Teen murdered by [for-profit] Health Insurance

[dddooo]

17-year-old girl died hours after Cigna finally agreed to pay for new liver


Nataline Sarkisyan died Thursday at about 6 p.m. at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center. She had been in a vegetative state for weeks, said her mother, Hilda.

Attorney Mark Geragos said he plans to ask the district attorney to press murder or manslaughter charges against Cigna HealthCare in the case. The insurer “maliciously killed her” because it did not want to bear the expense of her transplant and aftercare, Geragos said.

Nataline had been battling leukemia and received a bone marrow transplant from her brother. She developed a complication that caused her liver to fail.
...
Doctors at UCLA determined she needed a transplant and sent a letter to Cigna Corp.’s Cigna HealthCare on Dec. 11. The Philadelphia-based health insurance company denied payment for the transplant, saying the procedure was experimental and outside the scope of coverage.

The insurer reversed the decision Thursday as about 150 teenagers and nurses rallied outside of its office. But Nataline died hours later.
...
In their letter, the UCLA doctors said patients in situations similar to Nataline’s who undergo transplants have a six-month survival rate of about 65 percent.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22357873/

On the positive side the savings from not performing the transplant will increase Signa's shareholder value by at least $0.000001 per share, the CEO's well-deserved bonus will also be increased by at least $300-$400. Let us all congratulate Cigna on the job well done.

 

[acronym]

Precisely why i maintain, for profit corp's have no business being in healthcare, general or otherwise.

They have no motivation or incentive to act according to the Hippocratic oath, nor are medical practitioners obliged to actually take legitimate medical care of a patient into consideration.

 

[blackhorseshoe]

once again, mike moore is invindicated.
i wonder how much of this will be covered by the facist noise channel.

 

[nutmeg]

Why didn't Michael Moore put his money where his mouth is and pay for the operation himself?

There are enviromentalists/activists that won't pick up a piece of paper on the street and put in in a trash receptacle but have no problem hiring a lawyer to force somebody else to do it at their own expense.

 

[nutmeg]

Buffet wants everyone to pay more taxes, why doesn't he use his Gen re and lower (subsidize) premiums for insurers? Seems he is part of the problem (for profit) and could provide a solution.

 

[ratboy88]

Quote from nutmeg:

Why didn't Michael Moore put his money where his mouth is and pay for the operation himself?

There are enviromentalists/activists that won't pick up a piece of paper on the street and put in in a trash receptacle but have no problem hiring a lawyer to force somebody else to do it at their own expense.

michael moore is a shill and his brand of communism isnt the answer for health care. don't want no Hillary care either... that woman is fkn crazy as a bat.

 

[dddooo]

Quote from nutmeg:

Buffet wants everyone to pay more taxes

Buffet unlike you do understand that we already pay more for health insurance than anyone else in the world (at least 35-50% more on per capita basis). Buffet also understands that whether these exorbitant payments are called taxes or health insurance premiums is irrelevant to people footing the bill (the American public). Buffet also understands that the money is spent on CEO salaries, paperwork, bureaucracy and on increasing shareholder value instead of being spent on treating sick people and performing life-saving procedures. Buffet also understands that Health Insurance organizations do indeed compete with each other - they compete to weed out as many "unprofitable" patients like Nataline as possible, they compete to deny as many medical services and procedures as they can possibly get away with. They compete to charge patients as much as possible and to pay doctors as little as possible. They DO NOT compete to save lives.

 

[nutmeg]

Gees D, are you running for office? You sound like a politician. What has WEB done to reduce insurance costs in the industry? Warren and Gates are offering up some exciting money for charity, why didn't he offer up some money for the operation?

 

[TorontoTrader2]

The war is against us. Never forget that. To the ruling elites & bankers we are just useless Breeders and Feeders.

Our food supply is now owned by their Mosanto, our health care is owned by their HMOs.
Our media is owned by their propagandists.

Our houses are owned by their banks, our freedom is owned by their Executive Orders.

Now, they will tighten the screws.

 

[dddooo]

Quote from nutmeg:

Gees D, are you running for office? You sound like a politician.
Are you kidding? Show me a politician who says what I just said. Well, maybe Kusinich, others know but don't have the guts to say it, let alone do anything about it.

What has WEB done to reduce insurance costs in the industry?
What does he have to do with this situation to begin with? You, not I brought his name up. Anyway, in response to your question, he is using his fortune to promote changes which will reduce cost, improve quality and stop the murder of innocent americans by corporations. What have you done...besides opposing these changes on the internets of course.

Warren and Gates are offering up some exciting money for charity, why didn't he offer up some money for the operation?
Because the family did not need charity, they are a typical middle class family, they had jobs...they actually had [gasp] health insurance with CIGNA.

Because CIGNA was obligated to pay for the operation, not Buffet, not Gates, not you and me. Because thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of similar operations and procedures are routinely denied every year by CIGNA and other Insurance companies, because the system is broken and the inherent conflict of interest between HMOs and patients (and between HMOs and doctors) will not go away even if Buffet does pay for one or one hundred operations.