A window washer who narrowly escaped death last week after plunging from the roof of a 33-storey condominium now faces another challenge: paying his hospital bills.
Arturo Rodriguez fell more than 15 floors from the top of a Front Street condominium last Friday, but was saved by his safety line.
The 30-year-old was left dangling high above the ground with severe rope burns to both hands and drifting in and out of consciousness before co-workers were able to lower him to a nearby ledge.
He was rushed to hospital with severe burns, cuts and bruises but was later released and sent home.
Rodriguez was back in hospital Tuesday over fears that his hands were getting infected and doctors say he needs plastic surgery to heal his skin.
He came to Canada two years ago from Mexico and has a work visa, but an apparent mix-up in his paperwork left him without Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) coverage.
Now his wife Brenda Gonzalez is worried about his well-being.
“(He needs) plastic surgery, because his hands are bad, very bad,” she said, speaking for her husband who does not speak any English. “He wants to work. He needs to have money for us.”
Premium Window Cleaning, the company that hired Rodriguez, has told him they will not cover the medical bills.
Rodriguez was only on his second day at the window-washing job when he fell.
