Adding Insult (and Litigation) to Injury

I know that there are two sides to every story, but I can't help but be outraged over this story by Brett Shipp of WFAA TV about a Richardson (Texas) Independent School District employee who was injured on the job and then later fired & sued by the school district.

David O'Reilly is an autistic man who was working for the RISD in 2006 when he was hit by a school district-owned van while on the job. The injury nearly killed O'Reilly and left him with multiple broken bones and lacerations, and later required lung surgery due to fluid build-up caused by the accident.

While the RISD did pay for the emergency treatment, its workers compensation insurance carrier denied requests for necessary follow-up treatment, including surgery to repair a torn muscle in O'Reilly's shoulder. Pretty sorry way to treat an employee you almost killed, eh? It gets worse.

Twelve weeks after the accident, David O'Reilly was fired from his job because he was unable to work due to his still untreated injuries. Then, for their most unbelievable act, the Richardson Independent School District filed suit against O'Reilly to recoup their expenses for his original medical treatment stating that his injuries are "ordinary disease of life" and unrelated to the accident with the van.

To date, the school district has spent over $32,000 of taxpayer money suing David O'Reilly.

Most school districts work extremely hard in the face of tremendous adversity to provide our children with the valuable education that they need to become productive citizens. In Richardson, Texas, part of that education is apparently about how to run away from your responsibilities and take advantage of the disabled.

Way to go RISD!

I've Been a Bad, Bad Blogger

This blogging thing isn't quite as easy as I expected. It's been six months since my last post, and I can give you a million reasons why.

1. Work
2. Kids
3. Travel
4. Eh, did I say a million?

Okay, while being busy certainly hasn't helped things, the real truth of the matter is that writing is hard. What should I write about? Does it have to be poignant and insightful? Can it just be a blurb about the movie I watched last night? How often should I post? Won't I bore people to death if I just write about my kids and their baseball games from this past weekend? (For those of you scoring at home, the answers are: Anything; No, but it doesn't hurt; Sure; More often than every 6 months would be good; and yes, but no one is reading this anyway).

As you might be able to tell, I tend to over-think things sometimes. My first pass at blogging is certainly Exhibit A.

Tonight I'm restarting my efforts. I'm going to keep my expectations low, but I'm committing to at least one post per week. Walk before you run, right?

How about those of you who are hard-core bloggers? Did you have problems getting started? Do you still have those problems from time to time? How did you find your blogging voice?