Personal Injury Law

Insurance company's doctors decide girl should not get transplant

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

Preventable deaths in hospitals are not limited to people without access to health care and victims of medical mistakes and medical malpractice. People with insurance can still be effected by their insurer and the doctors advising the company. A teenage girl with leukemia was recently denied a liver transplant by her insurance company, who claimed that the procedure was too experimental. The teen's doctor, however, stated that people in a similar situation have a 65% chance of survival after similar procedures. The insurance company, at the last minute, decided to grant the transplant but after the delay the girl's parents decided to remove life support and it was too late. The girl's family is planning to sue the insurer for what they believe to be their daughter's wrongful death.

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Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on February 10, 2008 (boomark / email).