Insurer Denies Coverage to Girl, Flips Off Mourning Mother

U.S. health insurance company CIGNA denied a teen girl a liver transplant, and when her mother confronted the insurer's employees, they laughed at her and gave her the finger. The company reversed its decision, but hours later the girl died.

Huffington Post reports that CIGNA, a U.S. health-services insurance company, denied a liver transplant to 17 -year-old Nataline Sarkisyan, of Glendale, Calif., in 2007, claiming that it was "too experimental" to be covered. After protests took place outside CIGNA offices, they changed their mind. However, the decision came too late and the girl died only hours later.

"CIGNA killed my daughter,"

, said the girl's mother, Hilda.

"I want an apology."

When the mother confronted CIGNA employees, they jeered at her from a balcony, laughing and flipping her off. They then had the police escort the family and supporters away from their offices. It took a month for an apology to come forth from CIGNA's VP of Human Resources, John M. Murabito:

"I was very disappointed to learn of the behavior of one of our employees when you were at our company's headquarters. I sincerely regret this individual's offensive and inappropriate action. Please know that he did not represent the views of our company or the views of other employees who work here. We deeply empathize with you and wish you peace and comfort in your loss."

Jeremy Funk from Americans United For Change said:

"What unbelievable nerve. A case that should have prompted CIGNA to seriously reevaluate its policies instead led its employees to taunt and insult a grieving mother who lost her daughter. Absolutely sick. Does Congress need any more reasons to pass meaningful health insurance reform now?"

The Sarkisyan family filed a wrongful death suit against CIGNA, but it was thrown out of court due to a 1987 ruling by the Supreme Court which protects employer-paid health care plans from damages resulting from their decisions. The AUFC released a TV ad in support of the family.