Malia

Kennedy shared a chilling account of what would happen when doctors dared to put patients before insurance company policies. He described a patient from New Jersey who was suffering from severe heart failure and was transferred to New York-Presbyterian Hospital for a life-saving transplant. The transplant itself had been approved by the insurance company, but shockingly, the mechanical heart pump needed to keep the patient alive until the transplant could take place was denied. With the patient already in the operating room, the medical team faced an impossible choice: follow the insurer’s decision and let the patient die, or act to save his life, risking their careers. They chose to implant the device. The patient survived and ultimately received the transplant. But Kennedy revealed that “my friend—the doctor—was then sued by the insurance company” for defying the denial. That lawsuit was later dropped, but Kennedy said the ordeal highlights the madness of a system that punishes doctors for putting patients ahead of insurance companies.