Kathy Myers from Niles, Michigan, in Berrien County, first hurt her shoulder a month ago when she stated her 80-pound Labrador retriever yanked her right arm backwards. Feeling a pop in three places around her collarbone, the injured Myers could not get the treatment she needed — despite her chronic pain — because she had no health insurance.
The local emergency ward only gave her anti-inflammatory pain medication and denied further treatment.
“They said it would have to be life-threatening or imminent danger for them to do anything, so I was making it be imminent danger that something had to be done,” said the out-of-work woman.
The “imminent danger” she tried to create happened last Thursday afternoon, June 10, around 4:00 p.m. Getting on a bed at home and preparing two pillows around her head and shoulder, Myers deliberately shot herself in the right shoulder with a .25 caliber handgun. The Niles Police arrived shortly afterwards. According to The Money Times.com:
The 41-year-old victim was rushed to a hospital where she was treated for the wound and was released a few hours later without the previous shoulder injury being fixed.
“I really didn’t accomplish what I hoped it would accomplish. I was really hoping it would hit an artery or a bone so they would do the surgery and fix me,” she said.
Asserting that she has no “suicide wish,” but only wanted to relieve the pain of the original injury that had become unbearable, Myers now hopes to find a specialist who will let her establish an affordable payment plan in exchange for treatment.
“Pain will make you do silly, crazy things,” Myers admitted, adding that she would not do it again.
Meanwhile, her problems may have multiplied further, because the case has been forwarded to the Prosecutor’s Office of Berrien County. It will be decided whether Myers will face charges for shooting a weapon within city limits.
Said Niles Police Captain James Millin, “I would hope that most people would understand this is the extreme and that they would not attempt something like this. When a bullet enters your body there’s no telling where it’s gonna go.”
