larry]

Kim Hughes was in trouble, more trouble than he ever envisioned.

While working as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers seven years ago, Hughes was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

But Hughes was told not to worry. His doctor assured him the cancer was slow growing and felt Hughes could wait several months before undergoing surgery.

But Hughes had an issue with that. The Clippers were about to go to training camp and Hughes, a basketball junkie with a voracious work ethic, didn't want to miss a day of work.

"My doctor told me he would do the surgery in a couple of months and then I'd be off my feet for a couple of months," said Hughes, who played at the University of Wisconsin. "He said, ‘You know this is major surgery.' "

Hughes confided in Mike Dunleavy, then the Clippers head coach, about his dilemma. Dunleavy suggested Hughes consult with another doctor he knew and perhaps Hughes' surgery could be sooner.

Dunleavy's suggestion paid off. Hughes' new doctor, Stuart Holden, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, was receptive to doing the surgery the following week.

But then Hughes encountered yet another major obstacle.

"I contacted the Clippers about medical coverage and they said the surgery wouldn't be covered," Hughes said. "I said, ‘Are you kidding me?' And they said if they did it for one person, they'd have to do for everybody else."

When Dunleavy learned the Clippers wouldn't cover the cost of Hughes' surgery, he mentioned it to his players.

Several of them, including now Milwaukee Bucks forward Corey Maggette, Chris Kaman, Elton Brand and Marko Jaric, were taken aback by the news and decided to offer their assistance.

"Kim was one of our coaches and he's a really good friend of mine, too," Maggette said. "He was in a situation where the Clippers' medical coverage wouldn't cover his surgery. I thought it was a great opportunity to help someone in need, to do something that Christ would do.

"It shows your humanity, that you care for other people and not just yourself. Kim was in a life-and-death situation."

It was indeed a dicey time for Hughes. After a biopsy was taken, he learned his prostate cancer was much worse than he believed.

The cancer had quickly spread and was on the brink of moving to other areas of his body.

If Hughes had delayed the surgery, and if Maggette and his teammates hadn't provided the necessary financial assistance, Hughes doesn't know what would have occurred.

Well, actually, he does.

"Those guys saved my life," Hughes said. "They paid the whole medical bill. It was like $70,000 or more. It wasn't cheap.

"It showed you what classy people they are. They didn't want me talking about it; they didn't want the recognition because they simply felt it was the right thing to do."

Hughes said he will be forever grateful to Brand, Jaric, Kaman and Maggette. In fact, Hughes said every time he runs into any of them, he thanks them from the bottom of his heart.

Maggette said that was indeed the case, laughing how he has repeatedly told Hughes over the years it wasn't necessary.

"Kim thanks me every time he sees me; he does that every single time," Maggette said smiling. "I've said to him, ‘Kim, come on. You don't have to do that. You're good.'

"It just shows you what kind of person he is, to keep thanking me all the time for that. Like I said, it was just my time to serve another human being.

"I think if anyone on my team is in that kind of situation, I would try to help him out if I could. That's just the person I am. I was raised that way."

Hughes said Maggette's concern and generosity illustrate how sometimes people erroneously perceive others.

"Corey is perceived by some people as not being a good person because he seems to be aloof and arrogant," Hughes said. "But they don't know him. He's a good man; he's a great man.

"You can have all the money, all the success, all that stuff, all those so-called important things in life, but in the end, you're judged by what you did for your fellow man. Corey will always be an important part of my life. What he and those other guys did for me put things in perspective.''

http://www.journaltimes.com/sports/bucks/article_efc79902-4ebd-11e0-8c1b-001cc4c002e0.html


I try to root for this organization but it's fuckin' hopeless.....

[ploto]

I wish there were actual details about what kind of insurance plan the Clippers have for their employees that would not cover surgery for prostate cancer.

[The Gemini Method]

Very honorable at what Maggette, Brand, Jaric, and Kaman did for Kim Hughes. I remember the Clippers' tandem of Lawler and Smith made mention of what was done for him and that is a remarkable showing of compassion from athletes whom usually get a greedy rep instead of a generous one.

Not surprising that the Clips would deny one of their own the cost of surgery. That's just how cheap Sterling is.

[BoricuaCJA]

That's not right, at least the Clippers should of covered half of it at least.

[DPG21920]

Nice to hear these stories.

[Kyle Orton]

I can't believe the NBA allows owners like Sterling to repeatedly do this. Eventually they should step in.

[DPG21920]

You don't always see people do the right thing....

[mindcrime]

Very honorable at what Maggette, Brand, Jaric, and Kaman did for Kim Hughes. I remember the Clippers' tandem of Lawler and Smith made mention of what was done for him and that is a remarkable showing of compassion from athletes whom usually get a greedy rep instead of a generous one.

Not surprising that the Clips would deny one of their own the cost of surgery. That's just how cheap Sterling is.

:tu

I have a newfound respect for these players as human beings.

[HarlemHeat37]

All the stories I've heard about Maggette portray him as a great person..everybody, including myself, doesn't think of him that way(before hearing stories like these), just because of the style of play he shows on the court, tbh:lol..

As for Sterling..the guy is worth over 500 mil, you would think he would have a legit insurance plan for his staff..

[TE]

Props to the players who helped this man.

[DPG21920]

I can't believe their plan wouldn't cover this. Unreal. Like Harlem said, you have a respect for people that step up, do the right thing, and pay for what they owe. Clippers owed it to their employee and they didn't step up. People who don't shouldn't be allowed to exist.

[ALVAREZ6]

All the stories I've heard about Maggette

xN_ljDfevB0


CROFL NBA refereeing.

[LnGrrrR]

xN_ljDfevB0


CROFL NBA refereeing.

:lol That's... pretty awful.

[Otaku]

My father in law was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year, and he had surgery 10 days ago (he's fine now). They took out the whole prostate and sent it for analisys.

The whole procedure, including 3 days internation at the hospital was around 10.000 argentine pesos (around 2.500 USD). How come the one in the article is 70.000 USD??? They used gold knives??


Fishy.

[The Gemini Method]

My father in law was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year, and he had surgery 10 days ago (he's fine now). They took out the whole prostate and sent it for analisys.

The whole procedure, including 3 days internation at the hospital was around 10.000 argentine pesos (around 2.500 USD). How come the one in the article is 70.000 USD??? They used gold knives??


Fishy.

American vs. Argentine Medical Care possibly?

Also, could be due to the expertise of the surgeon that he was attempting to have surgery from. I would also venture to guess the amount of damage the metastasizing cancer has caused.

I know that w/o med. insurance, my dad's cancer surgery would've been nearly $60,000 with all that was included. Granted, he didn't have prostate cancer...but still.

The premise is that Sterling and Co. have routinely been the scum of the ownership world (human race, too).

[4>0rings]

My father in law was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year, and he had surgery 10 days ago (he's fine now). They took out the whole prostate and sent it for analisys.

The whole procedure, including 3 days internation at the hospital was around 10.000 argentine pesos (around 2.500 USD). How come the one in the article is 70.000 USD??? They used gold knives??


Fishy.
Same reason you can cross the border to Canada or Mexico and buy medication at a 10th of the cost compared to here.

[DPG21920]

Some of these things (cancer) between multiple surgeries, hospital stays, treatments and medicine, can run upward of a million dollars.

[sefant77]

american health care is one of the biggest jokes in the world. And a pretty sad one.

[TE]

american health care is one of the biggest jokes in the world. And a pretty sad one.

This.


But tbh universal health care is just a tad less bad, but it's still bad.

The world is one messed up place.

[lefty]

It's a good Maggette was overpaid

[DJ Mbenga]

i wonder if the coach was black? if he wasnt imagine if he was black. would have been way worse sterling would have probably fired him.

[j.dizzle]

LOL Sterling is crooked as hell. He's a dirty slumlord who owns a shitload of property. Im pretty sure he's a billionaire.

[sribb43]

as a cancer survivor, I say fuck Donald Sterling. That cockhold bitch...maybe him and KG can share a room together

[boutons_deux]

My father in law was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year, and he had surgery 10 days ago (he's fine now). They took out the whole prostate and sent it for analisys.

The whole procedure, including 3 days internation at the hospital was around 10.000 argentine pesos (around 2.500 USD). How come the one in the article is 70.000 USD???

American medicine is for-profit, HUGE profit. In that $70K, probably more than half is profit.

A couple friends had it in SA. A US robotic surgeon costs about $8K, then $2K for the anethesiologist, MRIs, and $15K - $20K for one night in the hospital and robot rental. About $30K total for about 24 hours in the hospital.

That $70K was for surgery, plus radiation (for the cancer outside of the gland), multiple MRIs, and probably hormonal treatment.

Even if the Clips health plan for staff was catastrophe insurance ($3K-$5K deductible), it would have covered a catastrophe like cancer surgery and radiation. This story put Clips ownership in even worse light than being a basketball catastrophe.

[ElNono]

My father in law was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year, and he had surgery 10 days ago (he's fine now). They took out the whole prostate and sent it for analisys.

The whole procedure, including 3 days internation at the hospital was around 10.000 argentine pesos (around 2.500 USD). How come the one in the article is 70.000 USD??? They used gold knives??

Fishy.

It's not fishy. Differences:

1) Salary of doctor (which needs to include doctor's malpractice insurance)
2) Salary of anesthesiologist (which needs to include anesthesiologist's malpractice insurance)
3) Hospital malpractice insurance (in Argieland there's a tort limit for malpractice, not so in the US)
4) Cost of hospital stay (free or cheap in Argieland, about $3000/day in the US)
5) Some of the medicine cannot be generics (due to patents in the US, most all generics in Argieland)
6) Cost of labs/tests (overload/repetition of tests in the US due to CYA attitude in case of a lawsuit, no such problem in Argentina)

That's why Medical Tourism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_tourism) is widespread...

EDIT: Forgot to add because it's kind of obvious around these places, but the Doctor, Anesthesiologist and Hospital all make a fairly decent earning out of the whole thing. Not necessarily always the case in Argieland.

[ElNono]

As far as the OP, lots of respect for the players involved. Sterling is a piece of shit.

[cobbler]

as a cancer survivor, I say fuck Donald Sterling. That cockhold bitch...maybe him and KG can share a room together

:tu on beating and staying ahead in the battle. May it forever stay that way for you and family. My hats off to you! :toast

[duncan228]

Fear and loathing of David Stern (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-sternnba031511)
By Adrian Wojnarowski

The commissioner’s office will never escape this truth: In so many ways, Donald Sterling has carried out the NBA ownership vision of David Stern.

Bully and mistreat your employees.

Treat the front office and coaches like necessary evils with bare minimum salaries and staffing.

Turn a profit in a sparkling new arena.

Stern has long preached that coaches are too expensive, scouts too plentiful and perhaps no one has heeded the commissioner’s words like the Los Angeles Clippers’ owner. He has a history of hiring them cheap, and refusing to honor contracts. The NBA has a history of letting it go without protests.

Yes, Stern’s silence and inaction on Sterling’s despicable behavior has to be considered as some level of approval. Now, Kim Hughes tells the story to the Racine (Wis.) Journal-Times about how Sterling didn’t pay for his prostate cancer surgery as a Clippers assistant coach several years ago. Clippers players contributed much of the $70,000 needed to take care of the costs that weren’t covered by Hughes’ medical insurance.

And once Sterling fires those coaches and scouts, he often stops paying the balance of their contracts. He dares them to sue. Some can, and do. Some can’t afford the legal fight and end up settling for pennies on the dollar.

This happened with scouts Scott Wissel and Jerry Holloway a year ago. They made less than six figures a year, and the Clippers simply stopped paying them. Essentially, Sterling was telling them, “The season’s over, and so what if your deal runs October to October. It’s April, get lost and we aren’t paying you.”

Eventually, Holloway won a settlement, and Wissel had to fight more than a year to get part of his money. Where was the league office? Where was Stern’s indignity?

This has been going on for years, and the commissioner’s office has allowed it. Often the only injustices in the NBA are injustices directed at Stern. He saves his moral indignity for those daring to challenge him, like Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy late last week. For Stern, here was a crusade worthy of his ire.

Keep reading... (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-sternnba031511)

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-sternnba031511

[Jacob1983]

That sucks about the cancer victim. You're a real fuckin prick if you won't cover your employee's medical bills especially when you can. And excellent yahoo article about Stern being a bully.

[sribb43]

:tu on beating and staying ahead in the battle. May it forever stay that way for you and family. My hats off to you! :toast

Thanks bro... I wish I could beat Sterling's ass just like I beat the disease

[baseline bum]

Wow, no wonder Brand wanted out of there so quickly. I can't wait until Blake walks from that piece of shit franchise.

[Jt.ONE]

It's a good Maggette was overpaid

:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao:rollin:rollin:rollin:lol :lol:lol

[KillerMamba]

Clearly, DTS is a piece of shit, but the article doesn't state that Hughes' surgery was covered by the teams insurance, only that he probably wanted to get it done by an out of network physician. Not excusing him, but the media (and especially "Ball don't lie") has a way of distorting the facts, and leaving out information.

[Kyle Orton]

as a cancer survivor, I say fuck Donald Sterling. That cockhold bitch...maybe him and KG can share a room together
Tbh I'm not trying to be a dick at all, but I do find it funny a cancer survivor can be so pessimistic :lol

[elbamba]

It's not fishy. Differences:

1) Salary of doctor (which needs to include doctor's malpractice insurance)
2) Salary of anesthesiologist (which needs to include anesthesiologist's malpractice insurance)
3) Hospital malpractice insurance (in Argieland there's a tort limit for malpractice, not so in the US)
4) Cost of hospital stay (free or cheap in Argieland, about $3000/day in the US)
5) Some of the medicine cannot be generics (due to patents in the US, most all generics in Argieland)
6) Cost of labs/tests (overload/repetition of tests in the US due to CYA attitude in case of a lawsuit, no such problem in Argentina)

That's why Medical Tourism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_tourism) is widespread...

EDIT: Forgot to add because it's kind of obvious around these places, but the Doctor, Anesthesiologist and Hospital all make a fairly decent earning out of the whole thing. Not necessarily always the case in Argieland.

Actaully, many states have tort caps on medmal. Yet the insurance prices to doctors and hospitals continues to rise. I believe in Cali, it is capped at 250,000. Sure does suck if a doctor takes off the wrong body part.

[sribb43]

Tbh I'm not trying to be a dick at all, but I do find it funny a cancer survivor can be so pessimistic :lol

I'll still knock a bitch out :lol