Here's Your Real Death Panel: CIGNA Employees Flip Off Mother Of Nataline Sarkisyan
One of the things that you can never anticipate fully before becoming a parent is the absolute ferocity of the instinct to protect your child. It's innate, feral, and so deep that it can actually scare you. I am profoundly grateful every day that my children were born healthy, but I know that should my luck run out and one of my kids develop some sort of life-threatening illness, there is no stone I would leave unturned in my quest to save my child. There is no length I wouldn't go for my babies.
And if all those efforts were in vain, I don't know how I'd survive the loss of my child. I had a miscarriage some years back, and I carried that loss like a huge, gaping wound inside me for so long. And that was for a child with whom I never got a chance to know or develop a real bond.
Now imagine how Hilda Sarkisyan feels. The daughter she bore, raised and nurtured for seventeen years dies just hours before the insurance company she battled finally relented to give her daughter the liver transplant she needed. Can you imagine that grief, that anger at how unnecessary Nataline's death was? All the obstacles placed in their way by a for-profit insurance company in addition to just missing Nataline had to be paralyzing in its pain.
Which makes how CIGNA employees treated Hilda Sarkisyan so much more contemptible:
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.
"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."
This woman has just gone through a pain I wouldn't wish on anyone--watching her child die needlessly--because CIGNA decided there wasn't enough of a cost-benefit to them to authorize a liver transplant. A for-profit insurance agency acted as a de facto death panel, opting to let this child die. Got that, GOP? There's the death panel you fear-monger. But they're not some hypothetical used to scare Grandma and Grandpa, they're REAL and some day, they may decide that you--or worse, your child--are not worth the cost of saving.
And don't be surprised if they show their heartlessness by heckling you and flipping you off when you walk in their doors to ask why.
And as if on cue, here comes Fox News, defending CIGNA:
Dear God, where's the humanity?
Should be lined up and shot.
"Dear God, where's the humanity?"
Good question.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Eliminate the profit motive in health care.
HR 676 at the minimum.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
I am blue in the face repeating this - stop buying the product. You won't be covered when you need it anyway, so just stop giving the insurance companies your money.
Yes, some will sacrifice greatly in the months that go by while the monster dies. In the long run, the insurance giant will die and the equivalent of national health care will begin.
that the above action has not been taken against some of the people representing Corporate America. I am not advocating it. I am surprised it has not happened.
I will not be surprised when it does.
Wingers always portray the French as prissy weak-wrists incapable of all things virtuous.
They have perhaps forgotten that the French had quite a revolution of their own and the peasants did quite well.
Since we now live in a quasi-plutocracy, our still living peasants may look to the French for motivation.
I wouldn't be surprised at all, and I'm having a hard time finding it in me to condemn such a thing if it did happen. Intellectually, I know it is wrong to murder no matter how justifiable it might seem. Anyone who would take this extreme step is a terrorist. Anyone who would go that far cheapens the validity of the demand for change. Anyone who does this sort of thing deserves the most severe punishment we can respond with. I know all this, I just have a hard time finding the proper emotional response when the bastards that deserve it are the ones already killing us and getting away with it.
Democracy is the road to socialism. ~ Karl Marx
kind of sounds like the anti-abortionists and their argument of "defense for the innocent".
Slippery slope 4 sure.
that the American Revolution would have been impossible without France's help and support. But then, they're not very good with all that history stuff.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
not very good with history, not very good with honesty, not very good with compassion...
Pretty f***in' pathetic, actually.
where's our new nobel peace prize receipent President Obama? why isn't he taking care of his citizens? Why isn't he making peace between these two parties?
He has tried. Your side (my assumption) has blocked or rebuffed every single effort. Personally I hope the President gives the finger to every Republican and all of their miserable uneducated supporters. Fuck 'em all. They do not deserve consideration.
You expect the President of the United States to show up to CIGNA HQ to broker peace between CIGNA and the Sarkisyan family?
Way to miss the point.
I hope you don't have to go through anything like this.
I hope he does. The only way these people ever change their minds is if it happens to them.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
He's busy building camps to house the reugnacan scum that needs to be rounded up and locked away.
Because the last guy living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was a divisive, anti-peace destructive moron who thought starting real wars was like playing "war" in your backyard as a kid. No consequences. Our current President is a better multi-tasker than that bafoon could ever hope to be. Your guy did so much damage it'll take at least 20 years to fix.
you are a joke
Where's our new EP3 to compare apples to oranges? Why isn't he taking care of his logical fallacies? Why isn't he making more specious, irrelevent arguments?
get help for your cranial-rectal inversion.
Trust me, cognitive dissonance is not nearly as scary as you've been led to believe...
The Rainmaker
Study the symptoms not the virus...
I saw that just a few weeks ago and was struck by how NOTHING has changed, except to get much much worse.
Another rumor in a Christian Nation that CIGNA flourishes in.
anything goes as along as you make a profit.
If you substituted "government health panel" for Cigna, these guys would be on fire. But no, it's ok to take people's money and put it in your own pocket.
I also notice that no one on this stupid Fox news panel is speaking for the other side. It's all, no way, these people do not have a case.
That said, Mark Geragos is an idiot and the family should get another lawyer.
I feel extreme anger and sadness for Nataline's family. Big hugs to them and may they have lots of strength for their continued quest to make a difference for others being denied care for profit.
She walked into Cigna's headquarters (where they had stiffed her before, to the extreme extent that her daughter was allowed to die) and demanded an apology from these assholes. This is called "leading with your glass chin" in boxing, and for good reason.
Are you saying that it is appropriate business practices for employees to flip off a client who happens to be a grieving mother?
Really? Has office decorum changed that much since I started working from home?
there probably is no way to know if the person on the balcony making the gesture was a CIGNA employee. One Liberty Place is a 103-story building, and only a few floors (mostly at the top) were occupied by CIGNA. The remainderof the building was occupied by many, many companies with thousands of employees. The atrium area just above the lobby was/is open to all employees in the building - not just CIGNA, so there's really no way to discern if the guy was employed by CIGNA.
So, I think it's best to focus on the decision by the underwriters, doctors and executives who made the actual decision to deny coverage, rather than worrying about ignorant pedestrians.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
I take your point. And yes, it's better to focus on that. however, who else would be motivated to flip off the protesters other than the company being protested? Just a crank?
:P
Study the symptoms not the virus...
#;}
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
Yes, the city that pummelled Santa Claus with snowballs.
Talk about attitude!!
She was a paying customer. You don't piss off paying customers if you want to stay in business.
Dude, this is the INSURANCE industry we're talking about. These people KILL their customers. People who buy their products have NO RECOURSE before the law. You really think they give a shit about pissing off their customers?
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
I admire her for keeping the pot boiling. This is a good time to emphasize this.
a person may not survive the treatment doesn't mean the insuraance company shouldn't allow the treatment.
Last I knew, being human was a fatal condition. It is just a matter of time. Given that, it seems silly to waste any money at all on health care.
I think that is CIGNAs next reply.
Why is it that I just want to be on the set and pummel these heartless a**whipes who without any medical records are willing to suggest that CIGNA must be an innocent victim?
allowed the transplant and it had been unsuccessful, they would have lost money for their shareholders. A violation of the one legal obligation that corporations have. Do you see the conflict of interest in allowing profit and corporations into the health care industry? Spending money to save someone loses money for the shareholders. This system should not be allowed to continue. I hope the attorneys for this case use this point, and I hope her family uses a pit bull for an attorney. Or a Rottweiler. No lap dogs.
I find it amazing that so many Americans are worried about "rationing" if ever a public plan is put in place. This is worse than rationing. In Canada (my home), you may wait for treatment, but you will never be denied treatment. And, despite what the right would have you believe, people aren't dying left-right-and-center waiting for operations. Which explains why our life expectancy is longer than Americans'.
There is a difference between the POSSIBILITY of rationing care because of lack of funds and denying care for the sake of profit.
These FOX commentators are absolutely disgusting! Laughing at this tragic loss of life while they gin up some kind of specious defense for these utterly immoral insurance companies. What has this country come to.
And why? Why is Fox supporting Cigna in this case? Because they are getting paid to do so. "Well, we don't know if the liver killed her." Bullshit. Look at the autopsy.
Look at the balance sheet. That's all this is about. Insurance companies take money and provide coverage for people who are sick. If they take a reasonable profit that's fine - nurses work for money, doctors work for money. But how is that CEO's compensation reasonable?
And fox's mouthpieces line up to service Cigna. I hope they love their paychecks. Those whores can do a lot more productive work and sleep at night.
CIGNA has spent more than $4.4 million from 2005 to 2009 on lobbying to attain legislation that the company favors.
Or does that figure cover the 'lobbying' of FOX with advertisement dollars?
Health insurance (major medical insurance)
* Aetna
* American Association of Retired Persons
* American Family Insurance
* American National Insurance Company
* Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield
* Assurant
* Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association
* Cigna
* Fortis
* Golden Rule Insurance Company
* Group Health Cooperative
* Health Net
* HealthMarkets
* Humana Inc.
* Independent Health
* Intermountain Health Care
* Kaiser Permanente
* LifeWise Health Plan of Oregon
* Medical Mutual of Ohio
* Premera
* Principal Financial Group
* Regence Group
* Scott & White
* Shelter Insurance Companies
* Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
* UnitedHealth Group
* Unitrin
* Wellpoint
I watched this video and cannot stop sobbing. I work as a health insurance broker, and I just don't think I can do it anymore. I have some serious decisions to make about the rest of my life, and I think this just pushed me to really think about what I'm doing with my life. I'd rather work three part-time jobs that I can feel good about than do this anymore. I quit.
I worked for a health insurance company about 15 years ago. I took the job because they led me to believe I'd be helping people, acting as a liaison for them as they petitioned for non-standard care (experimental treatments for cancer, etc.).
I lasted six months and had to quit because I couldn't bear to tell these desperate families day after day that the insurance company declined to authorize treatments.
insurance employees are examining their consciences right now. They don't get the perks the lords of the board room get. They get the same coverage as the people they are talking to. I wonder if any of them think about going on "strike" or if they feel they need their jobs too much.
I know this is wishful thinking, but a Norma Rae moment would be particularly awesome right now. But that is too much and too personal to ask of someone else. I am not in that position and it's presumptuous of me to say that, but still. It'd be awesome.
... You might consider becoming a patient adviser / advocate / counselor at a hospital or cancer center. I had ovarian cancer a couple of years ago and the counselors at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance helped me tremendously. They helped me navigate the complicated paperwork when I was so sick that I could barely think.
Someone with your experience in the health-insurance industry would be a valuable asset to providers of health care.
Best of luck to you, and keep us updated, would you?
I have a friend of mine that works at a hospital as a patient advocate for liver diseases. She quit her $50k/yr job working for the hospital corp to take this one at $30k working for the state.
Things still break her heart, but they're not breaking her spirit. She finds ways of funding and fights for her patients and knows the 'game' from the other side.
I wish you the best.
Follow your heart. You have to be happy in what you do to be happy in life. There is more honor in doing what some may call menial work and doing it well than making lots of money in a job you feel isn't contributing to society.
Whatever happens, remember there are lots of folks here on the intertubes-thingy who support you.
Let's all keep up the good fight for health care reform.
Just wanted to say, I admire your strength to, as you said, QUIT. THAT takes alot of guts in this economy.
Good luck in your job search. I hope you land something soon.
Don't just whine about it on a message board. DO IT.
I've worked as a temp for years, and one of my standing conditions is NO INSURANCE COMPANY ASSIGNMENTS. I lose out on a lot of work that way, but I refuse to sell my soul for something "as common as money", as Grandpa Joe would say. I've never regretted it for a moment.
If you're really having a change of heart, then get the balls to quit. And don't just meekly scamper off. Walk into your supervisor's office, no better yet, walk into the head honcho's office and TELL THEM WHY.
It won't do any good in the grand scheme of things, but at least you'll feel like an actual human being again.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
I believe you just had a spiritual epiphany. Welcome.
Had I experienced a similar loss and any of that vermin dared flipping the finger to my face, it would be the family of that f*cking prick who would be figuring out if they had enough coverage for the extended ICU stay of their "loved" one.
I don't even spank my kids.
But given what she had just experienced, that was my thought for her too. I don't think I could have stopped myself from going after that scum.
...any "violence" would be self defense. It is a protective instinct to go after those who wish you harm.
NB: you are correct about it being primal. It's the Mama Bear instinct to protect your cubs and it's always there. something's seriously wrong if you don't feel that for your kids.
I get so sick of crap like that. As if only women feel that way about their children.
I said I have a primal instinct to protect my kids. That is the mama bear in me--but honestly, I call it the mama lioness. I tell my kids all the time that there is nothing scarier on this planet than me if someone is trying to hurt my kids. That's how we used to chase all the bogeymen out of their bedrooms when they were little.
But that's not to say that my husband doesn't have the same primal papa bear instinct, because he does. I actually feel sorry for the boys that will be knocking on our door in a few years when our 11 year old starts getting that kind of attention. I'm at least non-violent. I make no such promises for my husband.
But God forbid something happens to one of our kids, my husband would equally as forceful in doing whatever it takes to make them better.
I have always been non-violent. But I probably would have gone after that asshole if I was there. As a parent and a human being, I couldn't tolerate anyone being treated like that.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
...the camera operator had zoomed in for a close-up so the person could be identified. If the protestors had gone after him, he probably would have run away like the coward he is. But with a good photo ID they could have at least known who he is.
weapon." Margaret Mead.
... in front of the whole hospital wing when my younger brother was going thru cancer treatments. He probably could have handled it differently, but parental instinct is a powerful force.
I've seem him threaten ambulance drivers when they thought they were going to take my bro to their hospital and not the treatment hospital my brother needed.
He also held off a commuter crowd to make sure my older brother (about 6 at the time) got on the train safely.
My Dad was awesome in his striving to protect less able people, but astounding when someone threatened his kids.
do we have to parse everything here?
I was talking to NB, a mother, as a mother, and btw, the story above is about the mother.
Yes, there are Papa Bears too! My hubby is incredibly protective, more so than my father ever was and that is one big reason I chose to marry him.
Edit: just caught your subject line, Nicole...thanks! :]
is on my ignore list. Farty likes to break down
the things people say and call them trolls etc.
Farty sez I'm a troll because I used a term he doesn't like.
Do yourself a favor; you will not miss anything important.
is a badge of honor I hope I never lose.
I like reading your comments That Mick. But what's the point of blogging if your going to have an ignore list? I would never put anyone on my ignore list, even though some have posted some pretty stupid stuff.
Just my thought? Guess you can choose to ignore it.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
I've only got three or four on the list - people who start pissing contests over nothing. Or parsing contests as the case may be.
Hell, I don't even mind dennis that much. But there's rarely any point to making mountains out of molehills.
Biologically speaking, it is the female of a species that has the more severe reaction to seeing their young at risk of harm.
When it comes to humans, the father is more than capable of feeling the same sentiment. That doesn't change the fact that it is most likely to be the mother that resorts to fatal violence first and before any other response.
Democracy is the road to socialism. ~ Karl Marx
between my kids and the rest of the world, I'm sorry. I'm sure you were all very nice people.
This is why I love the "Ignore user" function.
*clicks*
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
some people so long. If I turn on the TV and see that some father went into some insurance companie and went nuts I will not be surpised. the bad thing is the people who did not make the NEW rules will get hurt. Just like in the past, the real assholes will walk away with there millions and not even give a shit about the people they have murdered for profit.
john q
Study the symptoms not the virus...
Battle at Kruger (8:24)
Study the symptoms not the virus...
Although I do not have footage as great as this, the experience was incredible. It is definitely something to consider doing in your lifetime.
so I would have had no problem beating him with an inch of his useless life.
Delete away, but you won't change how these people make me feel.
I would have beat the living shit out of that finger-wagging SOB. I don't care...arrest me. Nothing could be worse than the pain that mother is already going through.
The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a Lunatic Asylum. -Havelock Ellis
the jurry on that one.... NOT GUILTY. NOT GUILTY...NOT GUILTY
I would love to know how a liver transplant is "experimental". What explanation could you pull out of your ass for that one?
Bass player/vocalist Jack Bruce got a liver transplant in '01 and is now back to making music and touring the world.
Experimental? Hardly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver_transplant
It says the first one was done in 1967, and that it had become a standard procedure by the 1980s, so to claim that it's experimental is false.
But if it's true, as the Fox personnel claim, that Nataline had leukemia, then the immunosuppressants that transplantees have to take for the rest of their lives would definitely not be good.
that this would have been Nataline's second transplant. The first one failed.
CIGNA balked at paying for a second transplant since the first failed.
and I believe David Crosby got two, the first of which he drank away
again.
Real people are getting paid to do terrible things to other real people. Without workers, CIGNA (and the other corporate dictatorships) are nothing.
And that is why I loathe the people who work for these miserable corporations.
"Oh, I work for CIGNA [et al]" should not be a badge of honor, it should be a veil of shame.
This is just one story. How many are out there that will never get any air time. When a person goes into the poor house because of medicial costs, that is bad. When a person watches a family member DIE because it might cost the insurance conpanie a bonus, that is ???.They can get away with this shit just so long. It's gona hit the fan when they do this to the wrong person. This person will have been pushed over the edge. I think this will end up bad some day. But, do you blaim them. the CEO's keep making there millions, keep giving congressmen millions to make Laws that let them KILL People for profit. I not sure what I would do if some asshole insurance CEO said NO to something that would save my wife or kids life.
and fux news? can go fuck themself. you hands have blood on them.
this was a huge event, but there are many small events: scans denied, medications denied, tests denied, medical equipment denied, etc.
made so expensive you cannot possibly pay for them...
is that when it's all broken down, it's all for money. People all over the world die everyday because someone's not rich enough yet. How many children die of hunger everyday because someone needs three yachts instead of two? How many people are killed everyday because someone wants to be the richest member at the Country Club?
Think about it. Almost all of the problems in the world can be traced back to someone's greed. The problems with the climate can be traced back to greed. Hunger? Greed. War? Greed.
Don't get me wrong I know a lot of problems are caused by someone's idea of what god is but even then there's usually someone behind it all, using religion to help facilitate and hide their greed at the same time.
I guess the question that I always come back to is, can we ever rid the human race of greed? Or is it just too ingrained in our DNA? And if so, will we ever be able to contain it? Or are we stuck with it without any checks or balances for as long as the human race is still in existence?
? We don't have "poorhouses" anymore! I wish we did. Unless you consider a cardboard box under a bridge a house...
"Poorhouses" were not nice places where the poor got three square meals a day. They were slave labor prisons for the poor, where people with no money got the worst food (if you could call it food), and were worked within an inch of their lives for no pay other than the privilege of not sleeping in the streets. Don't think for a minute that those horrific places were something we'd ever want in this country.
Well, corporate CEO's would probably want them, but decent humans wouldn't.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Insurance companies has shown us time and time again who they are. Isn't it time we finally believe them? Health insurance is supposed to provide people with peace of mind in knowing we will be covered. Instead those who have insurance worry about whether they are going to be denied each time they submit a claim. Insurance companies will not change, this we know. I have canceled my insurance policy because I refuse to give the insurance companies a dime. The peace of mind I feel is not awarding the insurance companies for their actions. I may catch something and die, but I will die knowing my money was not contributing to someone elses misfortune by keeping these insurance companies in business.
Does FOX and Friends now have their own death panel?
beck, hanadie, and drugie rush
"I had a miscarriage some years back, and I carried that loss like a huge, gaping wound inside me for so long."
I'd like to recommend a book called "The Swimmer in the Secret Sea" by William Kotzwinkle.It makes for a really nice gift for anyone dealing with a miscarriage.
This CIGNA thing is another pathetic example of the ever widening ideological gap in society.We're becoming less and less human as a nation.Something has to give.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
Is what we give up when we become a nation consumed with materialism and greed. In fact all of the noble traits we have are under threat: Reason, tolerance, empathy, community, etc. are being destroyed by corporations who's only motivation is profit. They have convinced too many of us that the real social and family values we have held dear are outdated, irrelevant, quaint. TV and the web teach us that all that matters are our own selfish desires. The healthcare situation? Just one symptom of the overall problem.
What values are you giving up so you can be first in line at the hamster feeder? Next time you run out and buy that i-pod..or the new Meadow-Masher SUV, or the latest $120.00 jeans....just remember...it comes at a huge price...one you can't see on the tag: Your humanity.
The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a Lunatic Asylum. -Havelock Ellis
some of thoes things,but I can't get them. my truck is 9 years and my wifes truck is 7 years old. Reason= today I payed over $100 for my anti-bodies from the drug store. Hell the $4500 a year for my insurance just isnt good enouph, I have put about another $2,567 out of pockit this year. last 2 years over $12,000. I hope our elected officials dround in there insurance campaine money. America has the best congress insurance companies can buy.
We now have a global economy, and every nation on the planet has its share of greedy, materialistic humans bent on gaining and/or maintaining economic hegemony within their definitive socio-cultural microcosms.
As for the general population of the US--one can peruse the comments posted on the inner tubes and realize that most citizens are either functional illiterates or emotional maladroits--or both. Our rampant hedonism long fueled by unfettered capitalism grossly amplifies our dysfunctions.
We are now facing our comeuppance, and quite a number of us are devolving into whinging wee babies... Sad, really...
Do Death Panels require only a simple majority?
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
... and sometimes he says, about these Republican Corporatists, 'who are these people with no compassion and feeling? Where did they come from? They must be some sort of aliens who came from out of space and invaded this country.' I usually crack up at his comment and dismiss is as a hyperbole for talk radio effect and make people laugh.
As I was watching that debate on FAUX, I started to realize that there might be some truth to what Malloy is saying. These people, all 4 of them, with their giggling and smirking, looked and sounded to me like they were some kind of foreign creatures with no feelings for human life whatsoever!!! Human beings don't act this way towards a tragedy like that!! No way!
Just for the irony, fast forward and listen to the segment starting around (5:30) through (6:30).
Listen to what the experts told Glenn Beck.
Study the symptoms not the virus...
I went to my kids High School to get a issues fixed. I had a metting with a school admin person. the woman at the desk said she was in a metting and would I like to wait in the watting room. " I could watch FUX NEWS intill she got out of her metting. WTF. I said, you have this crap on TV in a high school. What the hell is wrong with you people having Hate TV on in a public school. Just kind of crap are you trying to teach my kid. They told me if I did not comn down I need to leave.......
what will happen to the people who deride health care reform efforts, when they face similar or worse health care issues themselves? IOW, what will the smarmy FOX "journalists" do when they or their loved ones come down with an expensive ailment and their insurance balks?
Before enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment - chop wood, carry water.
will help them. It's the public they don't give a shit about.
A heartless, faceless corporation housing heartless, faceless employees watching as a family, of whom a member was deprived of life because of the corporation's policies, is escorted from the building. This corporation being supported by a system, economic and political, that allows it to flourish, by gaining their profits through human suffering and human death. If there was ever a more clear example of corporate vampirism, this is it.
"Where's the humanity"? WE are the humanity! Our vested interest isn't in some man-made construction of a bottom line that sucker in the most despicable among us, but in a primal, altruistic desire to keep people from dying and suffering and to fight against a system that declares death and suffering for profit to be OK. That makes us ethical, moral and human.
If anyone was thinking of just retreating into their home, the enemy is too big, too entrenched, too funded, check yourself: that's exactly what the opponents of humanity want you to do. Don't you dare stop fighting! Even after we succeed and fix the system we can never stop fighting because that's all entropy needs to make things bad again.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
I agree.
why the United States ranks 37th in the world in access to health care, your reason was standing on that balcony. Whether or not the person was a Cigna employee, their callous attitude is what allows the Senate to act as a wholly owned subsidiary of the health insurance industry.
There will be NO meaningful health care reform until Americans are prepared to ignore the fear mongering of corporate America and vote their own interests.
are you fuckin joking? This is America. Only stupidity.
Hey AIG-FP insured Wall St. :-/
We can't allow a run on the bank(s)__why?
We can't allow a run on an Ins. company(s)__why?
Because their making our money work for them.
Banks & Insurance...two sides of the same coin.
It all boils down to the "Risk exposure", and their BS obligation to turn a profit to their concerned and unconcerned investors!
Remember...Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate Travelers Group on April 7, 1998.
Study the symptoms not the virus...
if this is the best case to be making an example of.
From a purely medical standpoint, some patients aren't candidates for certain procedures. In a borderline case, reasonable doctors might disagree about whether a procedure is appropriate.
Is this a borderline case? We're acting as if the insurance company denied payment for a perfectly reasonable and appropriate procedure. Did they? It seems that we're completely ignoring that question here.
I'm in favor a single-payer plan, and I think it would lead to more balanced and fair decisions in cases like this one. But no plan, public or private, can or should pay for any and all procedures that any doctor decides to do.
interesting. This patient was 17 years old. I would think that at that age with a possibility of much life still ahead of her, she may be the candidate for procedures that have a smaller chance of extending life.
I know, this starts the grandma and death panels discussion. However, there will always come a point when we hear the DOCTOR say, not the insurance company, not a senator, not a president, THE DOCTOR say - "I'm sorry. There is nothing more we can do."
Not the doctor employed by the insurance company who gets bonuses for rate of denial, but the doctor caring for the patient.
When that doctor says that, it carries some weight. The family can agree or go to another doctor, where they may or may not hear another decision.
IMO - single payer is our only hope. If a doctor decides that a procedure is appropriate, then go for it. If the doctor is consistently making decisions that are questionable, they have their boards to deal with.
Everybody else can stay out of it.
Her doctor appealed to CIGNA as well.
If I remember it correctly, the doctor said he would waive his fee, that's how strongly he felt about Nataline getting a new liver.
"I would think that at that age with a possibility of much life still ahead of her, she may be the candidate for procedures that have a smaller chance of extending life."
with decisions that effect your life, and not doctors. Good plan.
Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.
--Albert Einstein
Study the symptoms not the virus...
A Molotov....
Cue the Kabuki....
Ignorant Reslugs would happily eat or sacrifice their own children at any cost, for the big buddy corporations, as the corporations actually laugh and screw them all in the stupid asses.
And violence is never the answer, but I can't help but venting that this makes wish we would do to this people the same that was done to the french royal family during the revolution. Break into the Bastille and show them who is the fucking boss, and that actions have consequences.
My reaction was much the same as yours, and it is because corporate America and its lackeys in Washington know the American people will sit quietly and watch Idol, that they dare to carry their venality to ever increasing heights.
Such a thing could not happen in "old Europe" because police cars would burn and politicians would quake.
These fuckers will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Greed is good. Ronald Reagan made being a psychopath patriotic. In the name of God and apple pie at that. And here we are. A lost generation actively wounding a dying nation.
Ding ding,
Today's winner!
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
Yep. These are your basic corporate community death panels - hidden in plain sight - protected by Republican flack.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
As you "wake up" you'll start asking questions like this more often.
Unfortunately the more one wakes up the uglier things look.
When I saw this tragic story, the first thing I thought of was all of the teabagger morons who are out protesting on behalf of the corporate scum who did this.
We have democrats who are corporate fascists, and idiot citizens who are enraged to the point where they are defending the very people who are screwing the shit out of them!
I really am having a hard time suffering these fools anymore.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
Hey republican Fox Noise assholes, how come this 17 year old girls life isn't as important as a fetus? I would think losing a child you raised for 17 years would be just as devastating as losing an unborn child you never had.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
I couldn't believe they were justifying it when they were just complaining about "death panel" and how even considering the end of life was un-christian. Pretty dammed hypocritical.
the only logic that drives their talking points is, "Say whatever you have to to disparage the left."
and a blanket rejection of anything that doesn't suppport their world view--no matter how factual...
Most morning tv hosts pretend to show compassion. These four honest Fox hosts/guests dispense with that pretense.
That being said, who the fuck are these people? These types rant against the cold rationality of free thinkers then defend corporate greed over the health and welfare of their fellow citizens. I think they are of a different species, raised in a sick environment. I shudder to think what the impact is of Fox news indoctrination on the children of their target demo.
are pathetic, really. They are the peons who support the Corporate Megalomaniacs with the foolish anticipation of joining them at the top of the economic ladder. These delusional slobs would rather self-identify as potential members of the exclusive upper echelon than admit that they are insignificant wee peons just like the rest of us...
destined to serve the Richistanis and idolize them from a safe distance...
and determined to maintain the status quo, because everyone knows--if you work hard enough and save long enough--you too can amass obscene amounts of wealth and party with the big dogs...
This what that slug from CIGNA and that entire FOX panel reminded me of:
"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had
better do it, and decrease the surplus population.
Oh, of course we're sorry to hear your daughter died. But you can't blame us. She would have died anyway, and it's one less claim we'd had to pay off.
Fuck these heartless bastards and their FOX propaganda network enablers.
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
not buying what FOX is selling.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
This sort of denial of treatment would never have happened in:
1.Norway
2.Australia
3.Iceland
4.Canada
5.Ireland
6.The Netherlands
7.Sweden
8.France
9.Switzerland
10. Japan
Funny, those countries have just been rated the ten absolute best places to live worldwide, and they ALL have nationalized health care.
no wonder Irish eyes are smiling...they get to see a doctor!
left to die by corporate fiat.
This is exactly what people need to start doing en masse until we get real single payer healthcare passed. I went to the site to donate (I was prepared to give $100, but they don't do donations). Instead I found lots of places to volunteer which I signed up for. Everyone should do the same if you really care.
{Commenting Policy.}
The CEO made 174 million over five years. Let me spell that out: One Hundred and Seventy-four million dollars. A full liver transplant would cost $700,000. That's where our insurance premiums go.
78 Million over five years not 178 million. Still...
been an extrodinary person with parents like that. What a loss for us all.
This is why we need to replace Erisa Law with Nataline's Law. No more denials, we are fed up with the insurance companies, all they do is kill people for profit. Lets all get together...go to www.consumerwatchdog.org click on Nataline's Law and make a change. Nataline will not come back but we can save other lives. We can't sleep at night, imagine being in my shoes, I lost my beautiful 17 year old daughter. Doctors gave her 65% chance to live and Cigna gave her 0%. AND then Cigna gave me the finger..... Can't believe another year without my daughter, Thanksgiving,Christmas and New Years are coming up without her.
You can visit www.natalinesarkisyan.com and donate to student scholarship. Nataline Sarkisyan's Foundation is non-profit helping students that want to go to fashion school,medical school and culinary art school.
Nataline's Mom.
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