The health insurance industry is a common villain across the country; any American will tell you that. One woman in Texas seeks justice against her insurance provider and doctors for negligence that resulted in her husband’s sudden death. Prior to his unfortunate passing, he had been complaining about heart palpitations for a year. After being scheduled for a cardiac imaging appointment by his general practitioner, the husband’s insurance company canceled it without warning, stating that it was “medically unnecessary.” The wife claims he might have been saved had the provider and doctors involved been more responsible.
According to an autopsy of the Texas wife’s late husband, he had a heart the size of two. “I have two different issues now that have left me angry,” she starts in her Reddit post about the whole incident. Firstly, their health insurance provider canceled the critical appointment without informing the patient prior. Secondly, her husband had done ECGs and an ultrasound before the canceled appointment date, but none of the doctors involved diagnosed him with a dangerously enlarged heart. If they had known, “he could have been on specific medications and following lifestyle changes,” she protested.
“Insurance negligence should be a thing,” remarks a top commenter. “Too many people have procedures deemed ‘medically unnecessary’ by people with accounting degrees. Our system is so broken.” Another chimes in, complaining that it’s “far too easy for companies to extort consumers in that industry.” While hundreds of Reddit users agreed that US insurance companies are a scam, there were many more who claimed that there is no case of medical malpractice with her husband’s death.
“The failure to get an imaging or the failure to document an enlarged heart was not the proximate cause of your husband’s death,” adds a commenter. “The imaging is a diagnostic tool, not a treatment.” Many point out how the wife clearly stated that her late husband suffered from obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and asthma. “Based on what you told us, his death was inevitable,” the commenter continued, claiming that it was the husband’s lifestyle that was to blame.
The woman continued to protest in the post’s comment section, saying that her late spouse was making gradual changes towards a healthy lifestyle, but the diagnosis of an enlarged heart from the imaging or other appointments would have helped. “There were medications, treatments, and even some surgical options that could have helped,” she lamented. Unfortunately, her responses were met with backlash via dozens of negative downvotes.
To conclude, the wife clarified that she was “not asking for someone to pay because he died” but “for someone to take responsibility.” Indeed, the end result was the consequence of many poor lifestyle choices on the late husband’s end. However, perhaps his life could have been prolonged had not the insurance company canceled that crucial imaging appointment or had his doctors taken notice of his heart condition.
