[A brief side note: some have wondered why certain subjects were not broached on Dr. Phil. Per a source close to the show's production, the show's contract with Jeremy contains addendums that limited the subject matter that could be covered. I am as close to sure of that as I can be without having seen the contract myself.]
On the Dr. Phil show, Jeremy claimed to have been involved in a motorcycle accident that resulted in him being comatose and hospitalized for 'a very long time,' during which time he “flatlined” and was brought back to life. Poor baby!
Flatlined ≠ dead, and dead people are not ‘brought back to life’ in response to medical care (death is by definition irreversible), but as Jeremy would say, “that’s neither here nor there” because (1) Jeremy was never in asystole, (2) the accident was entirely his fault, and (3) the coma part of his story is total bullshit.
He was, however, in a serious motorcycle accident in 2014, and if you want to know the details, read on.
On January 4, 2014 Jeremy Dewitte was at work, conducting a funeral escort on a 2007 BMW motorcycle. He was speeding and driving down the wrong side of the road - against traffic - when he collided with a car going the right direction, driven by an unlucky guy named Robert White. Jeremy was launched from his motorcycle and flipped numerous times through the air, ultimately landing unconscious in a ditch. It was all captured on Jeremy's own helmet camera.
Jeremy was hospitalized and his arm was operated on three times, racking up a hospital bills well over $200,000. (I have a copy of the complete itemized hospital bill, which is how I know that Jeremy was never in asystole. They never treated him for it.)
Jeremy received $25,000 from White's insurer and $1,000 in medical benefits from his own insurer, Foremost, but Foremost would not pay Jeremy's much larger demand of $295,000.
And for good reason, even ignoring the fact that his policy limit was $100,000.
Jeremy's individual insurance policy had a business use exclusion, and his own helmet camera proved that he had been using the bike for business purposes at the time of the accident.
The business use exclusion was clear as day:
EXCLUSIONS
Loss to "your covered motorcycle" or "transport trailer" while it is being used in the course of your "business" for demonstrations, exhibitions, parades, or other activities.
Jeremy's policy also had a fraud exclusion, which was just as much if not more trouble for the guy.
He had misrepresented to an adjuster that he purchased the motorcycle after a prior loss, as a replacement for the vehicle destroyed in the loss, using proceeds he had just received from resolving the prior loss claim. He had actually purchased the bike months earlier. He then produced a forged bill of sale document, in which the sale date had been altered to make it appear that the motorcycle was purchased two months later than it actually had been. (Jeremy had changed number 7, representing July, to a 9, representing September.)
Unbelievably, he also told Foremost that he had reported the motorcycle to Foremost right after purchasing the bike in September 2013, and that he had asked Foremost to insure the motorcycle on his policy. In reality, Jeremy never actually reported the involved motorcycle to Foremost or asked Foremost to insure it. It wasn't even on his policy.
So, being a rational and upstanding human being, Jeremy Dewitte sued Foremost.
An amusing digression: Jeremy put up a fight over Foremost denying him access to copies of the statement he provided Foremost in the wake of the accident. Allegedly, Dewitte had no recollection of what he said, and was flipping out because he knew that he would be deposed by Foremost... who would then compare the two statements in an attempt (as if this is hard) to impeach Jeremy.
Back to the accident, though, and its aftermath:
In the immediate wake of the accident EMS transported Jeremy to Orlando Regional Medical Center ("ORMC"). Upon arrival at ORMC, Jeremy was combative with the medical staff, which led to his being sedated and intubated so that the staff could properly assess his injuries. If I had to guess, that is probably the "coma" he was referring to.
The staff noted that he suffered from several severe lacerations to his forehead, right arm and right knee. The ER physician initially believed that that Jeremy also sustained a closed head injury. The ER physician ordered a brain CT scan and various other scans, ultimately diagnosed Dewitte with an open right ulnar shaft fracture, a left clavicle fracture, and a left a scapula fracture.
Both the ulnar and clavicle fractures required surgery with implantation of hardware to facilitate healing. On January 5, 2014. Jeremy underwent an open reduction and internal fixation with debridement to repair his right ulnar shaft fracture. The surgery report noted an .8 cm fracture that was jagged as if it had been impacted by a propeller type object. It also stated that there was significant muscle damage, grass in the wound. and a mild comminution. To repair the fracture, the wound was irrigated and the surgeon inserted a 10-hole dynamic compression plate with holding screws. As for the left clavicle fracture. mild comminution was also present. The surgery report noted that the clavicle fracture was unstable because it was a distraction injury, and that when the surgeon attempted to install a lag screw, it wouldn't hold. This caused the surgeon to repair the clavicle fracture with a Stryker distal plate, which was secured with screws. Jeremy's scapular fracture was not operated on.
Jeremy remained at ORMC until January 6, 2014, racking up a solid bill: $113,548.00. He didn't pay a cent of it, and ORMC recorded a lien against Jeremy in the amount of $112,000
There was a second round of surgeries and ORMC stay from 2/16/14 to 2/20/14. He had returned to ORMC on February 16, 2014, after noticing drainage from his forearm incision... where a screw had somehow pulled loose. Jeremy was taken back into surgery and underwent removal of the originally placed hardware from his right forearm. The surgeon also removed dead bone which had been identified as well as an identified cortical segment that had no vascularity. An antibiotic spacer was placed in the infected area, and the area was irrigated and debrided.
The surgeon's post surgical notes theorized that Jeremy's complications stemmed from exposure to bacteria in his open wounds while lying in the ditch. The bacterial infection was stabilized as of February 20, 2014. That same day Jeremy underwent a third a surgery in order to re-plate his ulnar fracture. The surgeon removed the antibiotic spacer and irrigated and debrided the area. Jeremy's ulnar fracture was then plated with an extra articular dorsal plate that was secured with locking screws. The surgeon also performed a tension-type closure of Jeremy's two other wound dehiscences. Jeremy was discharged from ORMC on February 22, 2014. The ORMC bill from the February 16-22 stay totaled $83,363, but it was adjusted down by $54,185.95. He didn't pay that one either.
On January 15, 2014, Foremost disclaimed coverage under the policy's business use exclusion. The lawsuit ultimately settled for an undisclosed amount.
Trivia: shortly after Jeremy’s accident, clickorlando.com ran a story titled “Officer injured after motorcycle accident.” (We’re not impersonating!) Shortly after it went live, the story was retitled "Security officer injured after motorcycle accident." In that article, Jeremy's brother Dylan is quoted as having said "It's something that's routine that we do day by day -- a two lane like this -- it's the only way we can get to the front and do our job," presumably referring to unlawfully driving against traffic.
Note: All of the above information is public, having been disclosed by Jeremy himself in his lawsuit against Foremost. Mr. Dewitte is a highly public figure, most recently having appeared on The Dr. Phil Show in relation to the many felony crimes he has formally been charged with. His own insurer's public allegations that Mr. Dewitte committed insurance fraud do not constitute "personal and confidential information." The description of his injuries is, once again, entirely from the court record in a lawsuit that he himself filed. It must also be noted that Mr. Dewitte publicly lied on The Dr. Phil Show about the injuries described above. The publication of this post is a refutation (and the only existent refutation) of those claims. The moment Mr. Dewitte went on national television and lied about his 2014 accident and associated injuries, they became matters of legitimate public interest and concern. Update: I have received one message about HIPAA. HIPAA only applies to covered entities (providers, health plans, etc.) and their business associates.