News Locale, India
Dec 29 2007
Teenager’s death raises demand for US health care policy reforms
Written by Chandan Das
Saturday, 29 December 2007
SATURDAY, DEC 29 2007, (News Locale) – Notwithstanding her long
battle with leukemia, 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan was full of life
and wanted to live. However, an erring health care system robbed the
Northridge teenager’s life last week as her insurance company denied
her a much-needed liver transplant twice.
In fact, Nataline lost to her disease a few hours after the insurance
company Philadelphia-based Cigna HealthCare revised its decision not
to allow her to go ahead with the operation.
Nataline’s untimely death hit the headlines in all the major media in
the US for the last two days sparking off a nation-wide demand for
health care reforms. The teenager has been suffering from leukemia
for three years and desperately needed a liver transplant, but the
insurance company rejected her family as well as the doctors’ pleas
twice. Although it revised the decision on Thursday, but then it was
too late and her family had taken Nataline off the life support
system.
Since she was from the US, Nataline’s story may appear to be
incredible, but the truth is she is no more simply because of an
erroneous health care system that prevails even in the most developed
nation on the planet.
The ailing teenager had received a bone marrow transplant from her
brother in November, but it failed to improve her condition. On the
contrary, complications arose leading to a liver failure.
Nataline’s doctors said that had she undergone a liver transplant
successfully, there was 65 percent possibility that the teenager
would survive for another six months.
When a request was made to her insurance company in this regard, it
refused to oblige. The company relented following a growing support
in favor of the girl and her family. But even as the permission came,
she breathed her last a few hours later on Thursday.
On Friday, hundreds of mourners had gathered at Nataline’s funeral to
pay their respects to the teenager as well as demand a rapid change
in the US national health care policy.
While the insurance company has definitely become the scapegoat,
people in Northridge as well as all over the US are now talking about
the girl’s brave battle against her ailment. Now, they remember
Nataline’s desire for dance, music and life and the erroneous system
that stopped her from fulfilling the wishes.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
