Beware those with thin skin

Shawn and Tanya Harless like casino action.

Shawn is a member of two Facebook groups, Lucky Gem Casino Friends and Clickfun Casino Friends. Most of the posts on his Facebook timeline indicate how many chips he has won recently in the myVegas slot game or the new level he’s reached in Slots Farm.

Tanya also plays Lucky Gem Casino and is a member of Clickfun Casino Friends.

Does their mutual love for games of chance reflect a get-rich-quick mentality, or do Shawn and Tanya merely share a harmless hobby?

One would probably assume the latter, were it not for a lawsuit the two filed earlier this month against a local physician.

The Harlesses filed a complaint in Kanawha Circuit Court on June 3 against Dr. Phillip Surface for injuries Tanya allegedly received at his office at Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston four months earlier when the doctor “verbally accosted” her.

There seems to be a significant subtext missing from Tanya’s account of the incident in her complaint. She asserts that one of Surface’s employees informed her that the doctor would not treat her, that this upset her, and that Surface himself had a heated encounter with her at the waiting room window as she collected her personal documents and prepared to leave.

Tanya offers no explanation for why Dr. Surface refused to treat her, but one can’t help suspecting that it was due to something other than time constraints. Nor does she explain what it means to be “verbally accosted” or reveal what behavior of hers may have precipitated the alleged tongue-lashing.

Though she does mention a security guard subsequently encountered in the hospital hallway, Tanya cites no witnesses inside the doctor’s office who might be able to corroborate her account.

She insists, however, that Surface’s words so upset her that she suffered a panic attack and required medical treatment and counseling.

Maybe, instead, Tanya should see a dermatologist about developing a thicker skin.