Jury tells Aetna to pay $25M to late cancer patient's family

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Jury tells Aetna to pay $25M to late cancer patient's family

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OKLAHOMA CITY — Nov 10, 2018, 5:51 PM ET

A jury has ordered Aetna to pay more than $25 million to the family of an Oklahoma City woman who died a year after the insurance company refused to cover a type of radiation therapy.

Jurors found that Aetna doctors didn't spend enough time reviewing Orrana Cunningham's case before denying her coverage for proton beam therapy in 2014, The Oklahoman reported . The jury ruled that Aetna recklessly disregarded its duty to deal fairly and in good faith with Cunningham, who had nasopharyngeal cancer.

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An Aetna doctor denied Cunningham coverage for the therapy in 2014, deeming it experimental. Two other in-house doctors reviewed and upheld the decision.

The Food and Drug Administration had approved proton beam therapy, which is also a treatment covered by Medicare, according to Doug Terry, the family's attorney. He alleged that Aetna denied coverage for financial reasons and that its doctors were unqualified, overworked and biased when making decisions. Court records show that one doctor complained to the insurer about having to review more than 80 cases a day.

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Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/jury-tells-aetna-pay-25m-late-cancer-patients-59110794

[drmeow]

1. Good!

Hope it isn't reduced on appeal.

[spinbaby]

2. To many people die waiting for insurance approval

A friend recently lost his wife. She died of heart attack while appealing an insurance denial of some kind heart scan.