WHAT HEELS: CIGNA Gives Grieving Family The Finger – Twice
Cigna Corp. refused to cover a liver transplant (second item) for 17-year old leukemia patient Nataline Sarkisyan on the grounds that it was “experimental,” then reversed itself nine days later because of the adverse publicity the case generated – but the girl died hours after the company backed down.
While the wrongful death suit Nataline’s family filed was dismissed because a 1987 Supreme Court ruling prevents beneficiaries of employer-paid healthcare plans from collecting damages in such cases, U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess allowed the Sarkisyans to pursue damages for emotional distress caused by an ugly incident that occurred at the insurance company’s headquarters, reports the Los Angeles Times:
Surrounded by supporters, Hilda Sarkisyan marched into Cigna Corp.’s Philadelphia headquarters on a chilly fall day, 10 months after the company refused to pay for a liver transplant for her daughter.
"You guys killed my daughter," the diminutive San Fernando Valley real estate agent declared at the lobby security desk. "I want an apology."
What she got was something quite different.
Cigna employees, looking down into the atrium lobby from a balcony above, began heckling her, she said, with one of them giving her "the finger." …
"They showed me their true colors," she said. "Shame on them." …
"They kill a beautiful 17-year-old girl, and I get to go after them for a finger? That's sick," Hilda Sarkisyan said.
What’s even more sick: This isn’t an aberrant example of what insurers think of their customers, who pay their premiums month in, month out for years and expect to be covered for treatment when they need it most.
The Washington Times profiles Warren and Linda Pearl, who paid Guardian Life Insurance Co. $3,700 a month so their 37-year old son, Ian, could get 24-hour in-home skilled nursing to help with his ventilator, hourly breathing treatments and continuous intravenous medication for muscular dystrophy. They family was stranded when the insurer – which reported profits of $437 million last year, 50 percent higher than in 2007 - simply cancelled several lines of policies under which his $1 million a year medical expenses could be covered. In an internal company E-mail entered into evidence in the Pearls’ lawsuit against the insurer, Vice President Tim Birely characterized the tactic as “eliminat[ing] this entire block to get rid of the few dogs.”
Editorial Note: Part of the last sentence was missing when this post was originally published. The Stiletto's apologies for any confusion.
Comments