Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
This article actually makes me physically sick.
Assisted-suicide law prompts insurance company to deny coverage to terminally ill California woman
By Bradford Richardson - The Washington Times - Thursday, October 20, 2016
A terminally ill California woman says her insurance company denied her coverage for chemotherapy treatment but offered to pay for her to kill herself, shortly after California passed a law permitting physician-assisted suicide.
Stephanie Packer, a wife and mother of four who was diagnosed with a terminal form of scleroderma, said her insurance company initially indicated it would pay for her to switch to a different chemotherapy drug at the recommendation of her doctors.
“For a while, five months or so, we’ve been trying to get me on a different chemotherapy drug for the infusions, because my doctor felt that it would be less toxic than some of the other drugs that we were going to be using,” Ms. Packer said in a video distributed by The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network on Monday.
“And I was going back and forth, and finally I had heard back from them, and they said, ‘Yes, we’re going to get it covered, we just have to fix a couple of things,’” she continued.
But shortly after California’s End of Life Option Act, which authorizes physicians to diagnose a life-ending dose of medication to patients with a prognosis of six months or less to live, went into effect, Ms. Packer’s insurance company had a change of heart.
“And when the law was passed, it was a week later I received a letter in the mail saying they were going to deny coverage for the chemotherapy that we were asking for,” Ms. Packer said.
She said she called her insurance company to find out why her coverage had been denied. On the call, she also asked whether suicide pills were covered under her plan.
“And she says, ‘Yes, we do provide that to our patients, and you would only have to pay $1.20 for the medication,’” Ms. Packer said.
Ms. Packer said her doctors have appealed the insurance company’s decision twice, to no avail. She said the assisted-suicide law creates an incentive for insurance companies to deny terminally ill patients coverage.
“As soon as this law was passed — and you see it everywhere when these laws are passed — patients fighting for a longer life end up getting denied treatment, because this will always be the cheapest option,” she said.
Her story comes as the D.C. Council considers permitting physician-assisted suicide. Modeled on Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, the District’s legislation would allow terminally ill patients to self-administer life-ending drugs at home.
The “Death With Dignity Act” will go before the D.C. Council for a final vote on Nov. 1.
After the right-to-die movement began garnering national attention, Ms. Packer said she noticed a change in tone at her support groups for terminally ill patients.
While the meetings were formerly positive and encouraging, she said the specter of suicide now hangs above them like a dark cloud.
“And people, once they became depressed, it became negative, and it started consuming people,” she said in the video. “And then they said, ‘You know what? I wish I could just end it.’”
Ms. Packer said her children motivate her to fight her illness.
“I want to live for my kids,” she said.
“I want them to see that dying is a part of life. Your end of life can be that opportunity to appreciate things that you didn’t appreciate before, to say things that you didn’t say before.”
aklnwlf
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 5960
posted
What the heck is wrong with our world!
-------------------- Do not take this as medical advice. This comment is based on opinion and personal experience only.
Alaska Lone Wolf Posts: 6144 | From Columbus, GA | Registered: Jul 2004
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Rumigirl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 15091
posted
What???!!! She (and others in the same boat) need to sick her state Attorney General's office on these criminal "health" insurance companies!!! On an emergency complaint, as there is no time to waste. Plus, eventually, it should be a class action law suit by the state AG's (or private lawyer).
Disgusting beyond words. What a twisted bunch of you know what. And here I was thinking that we needed these end of life options for people, for those who are only suffering horribly with no other options. Yes, I think that that is still true, but this . . There can be no hell bad enough for people like this.
Posts: 3771 | From around | Registered: Mar 2008
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TX Lyme Mom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3162
posted
What's even worse is that most scleroderma patients do not know about an alternative antibiotic therapy for scleroderma which has worked quite well in a few scleroderma patients -- although I'll admit that I do now know all of the different forms of scleroderma that exist.
Scleroderma patients also do well with DMSO used on the skin to soften hardened tissues. I have a friend who has been successful in keeping her scleroderma in remission with both an antibiotic protocol plus external DMSO.
I've heard that DMSO has even been used by IV, but I wouldn't have any idea about what the precautions are for using it that way.
If anyone knows someone with a scleroderma diagnosis, then tell them about this book on scleroderma by Henry Scammell and these two internet resources for the antibiotic protocol and a referral list of doctors familiar with the protocol.
It's a crying shame that there is so little lack of public awareness of proven methods of alternative treatments for rare diseases, even if these therapies work for only certain sub-groups in those disease classifications.
It's probably too late for the person named in this news article, but if anyone wants to try to establish contact with her and let her know about this alternative option, then by all means please GO FOR IT.
Posts: 4563 | From TX | Registered: Sep 2002
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Rumigirl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 15091
posted
You're right TX Lyme Mom, I know that, but didn't even think of it, I was so stunned by the issue at hand.
In fact, on the DMSO issue, I am so glad that you mentioned IV DMSO, because it may help me with the horrible CRPS pain that I have, but I forgot about it. It was unclear if it would help me, and is expensive and out of pocket, so I gave up on it. (Expensive due to the only office doing it charging a lot; the DMSO is cheap).
Posts: 3771 | From around | Registered: Mar 2008
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posted
Wow - and here people have been fighting for that right - it's like everything gets abused!!
Just checked - she's got scleroderma scar tissue in her lungs, she's on oxygen to breathe, can't eat anything so gets nutrients through an IV -
I looked at the links but wasn't able to read any discussion about whether any abx can have an impact on this level of disability.
Anyone know anything about scleroderma?
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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TX Lyme Mom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3162
posted
Robin, It's probably too later for the antibiotic protocol to help this unlucky lady because the heavy Herxing would simply accelerate her demise. I believe that it's wrong to offer false hope to anyone in dire distress at this late stage of a terminal illness, and I suspect that you feel the same way.
Nevertheless, keep those links on file for other scleroderma patients whom you come across. They can be a real life-saver for someone with a recent diagnosis of scleroderma when there is still plenty of time to consider alternative options.
Posts: 4563 | From TX | Registered: Sep 2002
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