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EDITORIAL
Boxing welfare
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Updated: Apr. 10, 2012 | 10:30 a.m.
Zeta Gorres is like a lot of patients at University Medical Center, Clark County's only public hospital. He has piled up about $500,000 in bills since he suffered a traumatic brain injury, and he won't be able to cover all the costs. Taxpayers are on the hook for most of the tab.
Mr. Gorres is quite different from every other UMC trauma patient in at least one respect. Better known as Z "The Dream" Gorres, the 27-year-old is a bantamweight professional boxer. His injuries were sustained in a Nov. 13 fight against Luis Melendez on the Strip.
After nearly two months of constant nursing care and physical therapy, and after requiring some of the most advanced medical procedures available, Mr. Gorres is making progress in becoming a "functional human being who will be able to care for his wife and four children," according to Dr. Michael Casey, his trauma surgeon.
The taxpayers of Southern Nevada are, unfortunately, accustomed to covering tens of millions of dollars worth of uncompensated care at UMC every year for all types of indigent patients, including illegal immigrants. But why now, when UMC is facing an $82 million deficit, is the public being asked to provide welfare to a professional fighter whose injuries were sustained during a state-sanctioned bout?
The reason is a horribly outdated state law that requires promoters to provide only $50,000 worth of health insurance for each fighter in the ring. That amount might cover a single trauma surgery. It's enough "99 percent of the time," said Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, but woefully inadequate in cases such as Mr. Gorres'.
Fighters are not required to carry their own health insurance or supplementary coverage, and as a result, they usually don't. Mr. Gorres didn't.
That has to stop. The Nevada Athletic Commission can't expect the public, especially in this economy, to cover the costs of caring for injured fighters. The state must raise the minimum insurance requirement for professional bouts to $1 million per fighter or require promoters to pay into a pool that covers boxers' medical bills for catastrophic injuries suffered in the ring.
We wish Mr. Gorres well in his recovery, and we want Las Vegas to remain the country's pre-eminent location for title fights -- our tourist economy greatly depends on them. But this is one more beating the public shouldn't be forced to endure.
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Thank you for this editorial, LVRJ.
This young man fought prepared and fought a professional fight which takes courage, probably also to send some earnings back home to family in PI. He is to be commended for his efforts, and those who profit the most from boxing, and we all know who they are, THE GAMING COMMUNITY (flying in top players from Asia and South American), and SHOWTIME, NOT JUST PROMOTERS, should make sure he is well cared for, and that there are contractual changes in place, LAW OR NO LAW, for future fight cards.
LAWS reflect VALUES, but laws by themselves do not make all of society and businesses' VALUES.
It is the 21st Century, 2010, and for TOO LONG Nevada has DUMPED it's healthcare problems on the federal government, other states, or countries.
This will change, or Nevada is going to have an economy in the future even worse than 2008-2009, BET ON IT.
promoters must include in their deals, sufficient medical insurance, no different than other businesses have to provide workman's comp. for their employees and combatants all.
same with any idiot who wants to jump anything with a motorcycle. or walk up/down some building exterior. someone has to pay for the county crew to mop up the ick if the "performer" or "athlete" misses his mark. and whatever happened to what was it, a performer in a cirque show, that was seriously injured. ? or when roy was bitten ?
only problem might be finding an insurance/re-insurance company willing to write the policies.
This whole mining thing just gets dumber and dumber. NO ONE, can seriously think, that the gold under Nevada, which belongs to NEVADANS, should be "sold" for 3% of what its worth do they?
I mean, I've tried to explain using the example of an individual who takes the above position selling me all the gold THEY have for 3% of what I can then sell it for, cause I hoped that would bring the point home to them.
But come on guys (and gals) WHO in their right mind thinks that the gold that belongs to YOU AND ME, should be sold so cheap?
And by "sold" I mean the charges that people (foreign mining companies mostly) pay to this state; i.e. taxes/royalties, for digging the stuff up.
There is NOT a SINGLE reasonable argument that anyone can make which supports what Nevada, and Nevadans do EVERY DAY.
Miners losing jobs because we increase the amount that these foreign companies pay for OUR gold; are people serious?
Take a look at the story above, the foreign mining companies dang sure ain't laying off miners when they are making BILLIONS of dollars a year. Heck, any businessman, in a business where their profit margin is as high as these foreign mining companies are HIRING miners as fast as they can; which is why unemployment rates among those types is as low as it is; get real people.
The thing about mining is, it ain't like any of these companies can move to India and hire low paid workers; the gold/silver is HERE and it ain't going no where.
And, if any of those foreign companies wanna move on, and try India, LET 'EM, 10 other companies will be FIGHTING amongst themselves for those leases.
This is yet another example of Nevada shooting itself in the foot.
John I disagree with your take. Granted mining may pay a certain tax rate. But you can continue thinking that we can solve this mess by just levying more taxes on someone else but where do we stop? Where does the bloddletting of the private industry end to the benefit of the government coffers? Nevada residents pay a higher rate in sales tax than the casinos. Where's your outrage there? If you look hard enough you can always find someone else to tax in the name of "equality" but sooner or later you run out of other peoples' money. When they've exhausted all the mining and casino money the next objective might be your small business. When government is the only growth industry in our state we have a SERIOUS problem.
When is Zeta going back to the Phillipines? Please get him out of the country as soon as possible!