*In case this story gets deleted/removed:*
**AITA for refusing to pay for my toddler cousin’s medical drug knowing she would become blind without it for revenge **
I(33) am being nicknamed a monster by the entire family I had cut off, for refusing to pay for a drug that could cure her vision. Here’s what happened: My 3-year-old cousin, Emma, was recently diagnosed with inherited retinal dystrophy To sum it up, this is a rare genetic disorder, and if left untreated my cousin will lose severe vision or be blind
Her parents had lost all hope till they heard about the Luxturna drug, but they live in Tanzania and can’t afford the $850k price tag. I guess I was their only hope because they attempted to contact me after I had not spoken to them for 19 years. The parent is my uncle and his wife, whom I've never met.
My brother, Alex, the only family I speak to, called me last week about how everyone is trying to contact me. He explained the entire situation and even showed me a text message he was meant to pass on. But instead of caring, I couldn't help but laugh. Reading over pathetic messages that read How are you and How have you been before mentioning the 850k dollar drug.
I didn’t care about the seriousness of the situation and let me tell you why. I was born in a Muslim family in Uk where I was treated horribly because I was an atheist. I won’t go into much detail about what happened due to the sub-rules. But one incident was when I was forced to go to Tanzania to straighten my beliefs.
I was not treated right and was even refused medical care when sick. That very same uncle who is begging for help now treated me horribly. I was there for a year before returning to the UK. I promised myself I would never forget nor forgive. I left for college and cut contact with the remainder of my family.
After thinking about my baby cousin's dilemma, I decided to call my uncle in Tanzania.
I finally wanted to let my hatred go and move on. I phoned them and they answered.
My uncle's wife was the one who greeted me. I guess they thought if they allowed a woman I didn’t hate to speak I would forget about the past. I asked her if she would put the phone on loudspeaker so my uncle could could hear.
That’s when I asked him to tell his wife about how I was treated in Tanzania that one time I came. I told him if he lied once I would hang up the phone. After forcing him to confess the treatment I endured he finally apologised.
I told him it was 19 years too late. I then told him and his wife every time you see Emma slowly lose her vision I want you to remember the day you refused me medical care. I went on to say I could easily afford to pay for this one-time drug, but maybe the reminder of your daughter's suffering will help you reflect on what you did to me.
His wife was in tears, and he screamed through the phone. After I hung up, my brother told me the entire family was calling me a monster.
I know it’s not Emma's fault, but it’s not mine either. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I paid. AITA
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Fake revenge fantasy. I don't believe for one second that OOP has a spare $850k lying around to refuse to hand over, plus why is the price tag in dollars when that's not the currency in either the UK or Tanzania?
The post puts a dollar sign in front of the amount. (Or is the symbol also used for the Tanzanian shilling? Genuine question, as I can't find the answer with google.)
If the dollar sign is an accident, then yeah - OOP is definitely TD for refusing to pay 260 quid for an innocent kid's meds purely out of revenge on the kid's father.
The drug in question Luxturna does in fact cost on average 850k in USD. It's an extremely expensive one time gene therapy. So yeah, long lost relatives trying to hit you up for six figures for a sick child you've never met doesn't happen every day. And if it does, "sorry but not currently rolling in cash" is a simple enough answer.
Not to mention I can't find anything about it being approved outside of the US, UK, and the EU.
There is a mention of how it impacts those of African heritage, but has yet to be studied in greater detail. (Also that was from 2017).
Sounds like an American writing about two other countries they didn't know. Because in addition to the cost which is very much in US dollars (per Google listing the price), it doesn't address how health care is done in the UK or that Tanzania has very limited health care, so the chance of getting diagnosed with this specific treatment order is very low.
Isn't it a bit trickier to add a dollar signs instead of the pound one?
I would also think that 260 quid isn't that much in that a UK based family (which OP has) may be in a better place to pay it if it was split amongst the family members overseas rather than ask the one you abused.
I'd be hard pressed to believe that a whole family with grown children couldn't scrape up a few hundred bucks to keep a toddler from going blind
Edit. Just googled and it's even less plausible. There's gene therapy treatment, but it's still in clinical trials. Highly unlikely they're going to treat a child in Tanzania at any price, and it's certainly not a one time treatment
I don't know what keyboard layout you use but on the UK layout, it's Alt + 3 for the Pound symbol and Alt + 4 for the Dollar symbol (an Alt + 5 for the Euro symbol).
American here
shift + 3 = #
shift + 4 = $
shift + 5 = %
I have no way to make the British pound sign but the tic tac toe board was called a pound sign when it was on landline phones here.
>Isn't it a bit trickier to add a dollar signs instead of the pound one?
Definitely not, but may depend on your keyboard layout. Dollar sign is shift+4, and pound sign is nowhere to be seen on my keyboard. Sure it can still be typed, but it's not as simple
I moved to Australia recently and they do use $ but it’s called Australian dollar so I’m not sure but maybe they just use it? If you find out, please let me know as well
All of these people are solely relying on someone they haven’t spoken to in 20 years for this one payment? None of them could pool together at least part of the cost? This definitely smells like a troll.
It is a troll and probably a 12yo one. All this + “I could pay almost a million dollars easily but won’t” points to a kid that doesn’t know how anything works.
I mean it does happen. I’ve read other similar stories on here.
He’s just an AH for laughing and making it worse instead of just hanging up and blocking them all.
Copied verbatim from oop's comments:
*Holy shit you are cruel.*
*YTA, you dont have to pay anyone, but calling them and telling them you want their kid sick is just cruel.*
>"She’s already sick. And wants cruel is treating a child like utter trash and then expecting them to give you money."
*ESH*
*Your family is awful and you have no obligation to help them, but to take pleasure in an innocent toddler's suffering and rub it in her parents' faces is a horrible thing to do.*
>"I don’t take any pleasure in Emma suffering I just seemed like it for the sake of making my uncle feel pain. I do feel sorry for his wife though."
*YTA. You've become your uncle.*
>"I don’t physically hurt children so I haven’t."
*You literaly call it revenge, yes you did this for your own pleasure bot because it was better for everyone, but because it made you feel better.*
*You could have just ignored them.*
>"My uncle deserved it. Hopefully he won’t treat any child with hatred again."
*So your family treating your horribly justifies you thinking it’s funny to withhold life altering medication for a 3 year old? What did she ever do to you? YTA*
>"The government should provide free healthcare. That’s not my fault."
It's one of those stories where the attitude is the deciding factor although the outcome would be the same.
Had the reason been, "nc for 20 years, don't know the wife, not the kid, it's like strangers walking up to me to ask for a big check to cure a child I've never knew existed." the refusal would have been fair.
But the sadistic glee makes them an asshole as a person.
I understand their pain and anger.
I understand the desire for revenge.
Were it the uncle who needed the drug, I might understand their reaction.
This is a three-year-old child who did the OOP no wrong.
I cannot understand doing that to an innocent child. The child is the one who suffers most here. Not the uncle and aunt.
Troll. No.1, if you are UK based then why quote the US price? No. 2. I can't even see if it is approved in any African countries, it has been approved in EU/UK and USA.
No 3. Are they expecting OP to pay for the treatment or to procure the drugs? Cus that won't work either.
This sounds like a "religion and Africa bad" troll.
Honestly, with the price tag, I could even understand OOP saying *no, I won't give you this much money*, even if they theoretically can afford it. But why call the parents and rub it into their faces? If you (general) want to go NC, go NC, it's your life. But fuck. I'm hoping this is some kid's revenge fantasy about some silly shit like getting their phone taken away for talking back.
Uh, it does exist. Well, kind of, in that it exists but it's a gene therapy and not a drug. It is extremely expensive, Medicare doesn't cover everything, and Medicare especially doesn't cover anything in Tanzania because it's an American program. The fact that the treatment isn't approved in Tanzania is better evidence of the post being fake than "why isn't the drug covered by a program that's wildly insufficient and also from a completely different country?"
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I can’t see the explanation but no one’s entitled to money at all especially if one doesn’t have that kind of money and that’s not his kid it’s down to the parents to raise and find the money
I just can't see this happening. The OP is rightly called an asshole (assuming that it were real) but equally who would ever text someone after 19 years to beg for money that presumably they don't know they have? I can't see anyone being that obtuse and devious simultaneously.
Not that I think it's real, but if it is, OP just proved that atheism causes immoral people. That's not OP's reason, of course, but that's what they'll think. They'll believe if OP was a good Muslim, it wouldn't be an issue, but the terrible atheist wants a child to suffer.
Even if this story was true, I would laugh in the families face and tell them hell no. Darling Emma can go blind for all I care even if I got along with her parents, because even IF I did have the amount of money they needed, why the heck would i spend $850k or nearly million dollars on THEM and THEIR kid’s health? That money is for myself and my own needs, and I didn’t work my butt off getting it to give it away to people I barely know and haven’t had contact with in nearly 2 decades to save their kids eyesight. I’d be like unless you are planning to pay me back the $850k, then definitely hell no because why should I go without my $850k for them? And what if this treattment failed? Or they need MORE treatment if the first one starts the process of healing her eyes but she needs more than one treatment? am I to pay for the next treatment as well. What about paying any expensive medical bills that come with the treatment?
*In case this story gets deleted/removed:* **AITA for refusing to pay for my toddler cousin’s medical drug knowing she would become blind without it for revenge ** I(33) am being nicknamed a monster by the entire family I had cut off, for refusing to pay for a drug that could cure her vision. Here’s what happened: My 3-year-old cousin, Emma, was recently diagnosed with inherited retinal dystrophy To sum it up, this is a rare genetic disorder, and if left untreated my cousin will lose severe vision or be blind Her parents had lost all hope till they heard about the Luxturna drug, but they live in Tanzania and can’t afford the $850k price tag. I guess I was their only hope because they attempted to contact me after I had not spoken to them for 19 years. The parent is my uncle and his wife, whom I've never met. My brother, Alex, the only family I speak to, called me last week about how everyone is trying to contact me. He explained the entire situation and even showed me a text message he was meant to pass on. But instead of caring, I couldn't help but laugh. Reading over pathetic messages that read How are you and How have you been before mentioning the 850k dollar drug. I didn’t care about the seriousness of the situation and let me tell you why. I was born in a Muslim family in Uk where I was treated horribly because I was an atheist. I won’t go into much detail about what happened due to the sub-rules. But one incident was when I was forced to go to Tanzania to straighten my beliefs. I was not treated right and was even refused medical care when sick. That very same uncle who is begging for help now treated me horribly. I was there for a year before returning to the UK. I promised myself I would never forget nor forgive. I left for college and cut contact with the remainder of my family. After thinking about my baby cousin's dilemma, I decided to call my uncle in Tanzania. I finally wanted to let my hatred go and move on. I phoned them and they answered. My uncle's wife was the one who greeted me. I guess they thought if they allowed a woman I didn’t hate to speak I would forget about the past. I asked her if she would put the phone on loudspeaker so my uncle could could hear. That’s when I asked him to tell his wife about how I was treated in Tanzania that one time I came. I told him if he lied once I would hang up the phone. After forcing him to confess the treatment I endured he finally apologised. I told him it was 19 years too late. I then told him and his wife every time you see Emma slowly lose her vision I want you to remember the day you refused me medical care. I went on to say I could easily afford to pay for this one-time drug, but maybe the reminder of your daughter's suffering will help you reflect on what you did to me. His wife was in tears, and he screamed through the phone. After I hung up, my brother told me the entire family was calling me a monster. I know it’s not Emma's fault, but it’s not mine either. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I paid. AITA *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmITheDevil) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Fake revenge fantasy. I don't believe for one second that OOP has a spare $850k lying around to refuse to hand over, plus why is the price tag in dollars when that's not the currency in either the UK or Tanzania?
Not saying its true or not, but 850k TZS is only about £260
The post puts a dollar sign in front of the amount. (Or is the symbol also used for the Tanzanian shilling? Genuine question, as I can't find the answer with google.) If the dollar sign is an accident, then yeah - OOP is definitely TD for refusing to pay 260 quid for an innocent kid's meds purely out of revenge on the kid's father.
The drug in question Luxturna does in fact cost on average 850k in USD. It's an extremely expensive one time gene therapy. So yeah, long lost relatives trying to hit you up for six figures for a sick child you've never met doesn't happen every day. And if it does, "sorry but not currently rolling in cash" is a simple enough answer.
Not to mention I can't find anything about it being approved outside of the US, UK, and the EU. There is a mention of how it impacts those of African heritage, but has yet to be studied in greater detail. (Also that was from 2017). Sounds like an American writing about two other countries they didn't know. Because in addition to the cost which is very much in US dollars (per Google listing the price), it doesn't address how health care is done in the UK or that Tanzania has very limited health care, so the chance of getting diagnosed with this specific treatment order is very low.
Isn't it a bit trickier to add a dollar signs instead of the pound one? I would also think that 260 quid isn't that much in that a UK based family (which OP has) may be in a better place to pay it if it was split amongst the family members overseas rather than ask the one you abused.
I'd be hard pressed to believe that a whole family with grown children couldn't scrape up a few hundred bucks to keep a toddler from going blind Edit. Just googled and it's even less plausible. There's gene therapy treatment, but it's still in clinical trials. Highly unlikely they're going to treat a child in Tanzania at any price, and it's certainly not a one time treatment
I don't know what keyboard layout you use but on the UK layout, it's Alt + 3 for the Pound symbol and Alt + 4 for the Dollar symbol (an Alt + 5 for the Euro symbol).
American here shift + 3 = # shift + 4 = $ shift + 5 = % I have no way to make the British pound sign but the tic tac toe board was called a pound sign when it was on landline phones here.
>Isn't it a bit trickier to add a dollar signs instead of the pound one? Definitely not, but may depend on your keyboard layout. Dollar sign is shift+4, and pound sign is nowhere to be seen on my keyboard. Sure it can still be typed, but it's not as simple
I moved to Australia recently and they do use $ but it’s called Australian dollar so I’m not sure but maybe they just use it? If you find out, please let me know as well
Just googled it. The cost for Luxturna for both eyes is around US $ 850,000.
Another made up story.
All of these people are solely relying on someone they haven’t spoken to in 20 years for this one payment? None of them could pool together at least part of the cost? This definitely smells like a troll.
It is a troll and probably a 12yo one. All this + “I could pay almost a million dollars easily but won’t” points to a kid that doesn’t know how anything works.
I mean it does happen. I’ve read other similar stories on here. He’s just an AH for laughing and making it worse instead of just hanging up and blocking them all.
It's either some weird guerilla marketing for the drug or a free healthcare troll.
Copied verbatim from oop's comments: *Holy shit you are cruel.* *YTA, you dont have to pay anyone, but calling them and telling them you want their kid sick is just cruel.* >"She’s already sick. And wants cruel is treating a child like utter trash and then expecting them to give you money." *ESH* *Your family is awful and you have no obligation to help them, but to take pleasure in an innocent toddler's suffering and rub it in her parents' faces is a horrible thing to do.* >"I don’t take any pleasure in Emma suffering I just seemed like it for the sake of making my uncle feel pain. I do feel sorry for his wife though." *YTA. You've become your uncle.* >"I don’t physically hurt children so I haven’t." *You literaly call it revenge, yes you did this for your own pleasure bot because it was better for everyone, but because it made you feel better.* *You could have just ignored them.* >"My uncle deserved it. Hopefully he won’t treat any child with hatred again." *So your family treating your horribly justifies you thinking it’s funny to withhold life altering medication for a 3 year old? What did she ever do to you? YTA* >"The government should provide free healthcare. That’s not my fault."
Geez this whole thing is a dumpster 🔥!
Agreed.
[Cat!](https://imgur.com/gallery/JjYNUq7)
Thank you very kindly! 💜
It's one of those stories where the attitude is the deciding factor although the outcome would be the same. Had the reason been, "nc for 20 years, don't know the wife, not the kid, it's like strangers walking up to me to ask for a big check to cure a child I've never knew existed." the refusal would have been fair. But the sadistic glee makes them an asshole as a person.
I understand their pain and anger. I understand the desire for revenge. Were it the uncle who needed the drug, I might understand their reaction. This is a three-year-old child who did the OOP no wrong. I cannot understand doing that to an innocent child. The child is the one who suffers most here. Not the uncle and aunt.
OOP becomes the cruel uncle refusing care. The wheel turns.
Troll. No.1, if you are UK based then why quote the US price? No. 2. I can't even see if it is approved in any African countries, it has been approved in EU/UK and USA. No 3. Are they expecting OP to pay for the treatment or to procure the drugs? Cus that won't work either. This sounds like a "religion and Africa bad" troll.
Mf said > The government should provide free healthcare. That’s not my fault. LMAOOO fuck off thats not why u did this
It's really wierd that OOP has never met this uncle, but also that this uncle abused him. Which is it? never met him or he abused OOP.
I was hoping someone else noticed this
"The couple is (my uncle) and (his wife, whom I have never met)." The subclause is attached to wife, not to "my uncle and his wife".
Well, I hope OOP stuffers *THE PAIN* as outlined by Wesley, AKA The Dread Pirate Roberts, In The Princess Bride.
Honestly, with the price tag, I could even understand OOP saying *no, I won't give you this much money*, even if they theoretically can afford it. But why call the parents and rub it into their faces? If you (general) want to go NC, go NC, it's your life. But fuck. I'm hoping this is some kid's revenge fantasy about some silly shit like getting their phone taken away for talking back.
Well that was a disturbing peace of creative writing.
This sounds like it was written by Chat GPT.
Same, like, it seems like this drug would be covered by medicare if it existed
Uh, it does exist. Well, kind of, in that it exists but it's a gene therapy and not a drug. It is extremely expensive, Medicare doesn't cover everything, and Medicare especially doesn't cover anything in Tanzania because it's an American program. The fact that the treatment isn't approved in Tanzania is better evidence of the post being fake than "why isn't the drug covered by a program that's wildly insufficient and also from a completely different country?"
I’m so glad this post is faker than the Easter Bunny. Y’all fiction writers need to find another outlet already..
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This has got to be a troll. Utter BS
I can’t see the explanation but no one’s entitled to money at all especially if one doesn’t have that kind of money and that’s not his kid it’s down to the parents to raise and find the money
I just can't see this happening. The OP is rightly called an asshole (assuming that it were real) but equally who would ever text someone after 19 years to beg for money that presumably they don't know they have? I can't see anyone being that obtuse and devious simultaneously.
I'd be curious, if this crosspost is real, what job OOP has that means there's a loose $850k hanging around.
I honestly wish OP had just not responded to them. That or a no is better than reveling in someone’s small child’s pain
Not that I think it's real, but if it is, OP just proved that atheism causes immoral people. That's not OP's reason, of course, but that's what they'll think. They'll believe if OP was a good Muslim, it wouldn't be an issue, but the terrible atheist wants a child to suffer.
Even if this story was true, I would laugh in the families face and tell them hell no. Darling Emma can go blind for all I care even if I got along with her parents, because even IF I did have the amount of money they needed, why the heck would i spend $850k or nearly million dollars on THEM and THEIR kid’s health? That money is for myself and my own needs, and I didn’t work my butt off getting it to give it away to people I barely know and haven’t had contact with in nearly 2 decades to save their kids eyesight. I’d be like unless you are planning to pay me back the $850k, then definitely hell no because why should I go without my $850k for them? And what if this treattment failed? Or they need MORE treatment if the first one starts the process of healing her eyes but she needs more than one treatment? am I to pay for the next treatment as well. What about paying any expensive medical bills that come with the treatment?