A 5-Year-Old Girl Is Dying in Brazil Because Insurance Refuses to Pay for US$ 10,000 Surgery

[Judi Lynn]

A 5-Year-Old Girl Is Dying in Brazil Because Insurance Refuses to Pay for US$ 10,000 Surgery
2011 - October 2011
Written by Max Bono
Monday, 31 October 2011 17:37

Leandra Silva Cerqueira is only 5 years old but is already dying. She has a very serious cardiac problem. She suffers from interventricular communication. According to the site heart-vessel.com, it corresponds to the abnormal passage of blood between the two ventricles (generally from the left ventricle toward the right ventricle).

It is a malformation occurring during the making of the heart during pregnancy (congenital disease) and generally disappears during the first years of life. Sometimes, surgery is necessary to close this communication.

Unfortunately this is the Leandra's case, a beautiful child from Salvador, Bahia. Leandra should be lucky. She has the plano de saúde, health insurance, unlike the vast majority of the babies in Bahia. However she is not. Because her insurance company refuses to pay for her surgery.

Hapvida, the insurance company, refused to pay for the treatment several times. It was condemned by the judge Laura Scalldaferri to offer treatment or pay a daily penalty of 1.000 reais back on September 8, 2011.

More:
http://www.brazzilmag.com/component/content/article/103-october-2011/12743-a-5-year-old-girl-is-dying-in-brazil-because-insurance-refuses-to-pay-for-us-10000-surgery.html