Suing health insurance company.

[Deleted]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2530982/Family-sues-health-insurance-company-negligence-deceptive-trade-practices-allege-caused-6-year-old-little-girl-died-appendicitis-Dominican-Republic.html


What are your thoughts on this. 

[Deleted]

I think it's tragic that their DD died. However, I don't think paying for a flight back to the US is in anyone's health insurance policy.



In fact, I googled "medical emergency outside of the US" and found that there are specific companies that you sign up for to cover such emergencies:

from patients.about.com/od/patientempowermentissues/a/How-To-Deal-With-Medical-Emergencies-When-You-Travel-Outside-The-United-States.htm

Begin by asking your own health insurer what coverage you have when you are out of the United States, and what options they recommend for foreign travel. If you are on Medicare, there is some coverage, but it is limited.

• You can do a search for any sort of trip insurance through Insure My Trip which represents more than 20 different companies that provide travel insurance - both domestic and foreign.

• Frontier MEDEX supplies international travel insurance and support for Americans who travel overseas, including study abroad students. (Frontier MEDEX was purchased by United Health Group in late 2011.)

• A company called International SOS allows you to purchase a membership which can provide you with support while overseas, medical insurance, or both. Pricing varies depending on the country you will visit, the length of your stay, and other aspects of your travel.

• Another international travel health insurance company is Travel Guard.

[The Captain]

I am sorry for the parent's loss.

However, it's not the insurance companies fault the foreign hospital screwed up. 

I would pay the 18K out of my pocket to get my kid back to the US rather than risk surgery in a third world country.

I also find it laughable that a medical nurse is claiming the insurance company kept her in the dark as to potential complications.

The parents don't want to accept any of the blame themselves, and want someone else to pay.

Medical insurance coverage does not include flying you back from a foreign country if you become ill.  That's just ridiculous.

You take risks when you leave US soil, unfortunately the little girl paid the price.

[justme]

I wonder if those insurance policies even cover an $18K flight.

[mmhmm]

I'm sorry for the parents' loss, but this isn't the responsibility of the insurance company.  It's really sad, though.  Sounds like the hospital messed this up horribly, if what's reported is true.

[billisonboard]

Additionally, there is no way to know with certainty that the girl would have survived the plane ride or that she would have survived an operation in the States. 

[Deleted]

[workpublic]

is there a lawsuit pending towards the foreign hospital?

[mmhmm]

Dec 30, 2013 14:55:54 GMT -5 workpublic said:

is there a lawsuit pending towards the foreign hospital?

The article didn't say, that I recall, workpublic.

[Miss Tequila]

I've been to the Dominican several times and my husband and I both agree there there is no way in hell we would ever be treated there.  As a mom, I would have spent every cent I had to get my child back to the US where she at least had a fighting chance. 

The only people to blame in this story (outside of the medical treatment she received in the Dominican) are the parents.  I would have racked up my credit card if it meant saving my child's life.  This woman watched her child receive inadequate care rather than cough up the money and send her home.

My heart breaks for the death of this little girl but I also want to bitch slap the greedy, pathetic mother

[DVM gone riding]

She had the option all along of going with a commercial flight. She didn't have to go with a pediatrician that couldn't see the girl or really know what was going on opinion that she should be on a "medical" flight. If they had chosen that quickly she might be fine but by trying to demand that their little girl get the best everything fell apart.

[justme]

Yeah, I think the second they said appendicitis my child and I would be out the door on the way to whatever US city I could the quickest - and finding out if my insurance covered Puerto Rico in case that was quicker. And probably shelling out for first class for us two so we'd be first off the plane.

[Miss Tequila]

Dec 30, 2013 22:19:25 GMT -5 DVM gone riding said:

She had the option all along of going with a commercial flight. She didn't have to go with a pediatrician that couldn't see the girl or really know what was going on opinion that she should be on a "medical" flight. If they had chosen that quickly she might be fine but by trying to demand that their little girl get the best everything fell apart.

She demanded the best but wasn't willing to pay for it when all else failed. I'm all about financial security but I would give my last cent to save one of my children.

[justme]

To be fair, not everyone has $18k available on CC. I think I just barely scrape by with that amount if all mine had a $0 balance. (Maybe time for credit increases or closing some health-only cc to raise others.) BUT I think most people would have had enough credit to get first class last minute tickets out of there.

[Miss Tequila]

Dec 30, 2013 22:32:22 GMT -5 justme said:

To be fair, not everyone has $18k available on CC. I think I just barely scrape by with that amount if all mine had a $0 balance. (Maybe time for credit increases or closing some health-only cc to raise others.) BUT I think most people would have had enough credit to get first class last minute tickets out of there.

Exactly. I don't know if there were issues with her flying...if there were I would have moved mountains to get her on a medical flight.

I'm a worrier by nature and this is something that I always think about when we travel ( even when I go to brazil for work). There is no way my child would be having surgery in a third world country

[whoisjohngalt]

Holy crap, I *think* I might have done the same thing only bc when I think of this kind of surgery, I think it's fairly common and easy procedure.

However!!!  my husband would never EVER agree with me and we would be flying home.

But I have to say, I heard stories where appendix bursted fairly quickly, so wouldn't  you have been worried that it could have happen on the plane?

Making grown up decisions is sooo hard.  Making them for other human beings is a million times harder

[justme]

I would have worried, but I think the few places to land between the DR and the US (if the medical emergency cause the plane to land early) would fair my child better than the DR and at the very least an ambulance would be waiting basically on the tarmac for me. I think I'd take the risk, since the time until it does burst is so varied and you still usually have some time after that assuming a normally healthy person.

Tough choice either way though.

[NastyWoman]

Dec 30, 2013 22:45:46 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

Holy crap, I *think* I might have done the same thing only bc when I think of this kind of surgery, I think it's fairly common and easy procedure.

However!!!  my husband would never EVER agree with me and we would be flying home.

But I have to say, I heard stories where appendix burst fairly quickly, so wouldn't  you have been worried that it could have happen on the plane?

Even if I were scared of a burst appendix, I would still get my child the heck out of a place that I didn't trust the medical care.  I know that peritonitus could result from this, but as a nurse mom, would have known that that is not a death sentence. Dangerous yes, but often survivable, says the woman who survived this 57 years ago.  With even  better meds available nowadays the child would have had a good chance of surviving.

But I agree with the other posters that mom wanted it all and she wanted it for free and in the end she lost her little girl.  You have to wonder whether the lawsuit is not really about putting her own guilt to rest.  Sad story all around.

[Miss Tequila]

Dec 30, 2013 22:45:46 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

Holy crap, I *think* I might have done the same thing only bc when I think of this kind of surgery, I think it's fairly common and easy procedure.

However!!!  my husband would never EVER agree with me and we would be flying home.

But I have to say, I heard stories where appendix bursted fairly quickly, so wouldn't  you have been worried that it could have happen on the plane?

Making grown up decisions is sooo hard.  Making them for other human beings is a million times harder

Maybe because I've been to the Dominican a few times....not a place where I would want to require surgery!

I just feel bad for the little girl. And maybe the previous poster is right, maybe the suit is the moms way of putting the blame on someone else. The problem is, it just makes her look greedy and pathetic. If I wasn't a frequent traveler, I might have thought it was ok to have surgery there. But suing because she wanted someone else to foot the bill to airlift her daughter out makes her look like she chose money over her daughter

[EVT1]

On a similar note:

Things Obamacare was blamed for today:

Travelling out of the country is 100% on your dime because Obamacare insurance networks are limited to your state.

Travelling out of state is 100% on your dime because Obamacare insurance networks are limited to your state.

So lets recap- prior to Obamacare insurance policies covered out of country and out of state medical bills.

So really this is Obamacare's fault. 



Also there was an interview with a doctor that stated because of these 'networks' seeing a specialist- such as a urologist (stated by doctor) could require a 50 mile trip.  The horror!  By gosh these specialists should be available 24/7 no matter where you live  

[The Captain]

EVT1 - I didn't see any discussion in this thread blaming this situation on ACA, did I miss something?

[whoisjohngalt]

Dec 30, 2013 23:39:22 GMT -5 Miss Tequila said:

Dec 30, 2013 22:45:46 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

Holy crap, I *think* I might have done the same thing only bc when I think of this kind of surgery, I think it's fairly common and easy procedure.

However!!!  my husband would never EVER agree with me and we would be flying home.

But I have to say, I heard stories where appendix bursted fairly quickly, so wouldn't  you have been worried that it could have happen on the plane?

Making grown up decisions is sooo hard.  Making them for other human beings is a million times harder

Maybe because I've been to the Dominican a few times....not a place where I would want to require surgery!

I just feel bad for the little girl. And maybe the previous poster is right, maybe the suit is the moms way of putting the blame on someone else. The problem is, it just makes her look greedy and pathetic. If I wasn't a frequent traveler, I might have thought it was ok to have surgery there. But suing because she wanted someone else to foot the bill to airlift her daughter out makes her look like she chose money over her daughter

Yep, agree with everything you said.

I wonder what girl's father is saying.

I know that if I did something like this,  I can't even imagine what my husband would do to me.

[workpublic]

nothing the US embassy could have done? any US military bases there?

[Tennesseer]

The mother wasted precious time in having the appendectomy performed. Maybe/maybe not medical care in the DR is mediocre. But I am sure citizens of the DR have appendectomy surgeries all the time. Failure to treat in a timely manner can and does cause death.

If the family had been in a car accident in the DR and the child seriously injured, would the mother have declined immediate medical care in the hope of her insurance company flying her child back to the States?

The article states the mother is a medical nurse. She should have known better than to delay treatment where ever they were.

[taz157]

Dec 31, 2013 11:39:36 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

The article states the mother is a medical nurse. She should have known better than to delay treatment where ever they were.

Yeah that!!!!

[justme]

From my understanding appendicitis doesn't necessarily mean your appendix is going to burst right now and from the articles I've read it seems more like the anesthesia and intubation (I've been put under several times and never been intubated, I'm not sure why they had to tube her - is it a small kid thing with anesthesia? The first time I went under was 13.) was what caused her death - lack of oxygen due to vomit/mucus in the tube and lungs blocking air.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

The minute that they diagnosed appendicitis, she should have been on the first flight out of there to the closest US city, regardless of cost. It probably would have been a less than an hour flight to Miami.