Heartless Oral Surgeon Lays Off Employee For Cancer Diagnosis, Can't Understand Backlash
September 13, 2014

At least it was a handwritten letter instead of a cold typed one, right? When Carol Jumper received the devastating news that she had cancer, her boss responded with that letter, informing her that because she would be unable to perform her normal duties, he was laying her off without pay.

What a guy. Huffington Post:

A Pennsylvania community is rallying around a woman who was fired from her job at an oral surgeon's office following her diagnosis with cancer.

Carol Jumper, who lives in Hopewell Township, Pennsylvania, was diagnosed with cancer impacting her pancreas, liver and ovaries in August. According to her fiance, Dennis Smerigan, Jumper received a letter from her boss, Dr. George Visnich, in which the oral surgeon said he was laying her off without compensation. Raging Chicken Press published the letter on Sunday.

"The symptoms of the disease, the pain medications you will need and the side effects of the chemotherapy will be significant and distracting,” reads the handwritten note, which bears Visnich's letterhead. "You will not be able to function in my office at the level required while battling for your life. Because of this, I am laying you off without pay as of August 11, 2014."

The letter continues, "Our thoughts and prayers are with you as you fight this horrible disease. Thanks for your time at Visnich Oral Surgery. I hope your battle is swift, smooth, and successful!"

I hope he rots in hell, especially after his self-serving, wide-eyed wondering about what the fuss was about. CNN:

The doctor -- who has oral surgery offices in the western Pennsylvania towns of Aliquippa, Chippewa, and New Castle -- is receiving hateful phone calls, emails, and threats, and being called "heartless," "brutal," "soulless," and other names on social media, he said.

"This poor man is being tortured unnecessarily," Kelly said. "The guy tried to do something to help this woman in the best way he knew how, and this is his payback."

According to the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Law, a person who is or becomes unemployed qualifies for compensation if he or she "is able to work and available for work."

According to Kelly, Visnich and Jumper have been in contact as recently as Friday. It was not clear what sort or how extensive that contact was.

Yeah, it's always helpful to lay an employee off without pay, terminate her benefits, and leave her hanging out in the wind when she's just been told she's probably got terminal cancer. With help like that, who needs any hindrance?

Seriously, this guy thought he was helping by leaving her with no benefits? More likely he was trying to duck being rated on his health insurance for covering her medical treatment.

Excuse me if I don't cry for him.

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