I found Re-Bath in a trailer-showroom, which was parked at a Home Depot. A salesman came to my house. On that day I hired them to install a shower. The first issue is the accident. The second issue is the quality of work. The accident: The plumber working for Re-Bath finished his work. He left the property, failing to return the crawl space access cover to its correct position. The contractor working for Re-Bath broke a work light bulb in the bathroom. He asked me for a replacement bulb. When I stepped into the hall closet, my right leg stepped off into the thin air of the crawl space opening. My left leg bent at the knee under my weight and folded up to my rear end. As I fell, my 230-pound body was forced to the right. The edge of the crawl space access caught my right side, cracking a rib. My upper torso caved-in the wall.

I told the contractor to leave. I drove to the veteran's hospital emergency room for care. The VA healthcare was the only health care I could afford (free to me because I am 70% disabled, service connected). Therein began better than a week of agonizing pain of my side. It was torturous to even lower and raise myself to and from the toilet. There are no safety handrails in a private home. After two years, my knee continues to be painful, but my side stopped killing me nearly two years ago. Re-Bath soon began asking for their final payment. When I told the young people c alling me that I had to wait to look at the job because I was in great pain and taking drugs for pain due to the fall, they laughed at me. Yes, laughed. What was wrong with the male and female callers? Later, Re-Bath sent a demand letter for payment. I had no ethical choice but to pay them.

The VA appears to be over burdened with Veterans of baby-boomer age and young people returning from armed conflict. The VA sent me to physical therapy and issued more pain relievers. At physical therapy they said there was nothing they could do but that I could "rub it like **". With knee pain persisting, they took x-rays and an MRI. An outside consulting firm reported to the VA that there was something torn in my kneecap and something "clipped". In rebuttal, the VA physician's assistant in orthopedics ruled that the x-ray showed no damage. The physician's assistant refused to order a second MRI. The VA's x-ray showed that a rib had been cracked and had healed.

Two years later, I sought private treatment for my knee when becoming eligible for Medicare at age 64. A wonderful primary care doctor sent me to a wonderful orthopedic surgeon, the first real doctors seen for my knee. The orthopedic surgeon sent me to physical therapy for several weeks, three times per week. That wonderful care has helped strengthen my knee. As my therapist said, the strengthening will make me more comfortable. It has but pain remains. My limp is 95% less though pain is virtually a constant companion if I walk fast.

I talked with an attorney after the accident. He told me what my doctor would have to have documented were he to file suit. I explained that I was never seen by a real VA doctor and couldn't afford to pay for a private doctor. I told the lawyer that the VA was done with me. The two-year window of filing suit recently closed. With no chance of obtaining satisfaction through legal recourse, Re-Bath has left me with a painful knee and has done no more than laugh at my misfortune, which is a direct result of their negligence.

Yes, I'm old fashioned and an old man or a person in the last quarter of his life, but where human decency and integrity are absent, a void is filled with indignation at any age. Indignation shares this life with pain. The second issue is one of color matching, which Re-Bath was not informed of. I saved up for this job and paid a pretty penny for it. I paid extra for a matching soap and bottle holder for the shower corner. I was in so much pain for so long that I didn't care to really look at it. In fact, for several months I used a second shower. I couldn't enter the bathroom. The job represented lowly human behavior.

The color difference between shower walls and soap holder is clear to the eye. I've grown accustomed to it after two years. Should I have called Re-Bath and complained? Yes, but I could not bear to look at a reminder of Re-Bath nor bear to speak to them. As a side note, the contractor left me a tube of caulking and instructed me in how to apply it to the shower pan.

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