After medical emergency, Wrangell steps up
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Brian O'Connor
James George works the kitchen at Zak's Café. George recently suffered a particularly acute episode of diverticulitis, leaving him and wife Katherine Byrd with an estimated $100,000 in medical bills. George had surgery in Juneau in late September, and will undergo an additional surgery in coming weeks.
When Zak's Café owner James George started to get sick, he knew the cause.
Since doctors diagnosed him with diverticulitis in 2005, he'd gone a few rounds with the chronic digestive condition.
"After you've had it for a while, you can tell if it's flaring up," he said.
The uninsured restaurateur went to the emergency room at Wrangell Medical Center in the last week of August. Doctors then sent him to Ketchikan Medical Center to stabilize him and perform surgery. Instead of surgery, doctors in Ketchikan decided to treat him with a standard course of antibiotics and a liquid diet, and sent h...
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