- Nataline Sarkisyan
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Nataline Sarkisyan Born Nataline Mary Sarkisyan
July 10, 1990
Los Angeles, California, U.S.Died December 20, 2007 (aged 17)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.Nationality Armenian Occupation Student Parents Krikor (also spelled Grigor) and Hilda Sarkisyan Nataline Mary Sarkisyan (Armenian: Նատալին Սարգիսյան) (July 10, 1990 – December 20, 2007) was an American teenager with recurrent leukemia, first diagnosed at age 14, who received a bone marrow transplant from her brother Bedros, November 27, 2007. She subsequently developed complications leading to multiple organ failure, including liver and kidney failure.
Sarkisyan was covered under the insurance company of her parents (either her father, an automotive technician for Mercedez-Benz of Calabasas, California, or her mother who may work for Prudential Real Estate[citation needed]). Physicians informed the family and insurance company[when?], Cigna HealthCare, that patients in a similar situation have a 65% 6 month survival rate after a liver transplant.[citation needed] Dr. John Roberts, chief of the transplant service at UC San Francisco (not the transplant center treating Sarkisyan), stated[when?] that his center generally does not accept a patient without a 50% or greater five year survival rate. The chief of the Baylor Regional Transplant Institute in Dallas, Dr. Goran Klintmalm, said[when?] this particular operation was a "very high-risk transplant." Dr. Klintmalm did state that he would consider the same operation on a similar patient.[1]. Cigna's rejection on December 11 led Sarkisyan's doctors at the UCLA medical center, including the head of its transplant unit, to write a letter to protest that the treatment proposed was neither experimental nor unproven and called on Cigna to urgently review its decision.
Cigna HealthCare refused to pay for treatment[when?], citing policy provisions which do not cover services considered experimental, investigational and/or unproven to be safe and/or effective for the patient.[2]
CIGNA notes that it had no financial stake in the decision to authorize the transplant because it merely administers the insurance plan of the parent's employer and would not bear the cost of any operation. However, Cigna was offering to pay for the transplant itself when it made the exception to the policy.[3] Cigna's reversal of its policy, offering to pay for the transplant, came several hours before Ms. Sarkisyan's death.
The cost of a liver transplant and 1 year of follow-up care was $450,000 in 2005. UCLA declined two livers while waiting for insurance approval from Cigna.[4]. Ms. Sarkisyan's family was also informed that they could proceed with the transplant if they could make a down-payment of $75,000.
Sarkisyan's family retained attorney Mark Geragos to sue Cigna, and requested that Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley file murder charges against the insurer.[5] The case was thrown out due to a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court ruling shielding employer-paid healthcare plans from damages over their coverage decisions.[6]
Sarkisyan's family has spoken out at a New Hampshire rally in support of Senator John Edwards' presidential campaign on January 6,2008 based on his advocacy of reforming and overhauling the US health care system.[7][8]
See also
References
- ^ Los Angeles Times
- ^ CIGNA document
- ^ Vanessa Fuhrmans & Laura Meckler "A Medical Case Becomes Political" The Wall Street Journal 2008-01-07 p. A1
- ^ http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20080113_When_a_health_insurer_says_it_wont_pay.html Retrieved 2008-01-13
- ^ http://cbs2.com/local/nataline.sarkisyan.CIGNA.2.615167.html Retrieved 2008-01-07.
- ^ http://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct/08/business/fi-cigna8 Retrieved 2011-01-24.
- ^ Family of Nataline Sarkisyan to Join Edwards Today. Daily Kos, January 6, 2008.
- ^ Wendell Potter Deadly Spin: An insurance company insider speaks out how corporate PR is killing health care and deceiving Americans, Bloomsbury Press, November, 2010, chapters 8-9
External links
- Nataline Sarkisyan at Find a Grave
- Insurer's U-turn too late to save life of transplant teenager
- Teen dies after insurance nixes transplant funds
- Statement from Michael Moore on the Death of Nataline Sarkisyan
- Family of dead teen to sue insurer that dallied on liver transplant
- Tough calls in transplant case
- Attorney Wants Criminal Charges Against Insurer
- Teen's family plans to sue health insurer
- Lawsuit promised in transplant case
- Health Insurer to be Charged With Teen's Murder
- Nataline Sarkisyan's Battle Effecting Healthcare
- CIGNA HealthCare's Medical Coverage Position Paper for liver transplants
Categories:- 1990 births
- 2007 deaths
- American children
- American people of Armenian descent
- People from Los Angeles County, California
- Deaths from leukemia
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