Payouts Bring Questions for Some Boston Bombing Victims

The Washington Post examines the impact of One Fund Boston payments on a group of friends who were severely injured in the Boston Marathon bombings.

The fund, which has raised more than $60-million for victims of the April attack, started distributing money in late June. Brothers J.P. and Paul Norden, each of whom lost a leg, have not cashed their $1.2-million checks, while their friends Jarrod Clowery and James Costello, who were also badly injured but did not lose limbs, have used their $735,000 payouts to secure homes, pay off debts, and start a charity.

The Nordens will lose state health insurance as a result of the payments, and with uncertain job prospects and a lifetime need to regularly replace costly prostheses, they are unsure how to best use the money, said their mother, Liz Norden. “[W]ho do you trust?” she said. “It’s like we have money, but we don’t have money.”