Well, for those who didn't read it elsewhere (it was 1994):

      A couple of curbstone entrepreneurs in Florida went to a dentist with a grand scheme: since a dentist cannot work without his index finger, they talked a dentist into allowing them to chop off his finger in return for a cut (first pun) of what was expected to be a large insurance pay-off. The dentist agreed. (Was he good? Not likely. Was he smart? Not likely.)

      First they needed a large policy, so the dentist applied to Allstate (say - aren't they the "good hands" people?) and they agreed to a $1.3 million policy. (This dentist is so stupid he probably asked for $500 million.)

      When it came time to do the deed, the dentist got cold feet, (third pun), especially when the ax man announced he would actually chop off 3 fingers to make it look good. The dentist ran, was captured, subdued, and had one (1) finger chopped off.

      At this point, with a career in dentistry gone, the dentist elected to proceed with the scam part of the plan. He announced at a hospital ER that he was the victim of a woodcutting accident, and then filed a claim with Allstate.

      Allstate smelled the air, discovered the dentist had not done enough preparation on his story, and refused to pay.

      I don't know how the details of this were all revealed, but we have got one stupid dentist, out of work, and going to court for insurance fraud. Only in America.