R.I.P Mika Ahola

[gasgasman]

http://blip.tv/fim-enduro-world-cham...memory-5905980

[gassi]

There is a nice writing about Mika: http://enduro21.com/index.php/compon...4-goodbye-mika

[mrkartoom]

We haven't seemed to have heard a great deal about the details of his death. Maybe i'm off base on this, but it seems to me like there may have been some errors made in his health care. I question whether his demise could have been prevented.

I met him in the paddock in Hancock at the US WEC round and then again downtown at a restaurant. He was a super friendly and upbeat fellow. Such a shame.

[GMP]

Yes, I read it that way too, someone screwed up. From some German friends I worked with for several years, Europe is not like the USA with regard to malpractice, lawsuits, etc. Things are kept quiet. As a rule, a doctor will not speak out against another. One way they they control costs and allow socialized medicine to almost work.

[mrkartoom]

I was kind of amazed when I first read about it that there seemed to be no questions being asked, just kinda like he went into the hospital for treatment and ended up dead. With my wife in the healthcare business I'm conditioned for every action being scrutinized, investigated, and second-guessed. Then come the lawyers. As you say they work differently over there.

[GMP]

I spent 13 yrs supporting the health care industry in device and instrumentation mfg. My wife is still there, as a Director of Global Medical Science for the same large mfg. She travels the world setting up and managing research projects. She deals with everyone from doctors to govt people in all these countries so I have a good inside view of how things work and don't work. Thats why I am so strongly opposed to the direction of socialized medicine we are being taken in. Quality WILL suffer.

[SideshowBob]

Originally Posted by GMP

I spent 13 yrs supporting the health care industry in device and instrumentation mfg. My wife is still there, as a Director of Global Medical Science for the same large mfg. She travels the world setting up and managing research projects. She deals with everyone from doctors to govt people in all these countries so I have a good inside view of how things work and don't work. Thats why I am so strongly opposed to the direction of socialized medicine we are being taken in. Quality WILL suffer.

This is not really the proper place for that discussion unless it's facts directly related to his case.


RIP Mika

[GMP]

Thats the point that was raised by mrkartoom, a strange lack of facts related to the case, and good point at that. This thread will not turn into a debate I assure you, but you should consider the possibilities of how and why things happen.

[mrkartoom]

I agree. I'm sure a lot of folks question the events surrounding his death the same way we have. It just seemed kinda sketchy with little info to begin with and then not really hearing much of anything else. I admired the guy enough I'd like to think he was not the victim of some incompetency. Regardless, his death is a big loss and he will be missed.

[twowheels]

Here's how I read it with news from a variety of sources ...

Training for the new season, perhaps on a new bike (was signed with Jotagas supposedly) and has a serious crash.

Injured enough to go for serious medical treatment, and uses the time of contemplation to decide to hang up the boots.

Discharged from the hospital he goes home where he guts it out through some not unexpected pain, although it turns out to be previously undetected internal bleeding causing that pain. When the pain keeps building instead of subsiding, another trip to the hospital confirms the worst, but by that time his death is inevitable.

Racers of that level deal with pain on a day to day basis that would cripple most of us - maybe you or I would have gone back to the hospital in time to catch the bleeding because our pain tolerance is so much lower.

Not to minimize what happened, or throw in with socialized medicine, but I tend to see this as an unfortunate but not negligent or deliberate end to a great athlete, and from what I've read, great man.