Comment by nullserver | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nullserver | Hacker News Reader

I’ll call out directly. Life and health got ruined.

Rented a house from Invitation Homes. Show up. All windows open. House looks great, sign paperwork. Agent leaves.

Closed up windows, notice a chemical smell. Call, and told it’s just new carpeting, will be gone soon.

Me and family proceed to get extremely sick over the next months. Like people can’t wake up, forgetting names, stroke symptoms, etc.

Many calls got nothing but run around. Our mental capacities are greatly diminished.

Turns out there was a massive natural gas leak. Plus multiple appliances emitting Carbon monoxide.

Gas company stated it was a race to dying in sleep or house exploding.

So they knew house had weird smells and fed us endless lies about carpets, flooring, paint etc.

Carbon monoxide detector that came with the house was defective.

Destroyed health and career. One kid went from advanced placement to special needs. Dog went insane.

We also had a wall catch on fire, ac drop through a ceiling into kids room.

We left moment we could, and have a nice big bill from them for breaking lease.

Invitation Homes is straight up evil.

It couldn't have started when you moved.

Were you able to find who lived there before you and if they had the same thing happen to them, then you have a much better case.

Did you sue them?

Tried. You have to have a doctor verify that gas caused injuries. Doctors did not want anything to do with a lawsuit.

Plus they had no idea what 3 months of natural gas exposure would do to body.

Turns out most cases of being exposed to that much and that long simply end in explosion.

wtf. this is terrible. why didn’t the doctors support it? they couldn’t verify it was caused by the gas?

Vague symptoms. I was a confused mess for a long time.

No one believed me. Kept shoving anti-depressants at me.

Took better then 2 years to find out what the stroke like symptoms were. They were strokes, go figure.

Toxic exposure activated factor 5 Leiden. So my blood clots like crazy now. Wasn’t an issue before.

Again, doctors don’t like to get involved.

Wife had a horrific cough for a year, then recovered. Kid isn’t the brightest anymore. But that’s hard to prove.

Quite a story, I know its useless to say but it got me tears in my eyes. I hope justice is served ASAP. I know you wrote you tried to sue. I still hope they somehow get what they deserve. Scum like this belongs in jail, for a long long time, and on top of that a civil lawsuit for damages (loss of income at the very least, but also children suffer from this their entire life so its only fair they get more compensation).

Environmental pollution causing chronic health symptoms is one of the darkest things that I have ever experienced. Even if you identify the source issue, it is a never ending battle against Occam's razor with communities, government regulators, and health professionals.

Overall you experienced systemic failure: the business fails to protect the customer but isn't held accountable, the health profession focuses on managing the individuals mental health instead of recognizing the exposure¹, government regulation did not protect you or help you afterwards. Legal needs evidence and money to make it work. It's all too hard and no one wants to know.

Whats really scary is that happens more than you think... And unless you are a part of a class action of people with similar issues, or you have power and influence, or it is a widely recognized issue, its really hard to deal with.

Look after yourself, your family and do your best.

¹ There could be studies in medical journals, or toxicology reports published by govt or others, but that doesn't mean your doctor will read or follow them. They might help extend your understanding though.

Appreciate the thoughts. I did find studies, doctors had no interest in reading them.

Most doctors don't like to do the forensics to find the exact description. They are interested in finding the best treatment in shortest possible time. I wonder if a research hospital affiliated with a university would have been more receptive.

Tried. Neurologist ran an MRI then suggested I sleep more. Then they tested me for epilepsy.

Weird experience

In civil court, you basically have to prove that it was more likely than not the gas. That's really hard to do for chronic symptoms. Are you sure you didn't hit your head at some point? Does anyone in your family have any history of similar symptoms? Are you sure it isn't Legionaire's Disease, or Lupus, or some other House MD thing that only 4 people get per year?

There are tons of risk factors for everything. If you're a smoker, and you worked in an asbestos factory, did the cigarettes or the factory give you lung cancer?

I'm a little surprised that some kind of gross negligence doesn't apply, regardless of any damages proven. Perhaps there wasn't any evidence they were aware?

That's terrible.

I wonder if there are lawyers who specialize in this kind of thing.

I started shaking when I read this...

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