Glendale, CA — A 17-year old died just hours after her health insurance company reversed its decision not to pay for a liver transplant that doctors said the girl needed.
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Nataline Sarkisyan died Thursday night at about 6 p.m. at University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center. She had been in a vegetative state for weeks, said her mother, Hilda.
“She passed away, and the insurance (company) is responsible for this,” she said.
Nataline had been battling leukemia and received a bone marrow transplant from her brother. She developed a complication, however, that caused her liver to fail.
Doctors at UCLA determined she needed a transplant and sent a letter to CIGNA Healthcare on Dec. 11. The Philadelphia-based health insurance company denied payment for the transplant.
On Thursday, about 150 teenagers and nurses protested outside CIGNA’s office in Glendale. As the protesters rallied, the company reversed its decision and said it would approve the transplant.
Despite the reversal, CIGNA said in an e-mail statement before she died that there was a lack of medical evidence showing the procedure would work in Nataline’s case.
“Our hearts go out to Nataline and her family, as they endure this terrible ordeal,” the company said. ” … CIGNA HealthCare has decided to make an exception in this rare and unusual case and we will provide coverage should she proceed with the requested liver transplant.”
I would think (and a lawsuit will probably prove me correct) that UCLA is more responsible in this case.
Most people don’t realize how crummy their insurance is until they need it.
My sister suffered heart failure from a diabetes drug side effect. She was 36 at the time and the mother of young children. She sat in the hospital fighting with the insurance company (private carrier) to pay for the heart surgery she needed and without which she would not live.
We were lucky that we have a brother who is an attorney and who could get on the phone with the insurance company so that my sister could get the needed heart surgery that saved her life.
But the whole thing was just ridiculous. I wish this was the only story like this I have ever heard.