NY - UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in Midtown. #9 *Arrest*

[acutename]

I've been confused about this as well. Did he have any money on his own? Stocks, if not bank accounts? Perhaps foreign bank accounts? He had the equivalent of $10K on him when arrested, but I haven't seen anywhere where the $2K of this in foreign currency was for. I would think his wealthy parents would be helping him out with the best defense possible, although maybe he's estranged with them permanently only talking to them "recently". While he wasn't working he had to have money from his previous job, or somehow getting money to afford a $4 K apartment in Hawaii.

10K is not mine; I want a public defender.... hmmmm

 

[Janitor101]

I am not buying anything that this kid has posted. Lifelong spinal pain? Back surgery, then pain free in a week? Brain fog? IBS? He lived in MD, Hawaii, supposedly California, travelled at least once to Japan in the last year. Bouldering, surfing, he was pretty jacked. I think he mentally had a lot going on, and may have believed all of those things. But that doesn’t make them true.

I read he visited Japan 'more than once' early this year and planned to return again in May. He also visited Thailand!

 

[IDK]

No, it’s very different. The disc is jelly like material between the vertebrae. That can protrude and press on nerves - but often shrinks back over time. ‘Listhesis’ is when the body of the vertebra itself displaces in relation to its neighbour.

Thank you very much for this explanation— I appreciate your knowledge!

 

[Big Ears]

More info on what exactly a "Ghost Gun" is. The ‘Ghost Gun’ Linked to Luigi Mangione Shows Just How Far 3D-Printed Weapons Have Come

 

[MelmothTheLost]

YES! Only a medical doctor should decide that!

Sure - providing the treatment proposed by the doctor is medically justified and genuinely for the benefit of the patient rather than the doctor's bank balance. Just as there are accounts of insurance companies refusing provide cover in some/many cases, there are plenty of accounts of doctors carrying out unnecessary tests and other procedures and charging them to the patient's insurance. Insurance companies should be able to push back in such cases.

 

[Friday Fan]

I agree that proper documentation should be required. However, I don’t believe providers and patients need to jump through endless hoops to get a patients needs covered. The current system clearly isn’t working.

Much of it is related to cost of medical supplies. You can buy 1 and 5 cc syringes for cheap at the drug store. However, at a facility, it's yikes! So, in order to cut costs, they end up denying services. As consumers, we see that with the costs of prescription meds, such as insulin and epipens. Insulin in particular, used to be very cheap. All of a sudden the price went up. Since many people have limited coverage on prescription meds, their prices tend to make headline. However, inside facilities, the costs for many medical supplies are sky high. There just isn't a light shined on this.

 

[krikken]

I wonder why he kept the gun. He doesn't seem to have had much thought into evading capture long-term, given he left his DNA and fingerprints scattered around the scene, and continued to mask rather than change his appearance some other way.

Did NYPD disclose how they tracked him back to the hostel where he made another mistake by showing his full face on camera?

Parsimonious explanation is that he was done.

 

[tlcya]

I've been confused about this as well. Did he have any money on his own? Stocks, if not bank accounts? Perhaps foreign bank accounts? He had the equivalent of $10K on him when arrested, but I haven't seen anywhere where the $2K of this in foreign currency was for. I would think his wealthy parents would be helping him out with the best defense possible, although maybe he's estranged with them permanently only talking to them "recently". While he wasn't working he had to have money from his previous job, or somehow getting money to afford a $4 K apartment in Hawaii.

I will bet he has a trust fund with monthly or quarterly distributions controlled by a trustee. He comes from several generations of wealth and that is what I would do for my kids if blessed with wealth.

 

[HanniBJeter]

Wish y’all could sit with me for one day as I do Inpatient reviews.. then you might understand why there’s so many denials on the inpatient side. A four day inpatient stay for constipation (as one example) is NOT medically necessary. Or a dislocated shoulder that’s reduced in the ER but the facility submits it for inpatient. This is all day/ everyday. And it doesn’t mean the facility isn’t going to get paid for anything.
What’s the next punk gonna go after? …hospitals for delaying care? for discharging someone too early? Medical practices for refusing to continue providing care to a non compliant patient? Pharmacists for refusing to dispense medications when the Rx is called in wrong by the MD office?

RIP Brian Thompson. You didn’t deserve this.

 

[Big Ears]

Someone waaaay upstream posted a thought on why they believed him to be neither left or right leaning, but in fact, more men's rights or possibly anti women. I'll see if I can find it. Or, maybe the original poster will see this and repost.

 

[SlimPickens]

Educators didn’t cause this.

Educators aren't necessarily teachers. His educators could've also been the authors of books that eschewed these same sorts of bad ideas, or potentially even his friend circles. But you're correct, the fault is his and his alone. For at the end of the day, he ultimately chose to explore that rabbit hole, and sadly - unimpeded by better, sounder ideas.

JMO.

 

[JudyBolton]

I read he visited Japan 'more than once' early this year and planned to return again in May. He also visited Thailand!

Those could be 12 + hour flights (Japan) and up to 20 + hour flights to Thailand. That's a long time for someone in excruciating back pain to sit on an airplane.

 

[10ofRods]

Yes! I thought it was only me. Something not right with these teeth.

It looks like a flipper (fake teeth aka veneers).

You can buy them on Amazon at several price points. Very common in the influencer crowd here in SoCal.

 

[IDK]

Some information about Failed Back Surgery Syndrome, apparently this occurs in up to 50% of patients:


“Failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) is a generalized term that is often used to describe the condition where lower back pain persists or appears after spine surgery.1 The pain may start immediately after surgery or a few weeks or months following the surgery.”



“Research suggests that as the complexity of a spinal surgery increases, the risk of FBSS also increases. For example, a complex surgery like lumbar spinal fusion has a higher risk of failed back syndrome (30% to 46%) compared to a simpler procedure like microdiscectomy (19% to 25%).1”

• “Some patients may feel better immediately after surgery, and the pain may gradually develop after a few weeks.
  • The pain may be localized to the back or leg or may occur in both areas. The pain may be similar to the pre-surgical pain or may feel different.
  • Compression of the L5 nerve root in the lower back causing foot drop is common in FBSS.“

“The following factors, if present before the surgery, have a risk of contributing to the development of failed back syndrome1:

• Psychological issues, such as anxiety and depression
• Chronic habits that affect general health and delay healing, such as smoking
• Pre-existing medical conditions, such as obesity
• Multiple prior back surgeries
• Specific lower back diagnoses, such as spinal stenosis, lumbar disc herniation, and fibrosis, which have a higher chance of recurring or occurring”

More at the link below. So apparently pain after surgery doesn’t necessarily mean it was a botched procedure, but can be related to how complex and how many levels were treated and other factors.

Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS): What It Is and How to Avoid Pain after Surgery

Learn about the causes, symptoms, and treatment options of failed back surgery syndrome, and discover effective strategies to prevent post-surgical pain.

www.spine-health.com

 

[Jinkasaurus]

I find myself wondering if LM would have attempted a mass shooting if he had access to such a location where his desired targets would be. Would he have crossed the hurdles necessary to obtain the weapon(s) for that? Did he have it in him to do such a thing? Is the public viewing him more favorably because he "only" shot one person vs. if it had been multiple people? Perhaps his sense of self-preservation caused him to choose a vulnerable target rather than attempt this in a setting where his own demise might be more likely and he lacked the suicidality that is found in many mass shooters.

 

[BrianJohnson]

I find myself wondering if LM would have attempted a mass shooting if he had access to such a location where his desired targets would be. Would he have crossed the hurdles necessary to obtain the weapon(s) for that? Did he have it in him to do such a thing? Is the public viewing him more favorably because he "only" shot one person vs. if it had been multiple people? Perhaps his sense of self-preservation caused him to choose a vulnerable target rather than attempt this in a setting where his own demise might be more likely.

It was reported earlier he planned to let off a bomb to kill but decided against it as risk of civilian casualties, so decided to shoot BT instead, bomb or gun no valid acceptable excuse

https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/11/us/unitedhealthcare-ceo-brian-thompson-shooter-wednesday?cid=ios_app

 

[MassGuy]

I find myself wondering if LM would have attempted a mass shooting if he had access to such a location where his desired targets would be. Would he have crossed the hurdles necessary to obtain the weapon(s) for that? Did he have it in him to do such a thing? Is the public viewing him more favorably because he "only" shot one person vs. if it had been multiple people? Perhaps his sense of self-preservation caused him to choose a vulnerable target rather than attempt this in a setting where his own demise might be more likely.

He allegedly had thought about using a bomb, but decided against that because he didn't want to kill innocent people.

If he were to have access to a location where desired targets would be, absent innocent people, I believe he would have used a bomb for that. Mass shooters don't intend to get away with their crimes, but this guy did. A bomb would have been the best of both worlds for him in that situation.

We know he had a fascination with Kaczynski, and he definitely had the intelligence to construct a device.

 

[IDK]

Already answered.

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

I bet mental health issues started creeping in.

I know someone with the same spinal injuries he has. Mental health issues 100% crept in. Look how active he was on the internet until the last year.

 

[arielilane]

I am not buying anything that this kid has posted. Lifelong spinal pain? Back surgery, then pain free in a week? Brain fog? IBS? He lived in MD, Hawaii, supposedly California, travelled at least once to Japan in the last year. Bouldering, surfing, he was pretty jacked. I think he mentally had a lot going on, and may have believed all of those things. But that doesn’t make them true.

I agree. The NBC article reported he made multiple visits to Japan earlier this year, according to those who spoke with the alleged gunman.

Sounds like LM living his best life until he decided [allegedly] to end the life of Brian Thompson, dad to two sons.

Did LM ever think that BT was a son? brother? husband? father? uncle? an innocent man?