First, the good news: Surgeons at University Medical Center have successfully reattached the piece of skull that had been removed from bantamweight boxer Z “The Dream” Gorres, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after a November fight at Mandalay Bay’s House of Blues.
Now the bad news: Last week’s intricate procedure at the publicly funded hospital, combined with more than two months of around-the-clock nursing care and painstaking rehabilitation work by a team of physical therapists, has driven the medical expenses of the financially strapped Gorres to nearly $600,000. It’s a bill that Southern Nevada taxpayers must largely pick up, because state law requires promoters to put up only $50,000 worth of medical insurance for each fighter in the ring.The consequences of the Filipino boxer’s brain injury have prompted elected officials and the Nevada Athletic Commission to work toward crafting a solution that keeps taxpayers off the hook for the medical care of professional boxers.
But Las Vegas is home to lots of different events, and some are very risky. Could Clark County taxpayers end up footing the bill when other athletes [...]