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Intershame On: CIGNA |
Mocking a Grieving Mother
10/09/2009
Being a levelheaded person, very few stories I read actually make me angry. This is one of those stories.
Hilda Sarkisyan is attempting to bring a lawful death lawsuit against health insurance provider Cigna for denying her daughter a transplant she needed in order to save her life. Cigna considered the procedure experimental and denied coverage. The story went public and 8 days later the embarrassed Cigna leadership reversed the decision and allowed the procedure to move forward.
It was too late. Sarkisyan's daughter died just hours later.
Understandably, Sarkisyan was furious. She took some of that fury to the people responsible for denying her daughter coverage and, well I'll let the Los Angeles Times describe what happened...
The animosity towards private health insurance companies is high, but there hasn't been that single repulsive act by the insurance industry that could turn the animosity against them into a wider populace outrage.
If this story receives enough coverage, this might be that moment.
Hilda Sarkisyan is attempting to bring a lawful death lawsuit against health insurance provider Cigna for denying her daughter a transplant she needed in order to save her life. Cigna considered the procedure experimental and denied coverage. The story went public and 8 days later the embarrassed Cigna leadership reversed the decision and allowed the procedure to move forward.
It was too late. Sarkisyan's daughter died just hours later.
Understandably, Sarkisyan was furious. She took some of that fury to the people responsible for denying her daughter coverage and, well I'll let the Los Angeles Times describe what happened...
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.This goes beyond shame. The act of denying the procedure for Hilda Sarkisyan's daughter was shameful. This is abhorrent.
"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."
Sarkisyan walked out, stunned and hurt.
"They showed me their true colors," she said. "Shame on them."
The animosity towards private health insurance companies is high, but there hasn't been that single repulsive act by the insurance industry that could turn the animosity against them into a wider populace outrage.
If this story receives enough coverage, this might be that moment.
Comments
- 294 days agoI hope everyone one of those employees that mocked her get CANCER and die a slow death!!!!
- 294 days agoInsurance companies have been giving the American public the finger for decades...this, unfortunately, is not surprising.
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