AURORA | It took a month of squabbles, but officials this week laid out a plan to dole out almost $5 million donated to victims of the Aurora theater shooting.
Still, some victims remain upset with how the process played out and how the money will be spent.
Under the plan announced Oct. 15, families of those killed in the theater shooting and people seriously wounded will get about $200,000 each from the Aurora Victim Relief Fund.
Kenneth Feinberg, the man appointed last month to oversee the fund, said the families of the 12 people killed as well as a handful of victims who were paralyzed or sustained serious brain damage will get about 70 percent of the roughly $5 million. That works out to about $200,000 each for dead and paralyzed victims.
The rest of the money will be divided among other victims based on how long they were hospitalized. The longer the hospital stay, the bigger the check, Feinberg said.
Feinberg made the announcement after meeting with several victims in public meetings last week.
People who were inside the Century Aurora 16 theater that night but weren’t physically injured won’t see any money from the fund, Feinberg said.
“There is not enough money for people who were psychologically injured. There were 400 people in that theater,” he told a crowd of a little more than 30 people at Aurora Central Library.
But, Feinberg said, those victims will be eligible for free psychological help from mental health providers.
The plan for the fund left some of the wounded and their families frustrated, particularly those who were wounded but won’t qualify for any financial assistance under Feinberg’s plan.
“I think it’s a joke,” said Greg Hicks, whose 17-year-old daughter McKayla was shot in the face during the rampage.
McKayla was only hospitalized for a night after the shooting, but has more lengthy hospital stays ahead of her, Hicks said.
“It blew out two of her teeth and she has to have four more surgeries,” he said.
Health insurance is covering some of the costs, he said, but the family is still looking at some hefty medical bills.
Feinberg said the fund won’t be used for future medical procedures, and Hicks said he doesn’t think McKayla’s lone night in the hospital will qualify her for much — if anything — under Feinberg’s plan.
“I think anybody that got shot deserves something,” he said. “Apparently that’s not his thing, and he’s in charge.”
Feinberg said future medical care won’t be covered because it would be virtually impossible to predict what the various victims will need. That’s why officials have to base their decision on something tangible, like the length of a hospital stay.
“The future is very uncertain for everybody,” he said.
Hicks said he is also frustrated with the decision to close the fund Nov. 15. Instead, he said the fund should stay open so donations can continue to pour in.
But officials involved in the fund said in order to get the money to the victims quickly, they need to know how much is there, make a decision, and send out the checks.
In a statement through their spokeswoman, several of the families who have raised concerns about the handling of the fund in recent weeks said they plan to continue rasing money for victims.
“The majority of the families of the deceased recognize the need for more donations and are working tirelessly behind the scenes to raise additional funds. We are in the process of aligning with a trusted, nationally-recognized organization to ensure victims of the theater shooting — the physically and emotionally injured in theater 9 and the physically injured in theater 8 — will receive donations past the Nov. 15th deadline imposed by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper,” the statement said.
Hickenlooper said in a statement Monday that it was vital that money go to victims quickly, and commended Feinberg for ensuring that happens.
“Those most impacted by the theater shooting are best served by a speedy and fair distribution of the Aurora Victim Relief Fund and Ken is delivering as promised,” Hickenlooper said.
Melisa Cowden, the ex-wife of Gordon Cowden, who was killed in the shootings, said her teenage children need money to get on with their lives.
“I’m happy with the fact that the money that is still there is being distributed. There will never be enough money to compensate for the loss of their dad,” she said.
Feinberg said he wished there was more money to work with. While $5 million might sound like a lot, it doesn’t amount to much when considering the number of victims and the extent of their injuries.
“That’s a thimble for the horror of this case,” he said. “That’s a thimble.”
Experts say figuring out how the money should be distributed raises a host of moral dilemmas — including how to compare the suffering of the injured with that of those who lost loved ones, and how to compare the suffering of one person’s injuries with that of another.
Chris Heathwood, an associate professor of philosophy at University of Colorado in Boulder, said it is possible to think of suffering in a value-based manner that allows for comparisons.
“Suffering is a real psychological phenomenon; there can be more or less of it, and so it would thus seem that for any two cases of suffering, either one contains more suffering than the other, or they contain an equal amount,” he said.
But, that still leaves the problem of degrees.
“Psychology and medicine have no very good ways of measuring pain and suffering, and certainly nothing like the way in which we can measure, say, red blood cell count. The best we can do are very, very rough estimates,” he said.
That’s why it can be easier, from a moral perspective, to avoid those types of comparisons and treat many of the wounded in a similar fashion, he said.
Feinberg said he realizes that there is no perfect solution to a problem like this.
“There’s no right way or wrong way,” he said.
But, Feinberg said it’s important that focus remain on the victims with the most-serious injuries.
“Priority, it seems to me, must be with those families that confront financial uncertainty because of the death of a loved one or those who were so horribly injured they will never be the same,” he said.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Some will never be satisfied regardless of how much or how little money they receive. There isnt enough money to compensate everyone who was in the theatre that night . . and there never would be, , it doesnt matter how much was raised. $5 million is a lot of money to most people but just not enough . . let’s distribute the funds as Mr. Feinberg has outlined and move on. .