Those looking into the 26-year-old murder suspect have now claimed this serious back injury led to a worrying spiral in the last 12 months.
Mangione was reportedly suffering from spondylolisthesis - an issue with the vertebra - and was given four screws placed deep into his spine to help with the pain.
Former classmates of Mangione have appeared to tell reporters that the surgery went wrong and that this could have driven the Maryland man to the brink.
Spinal-fusion surgery is one of the most lucrative areas of medicine. An estimated half-million Americans had the operation this year, generating billions of dollars for hospitals and doctors.
But there have been serious questions about how much the surgery actually helps patients with back pain and whether surgeonsâ generous fees might motivate them to overuse the procedure. Those concerns are now heightened by a growing trend among some surgeons to profit in yet another way â by investing in companies that make screws and other hardware they install.
The phones at personal security firms have been ringing off the hook by corporate officers since the assassination.
Will pressure from JC community force the state to back track on facial masks? Perhaps even banning the use of such? A real ID is needed for air travel. Will all travel now require a real ID or national ID card to keep track of the peasants?
Could the use of cash be banned to allow easier tacking of potential perps?
What is the use of that filthy lucre if a JCâs life can be snatched?
The media must paint him as a nut, or a Commie, or something unsavory. Must not concede that he might have a valid point about corporations, especially insurance companies.
A few years ago, I watched a series by the University of California medical school about back surgery. This was aimed at med students, not the public, and was taught by two back surgeons with years of experience.
They were very clear that most back pain is caused by muscle strains and not by bony deformities. The pain from muscle strains can be intense so patients are very demanding. But the surgeons were clear that back surgery is only appropriate for the few who actually have bony deformities.
My sister has severe scoliosis. Her upper spine is rotated almost 90 degrees and her lower spine is distorted into an S curve that raises one hip by about 2". She was offered surgery with bracing screws as a teenager but declined. She has been in constant pain for decades but despite this is the sweetest, kindest, most giving person I know.
My sister and I both do yoga to strengthen and flexibilize our back muscles but she does a program specifically designed to avoid exacerbating her scoliosis.
The case of Luigi Mangione is a real tragedy. Itâs likely that he needed several months of rest and physical therapy, not surgery. But a wealthy man who is demanding relief will find a surgeon because he isnât likely to be satisfied with advice to be patient, work through the pain and let his young, healthy body heal itself. And heâs not used to bearing pain so he lashed out.
Now two lives are lost.
Another type of back surgery that is common but doesnât work is vertebroplasty, which is injecting plastic into vertebrae, supposedly to strengthen the bone structure.
Bottom line: Maintain your back muscles with stretching exercise (yoga or Pilates) and your bones with weight-bearing exercise. Back surgery is only appropriate in rare cases but itâs highly profitable so recommended much more than it should be.
Wendy
Playing up the nut angle can preempt reasoned discussion of the point he was making about the way insurance companies treat their premium payers. We see the same dynamic in mass shootings, where the shooter is dismissed as a nut, or the Islamic boogyman, preempting reasoned discussion of guns being freely available.
This doesnât surprise me at all: the nicest people I know have been through the toughest of times, sometimes financially, sometimes physically. Those who have been through hardship engenders in them more empathy to others than they may not have had otherwise.
Theyâre not playing up the nut angle because he has a point about the way insurance companies treat their premium players. He murdered a man in cold blood - shot him in the back. That part is not a critique of health care policy; itâs murder.
We donât have to avoid painting him as unsavory just because he had a critique of an aspect of capitalism, particularly insurance companies. Even if he had a valid point (and at this point, we donât even know whether he even had an issue with health insurance), he did something truly horrible.
I doubt it. The media likes stories about how frustrated people are with insurers. Theyâve run a bunch of them. Theyâre popular and generate clicks.
But theyâre not likely to stop treating this guy like someone who snapped just because he snapped for a reason people can empathize with. Though again, given that he came from a family of means and apparently had a complicated spinal surgery (not confirmed yet), he might not have even had the âdelay, deny, defendâ experience that people are resonating with.
Because of the (unforgivable) incident the health care insurance industry thought they were doing a good job, but now suddenly realize they might be riding on the Titanic. A hole has been discovered. Can it be patched or not?