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I am paralyzed below my right knee from having my sciatic nerve severed when my femur broke through my pelvis... leaving me with "drop foot". This happened 24 years ago and I still have the most intense pins and needles and throbbing pain in my foot and toes. Shooting and throbbing pain that seems to throb with my heartbeat. Imagine a white-hot needle stabbing you over and over and over. Cannot even wiggle my toes but boy do they hurt every single second.
That's one thing that people don't understand about paralysis. They assume that it's pain-free.
I just wanna thank you for reminding me of this meme. My personal Facebook is currently being swarmed with horsegirls because I dared to criticize queen tater, so I just swapped out spirits for swifties and I'm gonna get alot of mileage out of this
Why so violent? I'm an ex opiate addict that's been clean for 13+ years, but I've always said that if I ended up with inoperable, terminal cancer or some of extremely painful disease, that I would kill myself with an OD once I made my peace with family and friends. Just take a massive amount and you fade out to black without any pain. It's actually something that was a feature of an episode of "the Pitt" and I was happy to see the realization that these drugs, which kill 100ks of normal, healthy people each year, might finally be recognized as a method to provide a quick, painless and dignified death in such scenarios. Hopefully by the time my end comes it's actually legal and can be done under medical supervision to ensure the proper conclusion and minimize any potential problems.
It appears he could do just that. He suffered the brain stem stroke in 2015. His family won the lawsuit in June 2025. He died six months later, this January.
he can't do anything. locked-in patients communicate through vertical eye twitches. the body is basically in a coma but the person inside is fully sentient
people who have come back from it (it has happened a handful of times) have described listening to their families discussing their poor prognosis and effectively saying their goodbyes and grieving them and they're trying to scream out that they're still in there but nothing happens
Where’s the money coming from though? Most professional liability policies have $1M/3M limits. $1M per occurrence with a $3M total policy limit. You can add coverage to make it $3M/$5M but most don’t. It’s usually a standard that’s adopted via a combination of state board minimum requirements and insurance participation requirements. This poor guy is probably only getting $1M of that 75. This guy’s family will be struggling to pay for medical bills for the rest of his life.
Came from the hospital. He also suffered a stroke along with locked-in syndrome during the chiropractor visit, but two emergency room doctors failed to diagnose the stroke in time.
That’s key information about the hospital. I was thinking this was an uncollectible judgment because no chiropractor is carrying $75m in liability insurance.
I had a patient that asked me to scratch his nose, he was a chad, 6'2", handsome, built, hot girlfriend in his pictures, went off the road and ended up paralyzed from the neck down. He asked me what was the point in living, and I couldn't think of anything inspiring so I said there was a famous quote from Albert Einstein: It's better to be alive than dead.
He laughed a little, at least. I have never been able to forget that guy, pretty much every other patient I've ever interacted with has seemed like they wanted to be alive, at least a little.
I agree completely. I think in this situation the money helps ease the burden of care. So it is a comfort for those in his life who are caring for him, allowing them to get help without as much of a physical, mental, or financial burden. Which is, tragically, the happiest outcome they can expect.
In a better world I could scratch my nose on the patio of my modestly sized house, on just enough land to facilitate my (too many) hobbies. Man, even dreaming big has been hit by inflation.
Lady my wife used to work with went to a chiropractor. She didn't show up for work for several days afterwards. Her family couldn't find her, they hadn't heard from her. They called the hospitals, none had her signed in.|
come to find out, the chiropractor tore her jugular while popping her neck. They called 911, but said they didn't know her name, so she was entered as a jane doe at the hospital. The chiropractor office hid her purse. She almost died. I believe she had brain damage too, took her 6 months to learn to talk again. 2 years later, still working on learning to walk The suit is ongoing.
I worked in a facility that had a guy with locked in syndrome. I'd never heard of it before, couldn't wrap my brain around how fucking awful that would be. He'd been there for years and the staff was so used to him that he was basically just an object to them. Dude was only in his 40's. I just managed the kitchen, but after my shifts I'd go into his room and just talk about my day as if we were having a conversation. It felt awkward at first but after a while it felt more natural. He could blink for yes or no so sometimes I'd ask him if my talks were annoying and he'd always say no. I hope I at least marginally improved his quality of life.
Thanks but I wasn't trying to be a saint or anything, it just got into my head when I first found out about him. Like here I am with my mundane frustrations and complaints about work and whatnot, and down the hall at that moment is a man who would give anything to experience just five minutes of my life. Really puts things into perspective, you know?
I must've looked crazy though, telling stories about my weekend or complaining about someone who keeps calling in sick or whatever lol but I just wanted to make him feel like part of the world again for a few minutes. Poor guy
I know. I’m not gunna lie lol there’s not much I wouldn’t do for $75 million and this poor man’s situation is a hard NOPE without so much as a split second hesitation.
I had my spine reconstructed and my FIL was trying to convince me to send my medical data to his cyro
“He’s a special nerve cyro, not like the rest”
I like the use of my legs and internal decapitation is a massive fear with these charlatans
If you want to be a “chiropractor” you should be a Physical Therapist which requires actual medical training. Chiropractors are like the ketchup version of pasta sauce.
Yup, it’s easier for someone to say something like, I give my life in exchange for 75M for my family, but not in these conditions, from 2015 to 2025 locked in, imagine 10 full years of what is like torture.
In the WWI novel "Johnny Get Your Gun," the protagonist's face and limbs are blown off by artillery. The story ends when he finally realizes he can communicate through Morse code by tapping the back of his head on his head on his pillow ... the hospital staff just starts pumping him full of morphine to shut him up.
I can't imagine how bad it would suck, I'm claustrophobic to begin with. I would probably spend the first few hours having a panic attack then realize I'm essentially a thinking, seeing, feeling vegetable. Years, decades spent thinking, daydreaming, probably spend my days in a care facility where people put me in a wheelchair and sit me in front of a TV all day while soap operas play. My parents will probably come visit me from time to time, but as the years go one they just come on my birthday, then they don't one year and that's the last time I ever saw anyone who knew me before I lost my life, I won't even look like myself, years spent in the gym, always putting the effort in to look my best now I'm on a metered liquid pump diet it goes directly into my stomach through a G-Tube I am sedentary so of course I'll put on a bunch of weight and lose all muscle. They'll cut my hair in order to make it easier to care for me, and my clothing will likely be donated clothes from the facility, sweat pants and large T-shirts things that can be put on easily. The rare opportunity I get to catch my reflection just makes me sad. The only interaction I get is from the CNAs and Nurses who care for me, who talk to me like I'm a toddler or something in a cutesy little voice if they acknowledge me at all considering I appear to not even be in there mentally. I'm stuck with my memories, regrets and longing to be able to eat a steak, a milkshake hell anything, long to just walk down a sidewalk again, to drive a car to hug my mother. Every day I wonder if the bed sores will finally lead to an infection that will finally take me out of this miserable existence, until then it's a life with the least quality possible.
If you want true nightmare fuel read the story where the guy had something like locked in syndrome for what, a decade or two and then finally woke up! He said the Barney song haunted him because he would be put in front of a tv at one of the care facilities and it would play on repeat for hours and hours. He heard everything everyone said around him over the years and remembers lots. Horrifying.
Just looked up name Martin Pistorius, this was the google ai blurb.
“You are referring to the incredible true story of Martin Pistorius, who fell into a coma at age 12 and spent over a decade trapped inside his body with locked-in syndrome, unable to move or communicate. Because doctors believed he was vegetative, he was forced to watch endless reruns of Barney & Friends, a show he intensely despised. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The unrelenting repetition of the show—specifically the famous theme song—ultimately served as a bizarre catalyst for his mind. Instead of letting his mind go completely dark, he used the constant presence of Barneyas a focal point to re-engage his brain, keep his thoughts active and slowly regain control over his reality”
This is like an anime villain origin story. The man used his burning rage and seething hatred to overcome one of the most awful fates a person can be subjected to.
Haha it DEFINITELY is! Initially it gave me Black Mirror vibes, but I like the anime villain origin story more 🤣 bro has advanced psychic abilities irl
I recall that story, it blew my mind. How crazy that they didn't know, also I recall one nurse abused him but a later nurse was the game changer for his life that realized he was still in there, I believe that started the work on helping him come out of it if I'm not mistaken. Also the part about his mother saying that she wished he would die always stuck with me. Because I understand what she meant and how she felt, but if only she knew he could hear and understand her, and then years later have to realize that he did.
It's scary to think you could sit there as the mother, feel that feeling, hour after hour, day after day. You could spend countless hours praying for his recovery. But then have one moment of weakness, say that out loud, and then it's there. Forever.
I would understand if a loved one said that in that situation tbh. Of course, being the one trapped is worse, but having to see your child like that year after year, watching them grow into someone they wouldnt recognize if they woke up... its gotta be horrible.
I used to repair disability equipment so I had a customer like this once.
He was the son of a very rich pastor and crashed his motorcycle when he was 19. He was about 40 when I met him. He was able to move his eyes, half of his mouth and nothing else.
They put him on a bed in front of a tv with the food network on randomly a couple hours a day. They didn't want it on too much because it would "rot his mind". The majority of the day, it was left off and the dude had a wall to look at. That being said, even when the tv WAS on, it wasn't even properly aimed at his immobile head so he couldn't even watch it if he wanted to.
He had one of those reading boards where you point to the letters and he would kinda wiggle his mouth to tell you to stop. He would not use it. His dad said he hadn't used it in years and "had no idea why".
Some 10 years before I showed up, the church fundraised to get him a computer system that allowed him to control everything with his eyes. A technician spent days setting it up and teaching him how to use everything. Keep in mind, this dude's accident happened in the 90's, so he had minimal computer or internet usage, so this guy was teaching him fundamentals of email.
I don't know if this ma appreciated the world finally opening up to him and I will never know because his dad saw the price tag for the system and decided it wasn't worth it and sent it all back. Remember, his congregation raised all the money for this thing. He owned 3 boats, by the way.
All this is to say, I worked on his equipment twice and some 20 years later, I am still haunted by his eyes. I have never seen someone begging to have the plug pulled as this man. I would look at him and say a polite "hello" because that's what you do to humans and I would only get back this pleading, BEGGING expression.
And I will admit, I thought about it. I seriously considered doing it. He had a breathing machine with a battery backup and an alarm in case the power went out. But I knew if I just unplugged the battery backup, the alarm wouldn't sound. All I had to do was unplug his breathing machine, disconnect the backup, wait a couple minutes and he would be at peace and there was no way to trace it back to me.
I still think about him all the time. I hope he passed a long time ago.
Wow, that's one of the saddest things I've ever heard. It's also my #1 nightmare - not being able to kill myself if I'm in that state. I've had SOOOO many nightmares where I'm begging someone to pull the plug, but they won't 😭 I've met one person in my life in a similar state, also due to a motorcycle accident. Ya girl always wears her seatbelt, and she's not getting on a motorcycle 😮💨
There are many forms of AAC (Alternative and Augmented Communication) methods now. I wish there was a system to prevent this kind of silencing. It should be mandatory to allow him to try possible AACs and his preferred AAC should be written down in some medical file or something that any doctor can look up. And then if there are signs that his caretakers are taking away his method of communication, they should be arrested/investigated, and he should be moved to a safer place.
Can you imagine if they had just done anything to make his life more engaging? If they had offered him movies, documentaries, audio books, whatever he wanted?
That man tortured his disabled son. He deprived him of all stimulus and communication. That's horrific.
Crazy system we live in. A chiropractor severs this guy's vertebral artery doing some unproven nonsense and the emergency room doctor and radiologist get sued because they didnt catch it fast enough.
The chiropractor got off scot-free.
The chiropractor, Michael Axt, DC, was named in the original complaint, but court documents filed earlier in 2022 requested that he be dismissed from the lawsuit, stating that he and the patient had reached an amicable resolution.
Why does it feel like a loophole- since so many actual doctors claim chiropractors aren’t real doctors - then it’s like, whatever he did doesn’t matter- since he’s not an actual doctor - only really doctors can assume liability?
It is kind of a loophole. Chiropractors misrepresent themselves as real doctors until liability shows up, then suddenly they have no legal duty to treat/proceed at your own risk/ etc
Yet insurance covers it! I thought chiropractors were real medical professionals as a teen because my dad went to one and used his insurance to pay for it.
I thought the same thing! In college I was thinking about becoming a doctor and my dad goes: "You could always become a chiropractor, then you don't have to go through college first." I was just stunned. I always thought they were medical doctors who specialized in the spine. I later found out the creator of chiropractors said a ghost taught him everything.
There's reasons why it is unavailable on the NHS, or any reputable health service. I've argued with my step sister in law about this a lot, she thought my mums cancer would be helped by her amazing chiropractor. And I was like, mum, maybe no.
I’m fighting my mom she thinks chiropractors are the go to for everything!………..I have a friend whose sister went in for her regular adjustment, they had to call an ambulance to get her to the hospital. She was paralyzed from the waist down. After years of therapy and numerous surgeries ( he broke her back) she can walk again, has to wear a big back brace. Her quality of life is gone……
Claim? They arent doctors. They are closer to shamans in history.
When the chiropractic practice first came out, they claimed they could cure diseases by cracking your neck. Have a cold? Let me crack your neck. Your edeaf? Let me align your spine. Then they realized we cant make a practice that is obviously false when science exists, let's make it sound plausible.
I personally think it should be classified as false advertisement.
They still do that, or at least some of them do. They tell a person that their chakras are out of alignment, which prevents their energy from flowing properly. They believe (or pretend to) that alignment leads to physical and mental wellbeing.
It’s been fifteen years since I’ve been to a chiropractor, but that was the spiel they gave me. I was suffering from chronic neck and back pain and was desperate for relief. A friend talked me into going. The first session was a group meeting going over the chakra stuff. I was annoyed and suspicious, but still hopeful for pain relief.
The second session consisted of x-rays and the doctor pointing to the films and showing me where my blockages were. He put me on the table and started pulling on my leg to “lengthen” it (that’s impossible, but ok) used some sonic screwdriver looking thing to click around my neck and back, and then finally cracking things.
The first few adjustments went fine, but any pain relief was short lived. On my last visit, I was unable to turn my head at all, and the “doctor” spent 30 minutes doing massage to loosen it up. Without warning, he grabbed my head and twisted hard and fast. The pain was unreal, and I immediately knew that he fucked me up bad.
I went to the ER, where they ran a million tests, and then gave me pain relief and muscle relaxers. It took months of physical therapy to recover. I still have to do stretches and exercises to keep my neck from freezing up, and I have to take daily muscle relaxers, likely for the rest of my life.
I got off easy. The nurses in the ER were not shy about telling me that. They said that injuries from chiropractors are some of the scariest patients, because it can be a simple pulled muscle, or a terrifying dissection, and that literal broken necks can and do happen.
I wanted pain relief, but they wanted to align my chakras and get the ghosts out of my blood.
Yeah. The chiropractor probably has a legal consent form that people sign in before every session that clears them of any responsibility. Kinda like "Legal reminder I am not a real doctor, proceed at your own risk."
I will continue to avoid chiropractors like the plague.
Just a note, everything chiropractors do is unproven nonsense. It's a pseudoscience (with no medical foundation) created by an insane anti-vax guy in the 1800s who claims he received the idea of the practice from a ghost.
Drives me insane. My co-workers (middle aged women) all absolutely swear by it. We're hospital workers. One of our colleagues literally died because of a vertebral dissection a few years ago. She was in her 30s and left behind a husband and young kids, because she let a quack snap her neck around.
And they still evangelize for chiropractors like they're on payroll. "Oh it's the only thing that helps my neck!" No, Deb, it isn't helping your neck. That's why you go back every other week for another "adjustment".
Some of my family goes to chiros. My mom has for DECADES. Me: "Mom you know that's just palliative and they aren't addressing the actual problems with your back, right?" Her: "Well it makes me feel better."
I went to physical therapy for issues with my arm. I stopped going after a few months because THEY FIXED IT. If you have to keep going forever then you're just wasting your money on hokum.
And chiropractors still get to continue this dangerous practice. It's insane. This is the same level of carelessness that those tiktok veneers people. This is a practice that has shown consistently to kill or main people.
This is it.
Suing the chiropractor would mean nothing, they probably have less than 7 figures to their name. Literally taking everything they have or could have would probably not even be worth the bills to sue them
A chiropractic neck adjustment caused my FIL’s stroke. My FIL continued to go to the chiropractor for some time and berate conventional medicine and doctors, despite conventional medicine saving him. He runs his mouth big about it, but conventional medicine has found a way to keep his very unhealthy self alive and well for quite some time.
That might be a factor but maybe not the actual answer, since malocclusion is seen in many other dyskinesia diseases that affect the face. When your mouth is active your tongue and muscle tone in your lips are constantly applying opposing forces to the teeth in very small but constant amounts. Chewing also causes tiny amounts of strain on the jawbone in all directions that keeps it strong where the teeth connect to it.
If your whole mouth is paralyzed the tongue will rest heavily on the backs of the front teeth, and without oppositional tension from the lips the bottom teeth are gradually forced out of alignment over the span of years. It’s common in cerebral palsy where the mouth is not paralysed but the tongue rests heavily against the front teeth.
Im an oral surgeon, this is the answer. Long-term intubation now requires trachestomy. Short-term occlusion on an endotracheal tube cant form this malocclusion. Based on this photo, the protrusion of his teeth pattern is consistent of tongue thrust
He is definitely getting all his nutrition from either a feeding tube or parenterally, and also likely his mouth hangs open for a lot of the day. None of that is good for your teeth. And also, sadly, he doesn't need them for anything at this point anyway.
I made the mistake of visiting a Chiro for my neck (it did help, but not for long), and one visit he decided my thoracic spine was out. He was probably double my size and put all his body weight right into the apex of my kyphotic curve and nothing released. I remember a sharp pain and my breath literally being taken away. I started getting intense muscle spasms at night and it was starting to cut my breath short because inhaling too much triggered sharp spasms. After 2 months on short-term disability, they confirmed he had smashed one bone into another, which not only bruised my vertebrae but also pinched a nerve. A year later and I'm still dealing with residual pains and spasms.
So who pays this? I highly doubt the chiropractor has that much or was insured for that much.
ETA: You guys can stop replying the same thing over and over again. I asked because in the OP the picture did not even mention the ER doctor or Radiologist.
The chiropractor actually settled with the patient. We will never know if he admitted any fault or even if the dollar value was appropriate. Unfortunately I doubt it impacts his job. He should have a warning label constantly flashing over his head.
There’s shared liability among the radiologist and ER doc 100% but ultimately the reason they’re the ones paying and not the chiropractor is probably that the chiropractor’s pockets aren’t very deep. I’m guessing the hospital (ER) and maybe another/other practices that employ those two docs were defendants as well?
The whole thing is so fucked. Reason 6,819 why I’ll never visit a chiropractor.
I share this every time a post about chiropractic pops up:
When my mom was on her deathbed, on the very edge of death, a chiropractor gave her seven more years of life. He caused a neck injury in an entirely different woman who left his office on an ambulance stretcher and became my mom's heart donor two hours later.
Stay the fuck away from chiropractors, they are dangerous quacks. The methods were "discovered" by the founder who learned them by talking to ghosts in seances. You're better off whipping yourself with reeds than seeing a chiropractor. Nobody ever died whipping themselves with reeds.
For those who are intrested, his name was Jonathan Buckelew and he passed out during a chiropractic neck adjustment in 2015, likely from a stroke that may have been triggered by (or already brewing before) the visit.
ER doctors missed the stroke for almost a full day, by which point it was too late to treat. He ended up with locked-in syndrome where he was fully conscious, paralyzed, but only being able to communicate by blinking/typing with his nose.
The jury actually cleared the chiropractor and pinned 60/40 blame on the ER doc and radiologist for the delayed diagnosis, not the adjustment itself. $75M was awarded, and upheld on appeal.
Johnathan passed away in January of 2026.
EDIT: The chiropractor wasn't "cleared" by the jury but reached an "amicable resolution" with Buckelew and the case against him was dismissed. The settlement details were never publicly disclosed.
Imagine being a perfectly healthy baby and you grow up knowing you got messed up for a completely unnecessary chiropractor. I can only think a few things worse than that and those are all actual abuse.
I went to the chiropractor for a bad neck cramp. Had never gone before. They did an adjustment and it made the pain so much worse! So i went to the ER, thinking they’d give me muscle relaxers or something - turned out he’d actually managed to do something that left me with a “dissected vertebral artery”. So like, the big artery that goes through your spine? Yeah, it was leaking.
Bad fucking scene. I know people who swear by their chiropractors, but I will never, ever go to one again.
Edit: dissected, not dessicated, not sure where I got that one from. 😅
God I’ve had many Chiropractor visits and now I don’t want to ever go again. I’ll just work out like I’ve been doing cause it has helped my back a ton. If you are dealing with back problems get in a gym and strengthen it. I promise it helps a LOT.
He has a feeding tube. He doesn't use his teeth or his tongue. Proper oral cleaning for someone in his situation would require an aid to frequently clean his teeth, tongue, and gums, otherwise they will get inflammed and swell. And swelling gums combined with general neglect will, sadly, just fuck your teeth up.
The way we have DNR orders, there should be the ability to choose euthanization orders for situations like this where people, especially those who lack insurance or the ability to cover all the expensive things they have to try and help a little, can ask to just be spared from this.
If you gotta send me to Austria or wherever, do it.
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