Scott J Nelson

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American engineer who took a high-paying job with the Hospital Corporation of America and was sent to work in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1984, monitoring the engineering equipment. He brought up a complaint that patients were being endangered by defective valves on oxygen lines. On 9/27/1984, he was called into the security office, where he was conducted to a cell by two policemen. There, he was shackled, slapped, punched and his bare feet beaten with a bamboo cane. A hefty six-footer, he was tortured for 39 days until Senator Ted Kennedy telephoned King Fahd on the behest of Nelson's sister. Returned to the U.S., Nelson was numb and in pain from the waist down and had knee surgery four times. He and his wife lived off his savings and her salary as a nurse to work on a lawsuit that is opposed by both governments. Over 130 attorneys refused to take the case, saying there's no way he can win. He is pressing ahead in his attempt to sue the government of Saudi Arabia and the Corporation in a suit that could set Supreme Court precedents and involve millions in damages.