I prefer to skip the legal wranglings involved as I lost a whole pile of money in attorney fees. I'm glad I did it because it did help with closure but the outcome was a 'jagged pill' to swallow. Even though you may have the best case in the world, all the defendant has to do is declare bankruptcy to absolve them of any financial responsibility. Sad, unfair, but true.

My accident occurred during a break when I was a pre-doc student at a medical centre in the US. I decided to take a vacation to a resort with a 'so-called' friend of mine. The precise nature of the accident is not known because this 'friend' tried his best to cover it up and I have partial amnesia of the incident. What I do know is that there was some alcohol involved which we more or less equally consumed, there were 12 american beer in the refrigerator. It is said that I fell 12-15 feet onto a rocky slope. All I remember is that this 'friend' was goofing around which always has been his foolish nature. Even though I have no idea what caused the fall due to the amnesia, I accept partial responsibility for it. This jerk didn't take me to the hospital for 2 days even though I had a broken skull and was entering a coma though. I just remember that I couldn't walk and just felt like sleeping all of the time. I remember being in his rental home which was 5 hours from the site of the accident! I also remember being carried to the bathroom by some people at his home and as a result of the accident I couldn't move and didn't need to go even though it likely had been a couple of days since I went last. Eventually I was taken to a hospital 2 days later which was likely the result of insistence from his roommates as I was dying right in front of their eyes. Once at the hospital, I was apparently placed in ICU for about one week. I have not recollection of this stay. Apparently my so called friend told all sorts of lies to the medical staff there, most importantly that he just thought that I was drunk and that I had a hang-over for 2 days. Well, as there was only 12 beers, consumed more or less equally by both of us, it is very unlikely that I was hung-over so bad that I couldn't make my 'non-refundable' airline flight back to resume my studies the next day at the medical centre in California. It is very likely that he caused my accident, perhaps accidentally albeit, and was so consumed with guilt that he just hoped everything would get better the next day. Well things didn't get better for me after a few days, at least he didn't throw me into a river bank! Well, things haven't been fine ever since the accident in the summer of '95 and I suffer from a lot of pain daily, both psychologically and physically as a result of one weekend gone bad. But 'tis not what life does to you, rather what you do about it' a wise man once said. I'm focusing on that 'doing' part right now and have crossed many obstacles but respect those that are insurmountable due to my TBI.

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