Kyle Willis, unemployed and struggling to take care of his 6-year-old daughter, did what many uninsured Americans do when they face a dental emergency. He ignored it.
Suffering with an abscessed wisdom tooth, Kyle finally showed up in pain and desperation at the University Hospital emergency room in Cincinnati and was given prescriptions for pain medication and an antibiotic.
Willis filled the prescription for the $3 painkiller but did not have enough money to get the $27 antibiotic, his family said. The infection in his tooth spread to his brain. In just a few days, he was dead.
Willis was the nephew of famed Cincinnati funk musician Bootsy Collins, but according to Collins’ wife Patti, Willis didn’t ask his aunt and uncle for help paying for the prescriptions because the couple was out of town.
“He was a picture of health, a handsome, vibrant, talented, intelligent young man,” she said. “I just hope this never happens to anyone else.”
Collins intends to write to President Obama and Congress to tell them about her nephew’s senseless death.
“We have got to make a difference with our health care,” she said. “With people losing their jobs, they’re having to make serious choices — do I eat, or do I get my medicine? It’s crazy. And this is America.”
Donations to the Kyle Willis Memorial Fund may be made at any PNC Bank location or mailed to the PNC Bank branch at 604 Ohio Pike, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45245-2141.
Heartbreaking story. And, enraging.
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