He was in a high paying professional job in his early 60s at the time. He fell ill and was hospitalized for about 6 months and had by this time lost a lot in the stock market where he had all of his money invested in 2008. He was too sick to deal with it and by the time it was over and he realized how much he'd lost, it was so much that he discovered that he cannot recover as he is now 65 years old, sick and cannot work any longer.
All in all, the IRS wins and you lose with no recourse in most cases like I describe in my friend's case.
He is an example of just one person in this age bracket, and an example of a person that got carried away and did not diversify, got sick and couldn't deal with it. In other words, he got a little bit too greedy I'd say, he was smug with his job/profession and all of a sudden ZAP, he got sick; check; done all in a matter of a few months time, life savings gone; hope = none. 
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