Nataline Sarkisian

[MrHyeSev]

Did anyone see her story lasy night on Dateline?
Very touching

[Siggie]

Re: Nataline Sarkisian

Yeah, a death is always a sad story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nataline_Sarkisyan

I missed this special, but I had some questions about her situation and I wonder if they were answered on the show.

For example, why in the world didn't they go ahead and do the operation and then get reimbursed if the insurance came through? If the hospital wouldn't do the operation without the $75k down payment alleged in her wiki article, then couldn't they scrape that together in that time? It's absurd to let her die if all that was required was $75k (yeah, the surgery would cost nearly 500k, but they could sort that out later). I mean just family and friends could have pitched in a bit to make this happen, no? The doctors could have donated their services and brought the cost down if the hospital wouldn't do the same. It just seems so senseless that there must be more to the story.
Maybe they didn't do it because there wasn't a liver available for transplant? If her brother was a match for marrow, wouldn't he match for liver too or would that be more expensive because it would be a second surgery. If there wasn't a liver to transplant anyway, they can't really put all the blame on the insurer.

[MrHyeSev]

Re: Nataline Sarkisian

The insurance denied them several times then reversed there decision to do the operation but by that time it was to late. The brother was a match but then she got an infection in her liver & Cigna was denying it.

But the question that is on the family's mind is why did they keep denying it time after time

[Siggie]

Re: Nataline Sarkisian

The insurance denied them several times then reversed there decision to do the operation but by that time it was to late. The brother was a match but then she got an infection in her liver & Cigna was denying it.

But the question that is on the family's mind is why did they keep denying it time after time

I don't know what possessed me to think you'd have retained anything helpful from a program you watched less than 24 hours ago.

Yeah, Cigna denied it. Insurance plan administrators can't approve and pay for any treatment. They have to do a cost-benefit analysis. If they paid for anything and everything with the remotest chance of being helpful, someone has to bear that cost. Guess who that is? The members collectively. So, I understand why Cigna denied it.

They didn't deny it time and time again. From my understanding it was once, then it was appealed. It wasn't up to Cigna because it was only the health plan administrator (many large companies, universities, etc pool the money in, set out what they're coverage, policies, etc are, but because they aren't in the business of administering a health plan, they hire companies like Cigna to run it). But in the face of all the bad publicity directed their way, they opted to make themselves look good by volunteering to cough up the money not from the company's pool of money (because that wasn't theirs to give away), but out of their own pockets. However by then, Nataline, who was already in an induced coma for several days took a turn for the worse and the family had no choice but to take her off life support.

What I am asking is different. I am saying. If the time was so limited, the odds of survival with the transplant were good, a liver was available, and it was approved for Nataline, then why didn't they go ahead and do it anyway?

Also, I believe it was a lung infection? In this case, it makes sense why they'd deny it. To receive an organ, immuno-suppressants must be administered for months to prevent organ rejection, and if she has an infection, they can't give her any because then the infection will kill her. So, they would have a high risk of rejection of the organ. I'd be surprised if the organization deciding who gets organs would even give her the liver in this case. It's not like they have organs to spare. They have to be wise about who gets them, so they're not "wasted" for lack of a better word.
This is why things don't add up...

[freakyfreaky]

Re: Nataline Sarkisian

Great question Siggie. Unless the Geragos firm was working for free, someone probably decided to lawyer up instead of liver up.