City News Service
December 28, 2007 Friday 11:56 AM PST
Funeral Held for Girl Denied Liver Transplant
GLENDALE
More than 200 people, including members of an Armenian motorcycle
club, gathered in Glendale today to pay final tribute to a Northridge
teen who died after her insurance company delayed approving a liver
transplant operation for her.
Nataline Sarkisyan died Dec. 20 after being pulled off life support
at UCLA Medical Center. She had been suffering from a recurrence of
leukemia, and her doctors had recommended a liver transplant.
Cigna Healthcare initially said it would not pay for the operation
because its experts determined it would not have been "effective or
appropriate."
Friends and relatives — most wearing pink ribbons, armbands or
scarves – – filed into St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church today for
Sarkisyan’s funeral.
"She’s so big-hearted and always helping people out," the teen’s
cousin, Raffi Ganoumian, told ABC7. " … Everyone’s heard this many
times before, putting somebody else in front of her, but she was one
of those that did do that. And no matter what condition she was in,
no matter how much pain she was in, she never showed it. She still
moved forward and helped anybody else out around her. That’s why I
think her friends are so taken with this whole thing."
Family members said UCLA had a liver available for transplant, but
doctors would not perform the procedure because of Cigna’s refusal to
cover it.
Her family plans to sue Cigna, and their attorney, Mark Geragos, said
he will push for criminal charges against the company, alleging the
insurer twice took Nataline off the liver transplant list and
purposely waited until she was near death to approve the transplant
because the company didn’t want to pay for the procedure and her
after-care.
The girl’s plight made headlines around the world, and a member of
the California Nurses Association said the union will try to use
Nataline’s story to shine a light on problems with the American
health care system.
Nataline was diagnosed with leukemia at age 14. After two years of
treatment the cancer went into remission but came back this summer.
When doctors said Nataline could use a bone-marrow transplant, the
Sarkisyans discovered that her brother was a match, and he donated
his bone marrow the day before Thanksgiving.
However, Nataline developed a complication from the bone-marrow
transplant and, because her liver was failing, doctors recommended a
transplant, saying she had a 65 percent chance of living for at least
six months.
Cigna initially refused to fund the procedure, but reversed itself
after its decision drew protests and negative publicity. However, by
then the girl was too sick and she died hours later.