Who Pays ?

Skimming through the daily newspaper brings a litany of interesting stories.  What we don't get to read about is the aftermath that affects someone else - because of the unusual circumstances that relate to that event.

This week we read about a " Love Triangle " that resulted in a grisly murder.   A man returned unexpectedly to find his girlfriend in a compromising position with a lover.  This resulted in a fight, in which the lover died from knife wounds, leaving a blood trail through the flat that some say looked like an " abattoir. "

A team of three professional cleaners spent sixteen hours  cleaning up the gore and this resulted in a bill for $ 1250.     Now comes the question - who pays this bill ?    The managing agents contend that this is the responsibility of the tenant, but the tenant's bond will not cover this amount and there will probably be rent loss also involved because letting any place associated with murder is usually both difficult and protracted.

In this case, the tenant is still alive, but in cases where the tenant is dead because he or she became the victim of the murder, it opens an interesting can of worms about who eventually settles the cleaning bill.

Another story concerns an Australian Ex-Pat living in Bali.   It seems that he was " King hit " outside a nightclub and suffered bleeding of the brain.   A local hospital removed part of his skull to ease the pressure, but he desperately needs to be repatriated to an advanced Australian hospital for care that is not available in Indonesia.

Most people visiting Bali for a holiday carry travel insurance, but obviously that is not an option for a person living permanently in a foreign country.   The cost of a Medevac air flight to Darwin would come to about $ 45,000 and his friends and family in Australia are desperately trying to raise this by a public appeal.   So far, nearly half that amount has been forthcoming from a generous public.

The question that will cross some people's minds - is what would happen if that person had no friends and family to try and get help.   Unfortunately, an Indonesian citizen with exactly the same medical problem will probably not survive because the medical facilities provided by his country are not adequately able to match that of an advanced country like Australia.

So it seems that luck plays a big part in what could be called " the lottery of death ".    If an Australian in trouble overseas has the good luck to catch the eye of the news media there is a very good chance that the publicity will spur some some of rescue operation.    The public will petition the government to provide aid and good hearted citizens will give money.

There must be a huge trove of untold stories lurking behind the headlines that appear in each edition of the daily newspaper - very few of which ever see the light of day !