LOS ANGELES — The family of a 17-year-old leukemia patient is blaming health insurance giant Cigna Corp. for her death for initially refusing to pay for a liver transplant.
Cigna eventually relented after Nataline Sarkisyan's family held a rally Thursday outside its suburban L.A. office.
But hours later, the family granted permission to doctors to take Nataline off life support and she died.
"They took my daughter away from me," said Nataline's father, Krikor, who appeared teary-eyed at a news conference Friday with his son, Bedros, 21.
The family's attorney, Mark Geragos, said he planned to sue Cigna, saying the insurer "maliciously killed" Nataline because it did not want to bear the expense of her transplant and aftercare. He did not say when he would file the lawsuit.
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Nataline was diagnosed with leukemia at 14 and received a bone-marrow transplant from her brother the day before Thanksgiving. She later developed a complication that caused her liver to fail.
She was in a vegetative state when she was taken off life support at 5:20 p.m. Thursday, according to her mother, Hilda. She died within the hour.
In a Dec. 11 letter to Cigna, four UCLA doctors pleaded with the health insurer to review Nataline's case, saying she was a good candidate for liver transplantation. Cigna refused to pay, saying the procedure was experimental.
The insurer reversed the decision Thursday as about 150 teenagers and nurses rallied outside its office in Glendale.
One of the doctors, Robert Venick, declined to comment on Nataline's case when reached at his office Friday.
The upcoming lawsuit raised the question in medical circles of whether a liver transplant is a viable option for a leukemia patient because of the immune-system-suppressing medication such patients must take.
Such medication, while preserving the transplanted liver, could make the cancer worse.
Dr. Stuart Knechtle, who heads the liver transplant program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, declined to comment on Nataline's case. But in general, he said, transplantation is not an option for leukemia patients.
Geragos also said Friday that he plans to ask the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office to press murder or man-slaughter charges against Cigna.
District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said it would be inappropriate to comment until Geragos sub-mits evidence backing his request.
Asked to comment, Cigna issued a statement expressing sympathy for the family: "Their loss is immeasurable, and our thoughts and prayers are with them. We deeply hope that the outpouring of concern, care and love that are being expressed for Nataline's family help them at this time."
