Los Angeles-based photographer Conan Soranno died this week after a prolonged struggle with illness and having faced the myriad of challenges standing between people without adequate health coverage and the treatment they need to stay alive.
One of Sorrano's friends tweeted his final Facebook message in hopes of spreading the word that lack of coverage, inadequate coverage and poverty can be lethal under our current healthcare system, even under the now-threatened Affordable Care Act.
"This weekend was hell, but it has allowed me to bring up a serious topic. It's about being poor and why that is the biggest cause of death in someone who's fighting to survive," Sorrano wrote on Aug. 22.
He continued:
My rent is due the 25th.
To afford rent I need to sell my jeep.
On August 20th I started vomiting buckets full of blood. It also came out the other end as well.
I think it's because they upped my blood thinners.
I really should have gone straight to the hospital.
It was really serious for a couple days. I even called people at 3am so I wouldn't be alone when I died.
My rational that kept me out of the hospital was I couldn't go because then I couldn't sell my jeep and then I would be able to pay rent.
Pretty fucked up that some people have to make hard decisions like that. Hospital or homeless.
Read his full post, embedded below:
