"How can I Tame the Developer" A few years ago my wife and I were poisoned in our house outside Nashville, TN. Someone apparently pumped an aerolized gas into our heat system. We lost consciousness and the Fire Rescue men had to be treated at ER for headaches. We had a lease/purchase agreement on the house. We lost everything we owned, including the house. She was bedridden for over four yearsand remained close to death for much of that time. She was admitted to ER 15 times within a 17 month period. I took her to FL., seeking refuge at her mother's. Her mother's DR. filed a false police report stating that my wife was poisoned at her mother's and he suspected that I did it. I was investigated for attempted murder, felony 1 in FL, that carries a sentence of 40+ years. Even after the detective was convinced that it was an accidental poisoning (as everyone believed at thetime including TN law enforcement), and that it did not happen in FL., clearly out of his jurisdiction, he still plundered through our suitcases and personal effects, then confiscated 35 bottles of suppliments and medications,without a warrant. We came back to Nashville, and I contacted the man who I had the lease puchase deal with, on the house. Since he was a physician,I asked him about helping me get the house tested to find out what we were poisoned with. We could not get proper medical treatment without knowing what we had been exposed to. He started getting nervous. He was a local physician, but not our physician. As a physician he had access to the hospital computer. He exceeded his authorization and accessed our entire medical files, on 8 different occassions. When I suspected it, I faxed him a letter to stop! He would accessthem 5 more times before I caught him. When caught, the hospital insulted my inteligence by saying he was only trying to get my phone number. I have hard copies from the hospital computer that indicate he accessed and either downloaded or copied everything from Master Patient Index (credit, next of kin, etc.) to cardiology, lab, radiology, everything. He didn't need all that to find my number, 8 different times. I reported it to the medical board, had to get my senator to force them to investigate. They dropped the case stating that he had done nothing wrong or illegal. The owner forced us out of our deal and turned the house into rental property and promptly rented it to a family with children. Not long after, he replaced the Heat/Air unit. I called the ACLU for help, but they only took Civil Rights Cases. Their attorney did say that she would be interested to know why a doctor would take such a risk in renting a house under such circumstances, to a family with children, without first testing. That I should find out: how could he be so sure that it would not still be toxic, unless he already knew what the poison was?; How could he know it would not recur, unless he knew who did it?; What was so important about this that he would jeopardize his medical career to gain access to our medical records?; Where was he on the night of 02/09/96, at 4:30 AM? That as a physician he had means, as a landlord who could double his equity in the house by forcing us out he had motive and since it was done through the heat pump outside he had opportunity. She raised some interesting points. We had moved into an apartment complex. I spent over an hour explaining to the assistant manager that we had been poisoned and could not be exposed to pesticides. They assured me they used none. Four month into the lease they hired a pest control service. In spite of my several pleas and reminders, someone forgot to tell the pest conrol company. Each time they were scheduled to spray I took my wife out because we could smell it next door. For 5 months we were being sprayed and didn't know it. Finally, June 12, 1997 we were exposed to such levels that we could no longer live there. I called the manager from the ER. She became defensive. The pest contThe pest control company admitted spraying, and denied they were ever told not to. The manageradmitted to not following procedure by notifying them in writing, but stated she had done so verbally. The manager had been sending me invitations to renew my lease, telling me how I would save money, how they enjoyed having me there, etc. When I demanded an account for their negligently spraying my unit, and that they make it safe for us to return to, they promptly evicted me. In TN., a retaliatory eviction is illegal. Discriming against someone because of their disabilities is also. That's what they did. We ended up spending over a year recovering in an out of state clinic, to the tune of over $100,000.00. Insurance did not cover any of it. Now my wife isforced to wear a mask in public places because of her myriad of allergies. As a result of spendinga year out of state, we could not file a case and the statute of limitations ran out on all cases. When we returned to Nashville, we were homeless for 5 months. We looked at literally scores of houses, searching for one that could be made environmentally tolerable. We experienced unbelieveable, gross, blatant discrimination. We had to bring in an Environmental Hygienist to evaluate what needed to be done to make it safe for us. We had to replace the Heat/Air ducts, repaint everything with non-toxic paint, extensive cleaning, pressure wash, etc., at our own expense. Our health began to improve. A few months later a developer decided to build a subdivision next door. I was told that he bought the land, sold the city an unuseable portion for $100,000.00 to be used as a park, coningent on their approval of his development and giving hima huge tax break. I confronted them about what would constitute bribery had it been done with police, the court, building and zoning or in any other department in the city government. I told them our story and asked them to either invoke the state law providing for our being relocated at the city's expense, or have the developer pay for it as a contingency to the city's approval of his project. I told them of the potential and actual dangers of our staying here during this project's development, considering our bedroom is 50 feet from the entrance and we're extremely allergic. The city did not respond to my faxes. The developer did not respond to my faxes to him, assuringhim that I just wanted to protect my family, that he would do no less for his family. It's begining to appear like he's doing things to
View Full Document
Unlocking...