Aetna Faces Medical Insurance Lawsuit Brought By Long Island Parents
Two Massapequa residents, Lisa and John Brower, are suing Aetna claiming the insurance company reduced in-home nursing care coverage for their disabled 15-year-old boy. Their Long Island medical insurance lawsuit claims that the carrier originally provided 24-hour care, but has gradually reduced this to eight hours, without consulting their son’s physicians or sending Aetna’s own doctors to examine the teen.
Their son Jake, who is wheelchair bound, suffers from life-threatening seizures on a daily basis. The boy must be fed through a tube, wears braces on his arms and legs, and is so impaired that when left alone attempts to eat items like his diapers. Jake has been rendered disabled for more than 10 years – the result of a misdiagnosed infection that left the boy in need of 24-hour care.
Long Island family sues Aetna over reduced in-home care
Though the family never pursued a misdiagnosis lawsuit in Long Island, they are now suing Aetna arguing the company’s cost-cutting measures may put their son’s life in jeopardy, claiming his in-home nurses help keep him alive.
“He needs 24-hour care. I just want what he needs … We’re not asking for anything more than what he needs. I can’t be his 24-hour nurse … I’m a mother, not his nurse,” said Lisa Brower. Her husband, a former police officer in New York, is equally frustrated with Aetna’s decision. The insurance company, which used to cover round-the-clock nursing care for Jake, whittled this number down to 12 hours per day in 2006, and to just eight hours a day in 2012.
According to court documents submitted to the Manhattan Supreme Court where their case is pending, Jake’s physicians discovered another tumor in his brain last year, which has increased the boy’s number of daily seizures.
The Long Island parents resorted to legal action because Aetna refuses to send nurses on days when their son is home sick from his special school, which offers medical care during the day. Aetna counters that representatives informed the Browers back in 2011 that Jake’s nursing care wasn’t covered by their plan — a sharp contradiction from what the company approved in 2004, according to the Brower’s suit.
The medical insurance claim did not indicate the amount of damages being sought, but attorneys for the Browers speculate that insurance reimbursements and legal fees could be in the millions.
Filing a Long Island misdiagnosis lawsuit
If you or a family member has been misdiagnosed and suffered injuries as a result, The Sanders Firm is prepared to fight for your rights. Well-versed in New York malpractice laws, our attorneys have successfully recovered multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts on behalf of our clients. Litigation can help victims recoup damages for past and future medical expenses, loss of income, diminished earning capacity and pain and suffering.
Our track record includes many pretrial settlements with insurance companies as well as NY hospitals. Serving residents of the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Long Island for more than 45 years, The Sanders Firm is one of the New York’s largest and most respected personal injury firms. If you’d like to schedule a free case review, please contact us today at 1-800-FAIR-PLAY. Resources
- NY Daily News, Family of Long Island boy who suffers daily seizures sues Aetna over reduced in-home nurse care, http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/long-island-boy-sues-aetna-reduced-in-home-care-article-1.1604393
- Tampa Bay Times, Medical misdiagnoses common yet ignored, http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/medicine/medical-misdiagnoses-common-yet-ignored/2152949
