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Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson [Pennsylvania Department of Corrections via AP] For image info, go to
Killing of healthcare CEO in the US a wake-up call for medical industry players?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4ZVWC5_muc (People cheer on United Healthcare CEO shooting)
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510,804 views 9 Dec 2024 Across the internet and on social media, countless people expressed satisfaction or even glee at the murder of CEO Brian Thompson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41UCujFsi1s (New photos of suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing)
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17,813 views 9 Dec 2024 The New York City Police Department released new photos apparently depicting the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. CBS News' Anna Schecter has more on the growing manhunt.
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13, 2024: Finance Twitter has posted a chilling report on the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO in front of a hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Dec 4
And the medical insurance and healthcare players are raising their charges and medical insurance premiums by between 40% and 70%.
No News Is Bad News reproduces below The Coverage’s reposting of the Finance Twitter report and another related report plus 2018 news reports of an “unsatisfied” man who petrol-bombed a Lam Wah Ee Hospital urologist’s clinic in Penang:
The Assassination Of UnitedHealthcare CEO – A Wake-Up Call For Malaysia Exorbitant Health Care Industry – 70% Increase In Medical Insurance Premiums
13 December, 2024
A day after the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the New York Police Department (NYPD) has released images that showed the face of the man believed to have killed him outside the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan, where he was supposed to attend the company’s annual investor conference. Investigators believe the shooter may have traveled to New York City from Atlanta last month by bus.
Security video showed Thompson, dressed in a blue suit, was walking down the street when the gunman approached him from behind and opened fire. The gunman, who had earlier bought a water bottle and two protein bars from a nearby Starbucks, continued to fire as Thompson fell to the ground. Police, offering US$10,000 for information, say they don’t yet know the motive of the gunman, who remains still at large.
But it’s not hard to guess the reason. Former FBI supervisor Rob D’Amico said Thompson’s slaying has all the makings of a personal vendetta tied to the victim’s company. The killer, who used a silencer and wore a black face mask, had deliberately left the clue – words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” written in permanent marker were found emblazoned on the 9-mm ammunition found at the crime scene.
The phrase “delay, deny, defend,” – commonly used by lawyers and insurance industry critics to describe dirty tactics used to avoid paying claims – refers to insurers in delaying payment, denying a claim and then defending their actions. Greedy health insurers like UnitedHealthcare have invited criticism from doctors and patients for denying claims or complicating access to care.
Even after a doctor or hospital has determined that a patient needs medical treatment, an insurer, which is responsible for paying the treatment, can still decide that it does not meet its criteria for coverage and refuse to pay the bill. The denial could be in the form of a refusal to authorize the care before it is delivered. But in other cases, patients can be left with hefty medical bills that they must pay out of their own pockets.
Hence, it was not surprising when the assassination of the top UnitedHealthcare executive has unleashed a torrent of hate for the health insurance industry, even stunning celebrations in support for the gunman. A discussion forum in Reddit was forced to close after triggering more than 500 responses, mostly critical of UnitedHealthcare – the largest private insurer in the United States.
One said – “He made 11 million dollars while my health insurance went up 12% this year!” Another said – “How does a billionaire feel every time a poor person is killed in a poor area? I would guess no feeling at all or they would work even harder to keep crime in those areas away from his private wealthy playground.” Mocking his wealth, one said – “Well, he was just a bit short of $11M this year. I’m sure his family will be fine.”
Mr Thompson was chief executive of his company’s insurance division, which reported US$371 billion in revenue last year (up 15% from 2022) and net income of US$22.4 billion (up 11% from 2022), covering more than 50 million Americans. Thompson received a US$10.2 million compensation package last year, a combination of US$1 million in base pay and cash and stock grants.
“I pay US$1,300 a month in premiums, only to have my claims denied. This man earned millions while people died waiting for approvals,” – posted one TikTok user. One viral post sarcastically said – “Thoughts and deductibles to the family. Unfortunately, my condolences are out-of-network.” One social media user described fighting to secure a specialized bed for her disabled son.
Another TikTok user wrote – “I’m an ER nurse and the things I’ve seen dying patients get denied for by insurance makes me physically sick. I just can’t feel sympathy for him because of all of those patients and their families.” Another recalled battling medical bills after giving birth – “I was sick over this.” Activists argue that current practices – prior authorization requirements and claim denials – place profits above patient welfare.
Like it or not, the Thompson’s killing is a wake-up call for the industry. Instead of showing little sympathy for him or the insurance industry, social media have been engulfed in expressions of anger at many Americans’ dire experiences at the hands of health insurance companies and outrage at the large profits that they generate. It shows the growing acceptance of violence as a way to settle civil disputes in the U.S.
The greediness was not confined to UnitedHealthcare’s tactic of denying care to vulnerable patients. Thompson himself was part of an investigation into insider trading at the company. Early this year, after the Department of Justice began an inquiry into the practices of monopoly, executives sold US$101 million in stocks, including Thompson, who sold US$15 million, before the public became aware of the investigation.
Public dissatisfaction with insurers has fueled calls for reforms, including in other countries like Malaysia. Already burdened with an endless high cost of living, unaffordable housing, weak currency, low salaries, and the second most expensive country in the world to buy a car, people finally burst into anger after insurance providers sent notices to policyholders about yet another round of insurance premium hike.
Beginning next year (2025), medical insurance premiums will rise by 40-70%, which insurance companies conveniently blame for rising cost of healthcare at private hospitals. Mr Hamidi, a policyholder, said – “Previously, I was paying RM188.47 per month, but now I will need to pay RM237.34. Last year, it increased from RM157.69 to RM188.47. The question is, why do the premiums increase every year?”
Another policyholder, Safie Wahab, said he might be forced to discontinue his policy due to endless increases in premium. His insurance premium had increased by RM133, from RM244 to RM377 per month. “Eventually, people may no longer be able to afford health insurance, and existing policyholders might let their policies lapse,” – he complained.
Of course, insurance companies always have a list of excuses to justify its plan to raise premiums for obvious reason. Their best excuse has always been escalating hospital billing. In truth, however, both private hospitals and insurance companies are working hand-in-glove to enrich themselves by raising premiums, seeing policyholders as fat cash cows that must be milked vigorously.
That explains why hospitals impose different rates for cash-paying patients, credit card users, and medical card users. In 2023, Malaysia recorded medical cost inflation of 12.6%, which is significantly higher than the global average of 5.6%. This is largely due to the excessive charges on medical card users, whose bill could reach RM10,000 in comparison to RM2,000 charged on cash-paying patients for the same treatment.
According to the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations president Dr Shanmuganathan Ganeson, healthcare providers would greedily inflate costs by performing unnecessary procedures, conducting excessive tests or even falsifying billing codes, often under the pretext of “defensive medicine” in order to make the bill as expensive as possible.
Such dirty tricks contribute to the rising cost of healthcare, which in turn impacts insurance premiums, which is being passed down to policyholders, who have no choice but to pay due to years of perception that private health care is better in terms of services, expertise and shorter wait times than government hospitals, yet “affordable”. Insurance agents also use scare tactics – public hospitals are overcrowded, poorly equipped and incompetent.
That’s why neither private hospitals nor insurers are concerned about rising premiums. Their parasitic symbiotic relationship – a scheme that enriches private hospitals and insurers – is also known as a Ponzi scheme. They will never lose money, and even if they do, it’s due to creative accounting rather than actually losing money. In fact, they are making tonnes of money.
IHH Healthcare announced a net profit of RM534 million for the third quarter of 2024 alone. Its revenue was a jaw-dropping RM3.68 billion in 2023 (increase from RM3.07 billion in 2022). Meanwhile, KPJ Healthcare Berhad hit an historic RM1 billion quarterly revenue milestone for Q3 this year. For the nine months ended Sept 30, 2024, KPJ Healthcare reported revenue of RM2,871.4 million.
Similarly, Prudential Assurance reported a net profit of RM963.47 million for its financial year ended December 31, 2023, a 68% increase from RM572.16 million the year before. Allianz Malaysia Bhd’s net profit for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2023 jump to RM730.90 million against RM613.67 million the previous year. For the third quarter ended 30 September 2024, Allianz recorded revenue of RM1.44 billion.
Clearly, insurance sector isn’t losing money at all. Exactly where do you think the insurance giants make their insane profits, despite shedding crocodile tears that private hospitals have been squeezing money from them through high hospital charges? It’s from the 40-70% increase in medical insurance premiums that they plan to slap on policyholders, of course.
To make matters worse, the pharmaceutical industry consistently increases drug prices each year, thanks to the government in allowing monopoly of supply of medicines by cronies such as Pharmaniaga. Since 1994, the government – even after Anwar administration took over in November 2022 – continues to reward Pharmaniaga, extending new contracts worth billions of Ringgit again and again.
Even after the Bank Negara Malaysia (central bank) called upon insurers and takaful operators to reassess its premium-hiking strategy, the arrogant insurance cartel said it could only consider “staggered” medical premium increases – and NOT stop its blood-thirsty scheme. The mighty insurance industry knew that both Anwar government and the central bank are incompetent and powerless against them.
The government dares not offend the private hospitals or the insurance companies largely because the stakeholders consist of not only the powerful “elite capitalists”, but also government entities such as the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), the Retirement Fund (KWAP), Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB), and Tabung Haji. Yes, obviously there is a conflict of interest.
The lack of regulation to control private hospitals and insurance companies were by design, rather than by coincidence. They were allowed to operate with little accountability because the government deliberately closes one-eye as it does not want to bear the responsibility of providing health care to the people. The more people go to private hospitals, the less financial burden it would be for the government.
Interestingly, 74.7% of Malaysians were admitted to public hospitals, while only 25.3% went to private ones, according to hospital admissions data. And 15% of these private admissions were paid for by private health insurance – suggesting the massive profits to the tune of billions of Ringgit being milked by private hospitals as well as insurance companies.
However, the tipping point could be happening now. As insurance becomes increasingly unaffordable, more people will inevitably turn to public hospitals, putting more pressure on an already overstretched healthcare system. If the government and central bank continue pussyfooting, not only the public healthcare will be at risk, but the public’s frustration and anger could turn against the government.
Source : Finance Twitter
Hike in medical insurance premiums not finalised, says Anwar
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says medical insurance premiums for the upcoming year have not been finalised.
Local media reported that medical insurance premiums are expected to increase by 40% to 70% next year, resulting in many policyholders considering terminating their policies.
Speaking to reporters after Friday prayers at Putrajaya, Anwar said Bank Negara Malaysia is still looking into the matter.
“As of now, the process is still being renegotiated,” Utusan Malaysia quoted him as saying.
Yesterday, deputy finance minister Lim Hui Ying said the finance ministry is discussing the proposed increase with several parties.
It was previously reported that BNM called on insurers and takaful operators to review repricing strategies for more “reasonable implementation” after reports of a hike in medical insurance premiums next year.
In response, insurers and takaful operators said the increased medical insurance premiums were “unavoidable” in light of rising claims and medical inflation.
On Nov 28, BNM directed insurers and takaful operators to review their pricing strategies for medical and health insurance to ensure they are more reasonable.
This includes managing premium or contribution increases while considering the impact on policyholders.
In a joint statement on the same day, the Life Insurance Association of Malaysia, Persatuan Insurans Am Malaysia, and the Malaysian Takaful Association said the insurance and takaful industry experienced an “unprecedented” cumulative 56% rise in claims from 2021 to 2023.
They said increased medical insurance premiums are also driven by factors such as the rising costs of medical treatment, advanced healthcare technologies, and increased utilisation of healthcare services, with a growing number of policyholders seeking medical care, including post-pandemic treatments and elective surgeries.
They also cited higher operational costs in private healthcare and the high prevalence of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, which raises the demand for long-term care, as other reasons for the hike in medical insurance premiums.
Months Before C.E.O.’s Killing, the Suspect Went Silent. Where Was He?
New details are emerging about Luigi Mangione’s growing impatience with “a capitalist society” and his search for refuge in the mountains of Japan.
The scene where Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, was fatally shot in front of a hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Dec. 4.Credit...Karsten Moran for The New York Times
By Mike BakerNicholas Bogel-BurroughsShawn Hubler and Jacey Fortin
Mike Baker reported from Seattle; Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs from Altoona, Pa.; Shawn Hubler from Honolulu; and Jacey Fortin from New York.
Dec. 12, 2024
After a drizzly hike through one of Japan’s lush mountain ranges earlier this year, Luigi Mangione, a computer engineer in his mid-20s who had set off on a long solo trip to Asia, paused to record a voice message to a friend he had met while traveling abroad.
Making his way that day along a river gorge in the Nara region, Mr. Mangione had fled his day-to-day life in Hawaii to soak in hot springs, meditate, catch up on books and do some writing of his own.
“I want some time to Zen out,” Mr. Mangione said in the recorded message on April 27, his voice quiet and contemplative.
It would be one of his last communications before he abruptly cut ties with a wide range of friends and family, who eventually set out on a desperate hunt to track him down. Seven months later, Mr. Mangione emerged from his isolation as the suspect in the brazen assassination of Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, on a sidewalk in Manhattan.
Police investigators have been scrambling to trace Mr. Mangione’s movements not only in the days before the Dec. 4 shooting, but also in the months that preceded it — a period that has been shrouded in mystery.
But in new records and messages reviewed by The New York Times, along with interviews with a wide range of people who knew Mr. Mangione, a more complete picture has emerged of a young man struggling with debilitating medical problems and increasingly disillusioned with the society he lived in.
Luigi Mangione arriving for his arraignment in Pennsylvania on Monday. Mr. Mangione has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Mr. Thompson.Credit...Rachel Wisniewski for The New York Times
Friends and family members have been left bewildered by the jarring transformation of a young man who had seemed destined for a life of achievement. He was the valedictorian at his elite prep school in Maryland and a computer science graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s acclaimed engineering program, with wide-ranging social connections and significant ambition.
But in recent years, his writings and messages also traced a darker journey, as he transitioned from a teenager who celebrated how his fellow students had secured an extra recess to a young man who reported being in “unbearable pain.” He frequently expressed alarm over the world’s increasing reliance on smartphones and social media.
During his trip to Asia, he lashed out at the “modern Japanese urban environment,” claiming that sex toys, automated restaurants and a more general lack of “natural human interaction” were responsible for falling birthrates and a dearth of human connection.
More and more, he expressed frustration that society at large seemed incapable of addressing these longstanding problems, and he expressed interest in those who said that violence might be a necessary next step.
In his possession at the time of his arrest in Altoona, Pa., the police said, were writings that captured his recent reflections and condemned a multibillion-dollar health care industry that he said had put profits ahead of extending lives: “Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.”
Mr. Mangione is now charged with second-degree murder in the death of Mr. Thompson, the health care executive. His defense lawyer, Thomas Dickey, said his client was legally presumed innocent and urged the public to keep an open mind about whether he committed the crime.
‘Life-Halting’ Medical Trouble
Mr. Mangione’s medical struggles seemed to escalate during his studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he joined a fraternity that focused less on partying and more on academics, compared with other organizations on campus. Not that he wasn’t up for a party: One video from his campus years shows him gleefully bursting a beer can open with his head.
But underneath Mr. Mangione’s friendly, accomplished exterior, he was struggling to adapt to college. He wrote on social media that his fraternity’s “hell week,” despite being “very tame,” had disturbed his sleep cycle and drastically worsened symptoms of “brain fog” that he had been experiencing since high school. What in the past had been minor disorientation, he wrote, was now upending his life.
Once a straight-A student, Mr. Mangione wrote in a series of since-removed posts on Reddit that he suddenly saw his grades slipping. Lectures and books were perplexing, and he struggled to focus even on YouTube videos. He tried playing chess with a roommate, but he could not conjure basic strategies to win.
“It’s absolutely brutal to have such a life-halting issue, especially since the issue itself wears down the critical/logical thinking mind you’d usually use to tackle it,” he wrote. “The people around you probably won’t understand your symptoms — they certainly don’t for me.”
Among those who struggled to understand his ailments were his doctors; he suggested that tests that might explain his symptoms kept coming back negative.
Mr. Mangione is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s acclaimed engineering program.Credit...Rachel Wisniewski for The New York Times
Mr. Mangione did his own hunting for answers. He talked about getting Lyme disease at age 13 and seeking out new tests as an adult. Some studies have found that effects of the disease, including fatigue, brain fog, pain, sleep disruption and tingling or numbness in parts of the body, can linger long after treatment.
Mr. Mangione also consulted with others online about irritable bowel syndrome and visual snow, a neurological condition in which a person’s vision is obscured by flickering dots. While he appears to have sought doctors’ help for his brain fog symptoms, he did not mention being treated for any mental illness.
Quitting His Job
Despite his struggles, Mr. Mangione continued to show academic brilliance and an entrepreneurial spirit. In the summer of 2019, he was chosen to be the head counselor of a precollege program at Stanford University. When he returned to Pennsylvania for the school year, one fellow student recalled, he was ready to make some money. He bought dozens of boxes of Christmas lights and stacked them in a stairwell at his off-campus apartment, selling them to students to decorate their residences around campus.
As the pandemic arrived during his senior year in 2020, and students finished the semester off campus, Mr. Mangione completed both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree simultaneously. He soon secured a job at TrueCar, a California-based tech company that connects car buyers and sellers.
Able to work remotely, Mr. Mangione moved in early 2022 to Honolulu, settling into a co-living space on the 40th floor of a high-rise near Waikiki, Hawaii. He had a private room in a complex that included a stocked kitchen, a joint living area and a stash of surfboards available for anybody to use.
But soon after, his medical troubles worsened following a group surfing lesson, and he complained that he had strained his back. Mr. Mangione told friends that he had long struggled with a spinal problem.
“His spine was kind of misaligned,” said R.J. Martin, who had founded the co-living space and grew to be friends with Mr. Mangione. “He said his lower vertebrae were almost like a half-inch off, and I think it pinched a nerve. Sometimes he’d be doing well and other times not.” In July 2023, Mr. Mangione wrote in a Reddit post that he had also slipped on a piece of paper, which caused more problems.
It hurt to sit down, he reported, and his leg muscles were twitching. He felt tingling and numbness in his groin.
Mr. Martin said that Mr. Mangione told him that he had no relationships because “he knew that dating and being physically intimate with his back condition wasn’t possible.”
For months, the suffering continued as he consulted with doctors and tried a variety of noninvasive remedies. He quit his job in early 2023, telling a friend that while it paid well, it was “mind-numbingly boring.” He said he wanted to spend more time doing yoga and reading.
But it is not clear how he paid for health care after that. In May, he turned 26, meaning that he could have been kicked off his parents’ health insurance plan. The family has not discussed his insurance coverage, and has declined requests for interviews, but a representative for UnitedHealthcare said on Thursday that Mr. Mangione had never had health insurance through that company.
His mind seemed to be on more philosophical matters by then.
Mr. Mangione had always been a voracious reader, consuming everything from self-help books to George Orwell’s “1984,” at times scribbling extensive notes or typing up outlines that would summarize the author’s views and how they might apply to his own life.
“Reflect on how current work can positively impact society,” he wrote while reading “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance,” a book about how to overcome setbacks by intentionally cultivating tenacity.
“When we decide what to pay attention to in the moment, we are making a broader decision about how we want to spend our lives,” he wrote while reading “How to Break Up with Your Phone.”
After reading “Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body,” he jotted notes about how to lift weights without exacerbating problems with his back.
Among his friends in Hawaii, he helped start a book club that began meeting in 2023. Mr. Mangione pushed for readings by Tim Urban, a writer and illustrator whose blog Wait, But Why, a compendium of science writing and cultural musings, is popular with Gen Z techies. The group also read “The Ape That Understood The Universe,” a favorite of Mr. Mangione’s that explores evolutionary psychology.
One focus of his reading was his ongoing back troubles, including “Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery.”
In the summer of 2023, he decided it was time to pursue surgery, traveling back to the East Coast for the procedure. On Aug. 10, Mr. Martin texted him to ask how it had gone, and Mr. Mangione texted back a laughing emoji and photos of his spinal X-rays.
He reported on Reddit that the procedure was a success and that he could walk and sit just fine within days. He began encouraging others to consider surgery and to push back against doctors who might be wary of surgical solutions. He suggested at one point that people should perhaps tell their doctor that their back troubles were preventing them from working.
“We live in a capitalist society,” he wrote. “I’ve found that the medical industry responds to these key words far more urgently than you describing unbearable pain and how it’s impacting your quality of life.”
‘Peaceful Protest Is Outright Ignored’
Among his friends in Hawaii, there was a growing strain among members of his book group, participants said. Some of them were perturbed by Mr. Mangione’s book selections, which they felt were overly geared toward men and masculine pursuits. Others drifted away after a discussion about whether to read the writings of Ted Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber, who had carried out a series of bombings over a period of 17 years, beginning in 1978, with the goal of calling attention to the cost to humanity of a world built around technology.
Mr. Martin said he was the one who proposed reading Mr. Kaczynski’s 35,000-word manifesto, but Mr. Mangione was also clearly a fan, praising it later on his Goodreads page, and giving it a four-star review. He wrote that while Mr. Kaczynski had been rightfully imprisoned for the bombings, “it’s simply impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions about modern society turned out.”
As part of his review, Mr. Mangione quoted what he described as “interesting” remarks from someone who had written about how companies “have zero qualms about burning down the planet for a buck, so why should we have any qualms about burning them down to survive?”
Mr. Mangione was arrested in connection with the death of Mr. Thompson days after the shooting.Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times
The passage went on, “Peaceful protest is outright ignored, economic protest isn’t possible in the current system, so how long until we recognize that violence against those who lead us to such destruction is justified as self-defense?”
After his surgery, Mr. Mangione toured the islands of Hawaii, visited family back in Maryland and then, early this year, set off on the trip to Asia, which included stops in Thailand and Japan.
He wrote that he found Japan’s densely urban environment to be “an evolutionary mismatch for the human animal.” But he loved the mountains, saying that one of his goals in Asia was to “do some Buddha.”
He described his travels in Nara with enthusiasm. “There’s like these tiny little villages here, on the side of the cliffs — I’ll send a photo. It’s super lush, there’s this beautiful river that cuts through the gorge,” he said in the voice message he left in April. “I think I want to stay here for like a month, and just meditate and just hot spring, and do some writing.”
One of the people he spoke to during his travels was Gurwinder Bhogal, a writer who was living in England. The two had a video call for about two hours in early May. Mr. Bhogal recalled Mr. Mangione leaning to the left on some political issues and to the right on others, and that he was interested in effective altruism and wary of smartphone addiction.
“Overall, the impression I got of him, besides his curiosity and kindness, was a deep concern for the future of humanity, and a determination to improve himself and the world,” Mr. Bhogal said. Mr. Bhogal recalled Mr. Mangione discussing health care briefly — he complained that health care in the United States was too expensive, and said that he envied the nationalized health care system in the United Kingdom.
A couple weeks later, Mr. Mangione sent another message to the friend he had met while traveling. He was on Mount Omine in Japan, which he noted was known for its tests of courage and also for prohibiting women from climbing it.
“This mountain is peak misogyny,” he wrote to the friend. But, he added, “I needed to stop getting distracted by women lol.”
A few days later, on May 25, Mr. Mangione’s Reddit account shows one final post, in which he shared a video on a subreddit dedicated to Mr. Kaczynski. The footage, titled “Streaming Overdose 2024, China,” showed dozens of people lined up along sidewalks, livestreaming themselves.
Not long after that, friends started to lose touch with Mr. Mangione. One texted him in June — “Where in the world are you?” — but received no reply. By the end of the summer, family members were reaching out to Mr. Mangione’s past friends, hoping for their help in tracking him down, saying they had not heard from him in months.
His relatives have not discussed when they last heard from him, or why they waited until Nov. 18 to file a missing person’s report in California.
Just a few days later, the police say, Mr. Mangione got on a bus that had originated in Atlanta, on his way to New York City.
Reporting was contributed by Reed Abelson, Dani Blum, David W. Chen, Brian Conway, Mattathias Schwartz, Callie Holtermann, Mike Isaac, Jesus Jiménez, Heather Knight, Juliet Macur, Andy Newman, Amy Qin, Jan Ransom, Campbell Robertson, Ashley Southall, Aric Toler and Jack Truesdale. Research was contributed by Susan C. Beachy, Kitty Bennett and Kirsten Noyes.
Mike Baker is a national reporter for The Times, based in Seattle. More about Mike Baker
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports on national stories across the United States with a focus on criminal justice. He is from upstate New York. More about Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs
Shawn Hubler is based in Sacramento and covers California news, policy trends and personalities. She has been a journalist for more than four decades. More about Shawn Hubler
Jacey Fortin covers a wide range of subjects for the National desk of The Times, including extreme weather, court cases and state politics all across the country. More about Jacey Fortin
A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 13, 2024, Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Suspect Became Disillusioned With Society, Then Vanished. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
Man charged with torching doctor, nurse at Penang hospital
-27 Nov 2018, 04:03 PM
The incident is alleged to have happened at Lam Wah Ee Hospital in Penang on Sept 3.
M Balachandran. (Bernama pic)
GEORGE TOWN: A Penang Island City Council employee pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court here today to causing serious injury to a doctor and a nurse by pouring petrol and setting them on fire in September.
M Balachandran, 39, was charged with voluntarily causing grievous hurt to the two victims at the first floor, Clinic Room UN6, Lam Wah Ee Hospital here at 4.48pm on Sept 3.
The charge, under Section 326 of the Penal Code, provides imprisonment for up to 20 years with the offender liable to a fine, or whipping, if found guilty.
Judge Mazdi Abdul Hamid allowed Balachandran bail of RM6,000 in one surety and warned him against intimidating the victims.
The court set Jan 3 next year for mention for submission of documents and medical reports on the victims.
The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Farah Aimy Zainul Anwar while Balachandran was represented by lawyer Dev Chandran.
news
Man Hurls Molotov Cocktail Into Penang Urology Unit After 'Struggling' With A Doctor
30% of the doctor's body was affected by the incident.
By Jia Vern Tham — 04 Sep 2018, 10:36 AM
A man believed to be mentally unstable hurled a Molotov cocktail into the urology unit of the Lam Wah Ee Hospital in Penang yesterday, 3 September
Malay Mail reported Jalan Perak Fire Station assistant superintendent Ismail Mohd Zain as saying that they were notified of the incident at 4.55pm yesterday.
"(Upon) arrival at the hospital, firemen found the sprinklers had activated and extinguished the flames," Ismail said.
Oriental Daily reported that the incident destroyed 50% of a doctor's room in the urology unit.
The destroyed doctor's room after the incident. Image via Oriental Daily
The man reportedly threw the Molotov cocktail into the urology unit after being "involved in a struggle" with the doctor
"We learnt that the man was involved in a struggle with the (urology) doctor and this led to the mischief," Ismail was quoted as saying by Malay Mail.
A witness told China Press that the man was seen rushing into the doctor's room before hurling the Molotov cocktail.
The man had allegedly visited the same doctor hours before the incident.
The incident caused burns to the faces and bodies of a doctor and four nurses
The Molotov cocktail used in the incident.
Image via Oriental Daily
China Press reported that the urology doctor suffered from burns on 30% of his body, while 5% of the face and chest of a nurse was affected by the incident. Meanwhile, the man had burn injuries on both his hands.
While the nurses involved are in stable condition, Malay Mail reported that the doctor is still in the Intensive Care Unit.
The man has since been detained by the police
Timur Laut District police chief ACP Che Zaimani Che Awang confirmed the incident.
"Investigations are ongoing to determine the motive (of the man) and his mental state," Che Zaimani was quoted as saying by Malay Mail.
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