December 20th, 2007 10:01 PM
Hartford Courant
As a protest was being staged against CIGNA HealthCare on Thursday, the company reversed its denial and agreed to pay for a liver transplant for a California girl who is critically ill.
CIGNA had initially refused to cover the transplant for Nataline Sarkisyan, calling it experimental in her case. The 17-year-old, who has recurring leukemia, has been on a waiting list for a new liver because she developed complications after a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy.
California nurses, family of the patient, and others gathered Thursday outside CIGNA's Glendale, Calif., office to demand that the company reverse its denial. CIGNA says a company representative informed the family there that a liver transplant would be covered.
In a public statement Thursday, CIGNA said it decided "to make an exception in this rare and unusual case" based on the "unique circumstances of this situation, and although it is outside the scope of the plan's coverage, and despite the lack of medical evidence regarding the effectiveness of such treatment."
CIGNA also said, "Our hearts go out to Nataline and her family, as they endure this terrible ordeal."
Asked whether the mounting bad publicity had changed the company's mind, CIGNA spokesman Wendell Potter would only say, "When you have a request for coverage for something like this, there is an appeal process, and the appeal process was under way."
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