A 5-Year-Old Girl Is Dying in Brazil Because Insurance Refuses to Pay for US$ 10,000 Surgery

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Brazzil Magazine

A 5-Year-Old Girl Is Dying in Brazil Because Insurance Refuses to Pay for US$ 10,000 Surgery
2011 - October 2011
Written by Max Bono
Monday, 31 October 2011 17:37

Leandra Silva Cerqueira is only 5 years old but is already dying. She has a very serious cardiac problem. She suffers from interventricular communication. According to the site heart-vessel.com, it corresponds to the abnormal passage of blood between the two ventricles (generally from the left ventricle toward the right ventricle).

It is a malformation occurring during the making of the heart during pregnancy (congenital disease) and generally disappears during the first years of life. Sometimes, surgery is necessary to close this communication.

Unfortunately this is the Leandra's case, a beautiful child from Salvador, Bahia. Leandra should be lucky. She has the plano de saúde, health insurance, unlike the vast majority of the babies in Bahia. However she is not. Because her insurance company refuses to pay for her surgery.

Hapvida, the insurance company, refused to pay for the treatment several times. It was condemned by the judge Laura Scalldaferri to offer treatment or pay a daily penalty of 1.000 reais back on September 8, 2011.

Read more: http://www.brazzilmag.com/component/content/article/103-october-2011/12743-a-5-year-old-girl-is-dying-in-brazil-because-insurance-refuses-to-pay-for-us-10000-surgery.html

[midnight]

1. K&R Can't these hospitals throw another galla for the rich to

demonstrate how much money they have and raise this money...

[Bozita]

2. Death panels (insurance companies) in Brazil, death panels here - What's the diff?

It's called unbridled capitalism.

I call it murder.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

3. Q: how much is a 10 year old life worth....

A: $10,000 or less. Maybe if you are a 1%-er (I know it might be pricey but...) you could keep her alive and provide her some meaning in life such as polishing your floor or picking your vegetables. Bill Maher was dead on a few weeks back when he postulated that 'maybe Government is supposed to be there to run industries who's so sole purpose is to NOT make a profit!' How much is a pound of human flesh worth ...really ....um..I mean literally. Must life itself be monetized so?

[Marazinia]

4. No one should be able to make money from sickness and injury

No one should be able to profit from these things anymore. Let the doctors and nurses and hospital and physician staff and the actual chemists and lab workers who make these drugs earn good money. Real good money. But no more private investment for private profit in these things. It forces those who make the business decisions to become murderers for the sake of their shareholders. And it makes those share holders murderers, too.

[dotymed]

10. Thank you. It should be a global law that "for profit" health

insurance is a crime punishable by death. Along with a global law that universal healthcare, paid for by each government is a requirement. Without this health care, a legitimate government cannot be recognized. This should include dental and sight. This is humanity. We are sick of being disposable chattel.

[DRoseDARs]

5. Is my understand correct, that they've already paid more in fines than the actual surgical cost? nt

[drm604]

21. That's how I read it.

Although I guess the most we can say is that they've been penalized more in fines. Whether or not they've actually paid those fines is another question. It's not clear in the article.

[newfie11]

6. How can the people making this decision live with themselves

If there is a hell I hope they rot in it.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

7. Insurance companies are trash no matter where you go. nt

[slackmaster]

8. Insurance paid over $500K in a futile effort to keep my uncle alive for a little while

He had an inoperable brain tumor, a glioblastoma that had become involved in several critical areas.

This was a veteran's benefit, not privately funded insurance or a company plan - He was in his late 70s, retired from the Navy.

His immediate family was all for the heroic last-ditch efforts that went on for about half a year. Cooler heads among extended family and friends knew from the outset that it was a waste of effort and only prolonged his suffering.

There is plenty of care to go around in this world. It's just not being "rationed" consistently and rationally.

[Xithras]

15. It should never be about what "cooler heads" wanted.

The only opinion that matters should be the patients. When a patient says "I want to live", no insurance company lackey should have the right to say "No, it's your time to die."

[slackmaster]

18. It's a racket, fueled by false hope

Doctors, hospital administrators, etc. bled a system that has deep pockets knowing full well that there was absolutely no chance of recovery or remission.

By the time my uncle was diagnosed, his mental faculties were so degraded that (in my non-medical opinion, as someone who knew him for more than 40 years) he was not competent to make informed decisions about treatment.

Meanwhile that girl in Brazil is dying...

[WinkyDink]

17. "Cooler heads", eh?

[slackmaster]

19. We were right

I knew the man, and I'm a whole lot more qualified to formulate an opinion than you are.

Chew on that one for a while, WinkyDink.

[liberal N proud]

9. America - the land with the best insurance MONEY can buy

If you don't have the MONEY, you are going to die!!!

[No Elephants]

11. And you thought the life of a child was priceless. Would they have gone $2,000, I wonder?

Would Republicans attending a debate cheer the decision to let this child die, too?

It's a brave, new world.

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. The life of a child is priceless ONLY in utero. Once it's born...it's shit like everyone else.

:grr:

[DaveJ]

12. It probably would cost a quarter million dollars in the U.S.

Why is this? Are doctors overwhelmed by demand? If so why isn't there a greater effort made to increase supply by assisting more people through medical training? Oh, I forgot, people who RUN THINGS are crazy selfish cretins, yeah.

[jtrockville]

13. Why do we allow bean-counters to come in-between us and our doctor?

Why does anyone, other than the profiteers, think this is a good idea?

[WinkyDink]

16. And THIS exemplifies why I believe the very allowance of billionaires is EVIL.

[Lorien]

20. What most of them make in a matter of minutes could save this child's life

but hoarding is more important to them.