Current Events > Woman begs CEO for her life

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://cnn.it/2rH1BhU

At 38, Erika is dying.

Her battle to live began almost as soon as her daughter, Loe, was born four years ago, when Erika was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic colon cancer that had spread to her liver.

The cancer was removed from her colon and, her doctors say, she responded well to treatment. But a microwave ablation surgery last year to remove two tumors from her liver went terribly wrong, leaving a fist-sized hole in her liver and destroying her bile ducts.

Every day since has been a fight to survive. She's been hospitalized 19 times in Oregon over the last 12 months for infections, bleeding and an array of other health issues.

She has high blood pressure in her liver, which backs up the veins in her esophagus and can be catastrophic. Her surgical oncologist constantly worries she will fall ill with a bad infection and die.

"Every time she calls me and has a fever and some bleeding, we all hold our breath, worried: Will this be the time Erika bleeds to death?" says Dr. Skye Mayo, her surgical oncologist at Oregon Health & Science University.

"This is kind of the end game of what liver failure looks like."

More than 100 doctors at three of the nation's top medical centers have weighed in on her case, which is complex and exceedingly rare. Their conclusion: The only way to save Erika's life is to give her a new liver.

After weeks of evaluation at the Cleveland Clinic in December and January, Erika finally got her big break.

On February 2, doctors there approved putting her on the wait list for a liver transplant.

The news changed everything. Erika finally had hope. Around the house, 4-year-old Loe would say, "Mommy, when you get a new liver, can you push me in the swing?"

But Erika hit an immediate wall. Her insurer, UnitedHealthcare, denied coverage for the transplant, saying it would not be a "promising treatment." She appealed and was rejected again.

Weeks passed until the company reached a decision. Despite her plea, the answer was the same: Denied.
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UnitedHealthcare had overruled her treating physicians and denied the transplant, saying "unproven health services is not a covered benefit." The words burned, like chemo. Her first appeal went nowhere, and she felt trapped in a labyrinth of red tape.

The young mother -- frail from having lost 20 pounds in the past year, her skin and eyes yellow from jaundice -- felt the only way to get a new liver was to plead her case directly to the CEO of UnitedHealth Group, David Wichmann.
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Two days after sending her letter, Erika and her husband were told the UHC executive team had received it and that her case was undergoing further review.

Several times, the family said it was told a decision would be made by a certain date; those dates came and went without a decision.

As time wore on, Erika grew ill with a high fever and was hospitalized for several days. It was the fifth time she'd been admitted since February 2, the day Cleveland Clinic doctors approved her for a transplant.
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Five days later, on Monday, May 7, a surprise call came. Erika and Scott were preparing Loe for school when Scott's phone rang.

They had spent the weekend trying to figure out their next move, while trying not to focus too much on when Erika might need Death with Dignity. They knew they had one appeal left, and they didn't want to blow it.

They hadn't sent any new information since the last call.

It was their UHC rep on the phone. This time, he had good news: The insurer would cover Erika's transplant.

When Scott heard she'd been approved, he jumped up and down. Erika watched him from across the room.

There was no explanation for the change. They were told to focus on Erika's health and next steps.

Healthy system
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'Merica
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Can't livers regenerate? They're probably, in theory, the best organ to lose
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Yikes.
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awesome999 posted...

Can't livers regenerate? They're probably, in theory, the best organ to lose

Fucking spleen fans, I swear.
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awesome999 posted...

Can't livers regenerate? They're probably, in theory, the best organ to lose

probably not a fist-sized hole
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awesome999 posted...

Can't livers regenerate? They're probably, in theory, the best organ to lose

you can function with like half your liver but it won't regenerate if you lose the entire organ.
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This is America
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Omega Hunter posted...

'Merica

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awesome999 posted...

Can't livers regenerate? They're probably, in theory, the best organ to lose

depends on the damage. some forms of chemical damage to the liver prevent normal regeneration of it, such as cirrhosis.

liver transplants, in broad and vague terms, sometimes involve a live donor giving up part of their liver to the recipient and the piece regrowing to a whole over time in both
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This is just sad, the company showed they literally gave no fucks about her dying claiming a replacement liver which is the answer would not be a promising treatment.

Stay classy you fucking shitbags
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Bet they only approved it because it would've been a PR disaster if people found out it went that far up and still got denied
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Corporate America doesn't give two shits about your problems.
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I kind of hope I get killed in an accident but all my my organs are intact and in good condition. I'm type O neg blood type.

Nuffinz0rz posted...

Bet they only approved it because it would've been a PR disaster if people found out it went that far up and still got denied

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Solar_Crimson posted...

Nuffinz0rz posted...

Bet they only approved it because it would've been a PR disaster if people found out it went that far up and still got denied

yup

they say no up until it becomes a big enough deal that it costs less to just say yes
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Glad this had a relatively happy ending but I wonder how many were in the same position but were rejected due to these relentless policies
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thronedfire2 posted...

yup

they say no up until it becomes a big enough deal that it costs less to just say yes

this

I work in insurance, and if you keep pushing and pushing and pushing you will get what you want in the end
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Remember when Antifar would creepily post pictures of women at his university?

I miss that Antifar.

shockthemonkey posted...

Holy shit, glad they finally approved her but thats just insane. And fucking Ted Cruz used Alfie Evans death as a way to shit talk socialized medicine, I wonder how hed feel about this.

Alfie Evans was a case where the government was forbidding the parents from deciding what medical treatment they could get for their kid, despite the fact that people had donated to pay for it.

No one was stopping this woman from paying for the treatment on her own or soliciting donations to do so, the insurance company simply had valid reasons for not wanting to cover it.
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Offworlder1 posted...

This is just sad, the company showed they literally gave no fucks about her dying claiming a replacement liver which is the answer would not be a promising treatment.

Stay classy you fucking shitbags

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