PPLE
12-22-2007, 10:44 PM
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- By a landslide 87 percent vote, registered nurses at Whittier Hospital Medical Center in the Los Angeles area Wednesday night elected the nation's fastest growing union, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), to represent them.
The final count was 144 to 21 in the secret ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board. CNA/NNOC will represent 300 RNs at the hospital.
Following the Whittier vote, CNA/NNOC has now grown by more than 350 percent in the past decade, and won elections for nearly 25,000 RNs at 73 hospitals since 2001.
CNA/NNOC's growth has been especially explosive in Southern California. In 2000, CNA/NNOC represented 6,000 Southern California RNs in 13 hospitals. With Whittier, the numbers have grown to over 23,000 RNs in 49 hospitals.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show ... 6294.shtml (http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,246294.shtml)
Registered nurses and others are planning to march on CIGNA offices in Glendale, Calif., today to protest the insurer's denial of a liver transplant for a 17-year-old California girl.
The girl, Nataline Sarkisyan, recently had a bone marrow transplant for recurring leukemia and developed a rare complication from the transplant and chemotherapy that's causing her liver and kidneys to shut down, according to the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee.
The groups say CIGNA denied the liver transplant as "experimental," despite multiple doctors' saying it is the girl's only hope of survival.
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-bizdigbrf1220.art0dec20,0,1639650.story
GLENDALE, Calif., Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee today blasted insurance giant CIGNA for failing to approve a liver transplant one week earlier for 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan, who tragically died last night just hours after CIGNA relented and agreed to the procedure following a massive national outcry.
On Dec. 11, four leading physicians, including the surgical director of the Pediatric Liver Transplant Program at UCLA, wrote to CIGNA urging the company to reverse its denial. The physicians said that Nataline "currently meets criteria to be listed as Status 1A" for a transplant. They also challenged CIGNA's denial which the company said occurred because their benefit plan "does not cover experimental, investigational and unproven services," to which the doctors replied, "Nataline's case is in fact none of the above."
"So what happened between December 11, when CIGNA denied the transplant, and December 19 when they approved? A huge outpouring of protest and CIGNA's public humiliation. Why didn't they just listen to the medical professionals at the bedside in the first place?" asked Geri Jenkins, RN, a member of the CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents who works in a transplant unit at the University of California San Diego Medical Center.
On Thursday, CIGNA was bombarded with phone calls to its offices across the country while a rally sponsored by CNA/NNOC, with the substantial help of the local Armenian community, drew 150 people to the Glendale offices of CIGNA -- all of which produced the turnaround by CIGNA to finally reverse its prior denial of care.
CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro called the final outcome "a horrific tragedy that demonstrates what is so fundamentally wrong with our health care system today. Insurance companies have a stranglehold on our health. Their first priority is to make profits for their shareholders -- and the way they do that is by denying care."
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,247072.shtml
Girl Dies Hours After Insurance Company Approves Transplant
Last Edited: Thursday, 20 Dec 2007, 11:19 PM PST
Created: Thursday, 20 Dec 2007, 3:44 PM PST
A 17-year-old leukemia patient from Northridge died Thursday at Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA, hours after her insurance company bowed to a nationwide protest and reversed its earlier denial of a liver transplant.
The parents of Nataline Sarkisyan removed her from life support "because her condition was hopeless," according to family friend Steve Artinian.
http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=5278599&version=7&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Father to sue insurer after liver transplant denied
Nataline Sarkisyan, 17, a leukemia sufferer, died hours after Cigna Healthcare reversed decision to deny surgery.
By Rick Orlov, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 12/21/2007 09:50:52 PM PST
LOS ANGELES - The day after the death of his leukemia-stricken daughter, Krikor Sarkisyan accused his health insurer of taking her life by twice denying her a liver transplant.
At a news conference Friday morning, Sarkisyan wept as he talked about his 17-year-old daughter, Nataline, and his hiring of attorney Mark Geragos in hopes of getting authorities to bring criminal charges against Cigna Healthcare.
"They took my daughter away from me," the Northridge man said. "She was so strong and brave. I wish she was here today."
Nataline's brother, Bedig, donated bone marrow to his sister a month ago and said her death should touch every family.
"This could be your sister," he said. "It could be you."
http://www.presstelegram.com/ci_7784048
The final count was 144 to 21 in the secret ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board. CNA/NNOC will represent 300 RNs at the hospital.
Following the Whittier vote, CNA/NNOC has now grown by more than 350 percent in the past decade, and won elections for nearly 25,000 RNs at 73 hospitals since 2001.
CNA/NNOC's growth has been especially explosive in Southern California. In 2000, CNA/NNOC represented 6,000 Southern California RNs in 13 hospitals. With Whittier, the numbers have grown to over 23,000 RNs in 49 hospitals.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show ... 6294.shtml (http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,246294.shtml)
Registered nurses and others are planning to march on CIGNA offices in Glendale, Calif., today to protest the insurer's denial of a liver transplant for a 17-year-old California girl.
The girl, Nataline Sarkisyan, recently had a bone marrow transplant for recurring leukemia and developed a rare complication from the transplant and chemotherapy that's causing her liver and kidneys to shut down, according to the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee.
The groups say CIGNA denied the liver transplant as "experimental," despite multiple doctors' saying it is the girl's only hope of survival.
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-bizdigbrf1220.art0dec20,0,1639650.story
GLENDALE, Calif., Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee today blasted insurance giant CIGNA for failing to approve a liver transplant one week earlier for 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan, who tragically died last night just hours after CIGNA relented and agreed to the procedure following a massive national outcry.
On Dec. 11, four leading physicians, including the surgical director of the Pediatric Liver Transplant Program at UCLA, wrote to CIGNA urging the company to reverse its denial. The physicians said that Nataline "currently meets criteria to be listed as Status 1A" for a transplant. They also challenged CIGNA's denial which the company said occurred because their benefit plan "does not cover experimental, investigational and unproven services," to which the doctors replied, "Nataline's case is in fact none of the above."
"So what happened between December 11, when CIGNA denied the transplant, and December 19 when they approved? A huge outpouring of protest and CIGNA's public humiliation. Why didn't they just listen to the medical professionals at the bedside in the first place?" asked Geri Jenkins, RN, a member of the CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents who works in a transplant unit at the University of California San Diego Medical Center.
On Thursday, CIGNA was bombarded with phone calls to its offices across the country while a rally sponsored by CNA/NNOC, with the substantial help of the local Armenian community, drew 150 people to the Glendale offices of CIGNA -- all of which produced the turnaround by CIGNA to finally reverse its prior denial of care.
CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro called the final outcome "a horrific tragedy that demonstrates what is so fundamentally wrong with our health care system today. Insurance companies have a stranglehold on our health. Their first priority is to make profits for their shareholders -- and the way they do that is by denying care."
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,247072.shtml
Girl Dies Hours After Insurance Company Approves Transplant
Last Edited: Thursday, 20 Dec 2007, 11:19 PM PST
Created: Thursday, 20 Dec 2007, 3:44 PM PST
A 17-year-old leukemia patient from Northridge died Thursday at Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA, hours after her insurance company bowed to a nationwide protest and reversed its earlier denial of a liver transplant.
The parents of Nataline Sarkisyan removed her from life support "because her condition was hopeless," according to family friend Steve Artinian.
http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=5278599&version=7&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Father to sue insurer after liver transplant denied
Nataline Sarkisyan, 17, a leukemia sufferer, died hours after Cigna Healthcare reversed decision to deny surgery.
By Rick Orlov, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 12/21/2007 09:50:52 PM PST
LOS ANGELES - The day after the death of his leukemia-stricken daughter, Krikor Sarkisyan accused his health insurer of taking her life by twice denying her a liver transplant.
At a news conference Friday morning, Sarkisyan wept as he talked about his 17-year-old daughter, Nataline, and his hiring of attorney Mark Geragos in hopes of getting authorities to bring criminal charges against Cigna Healthcare.
"They took my daughter away from me," the Northridge man said. "She was so strong and brave. I wish she was here today."
Nataline's brother, Bedig, donated bone marrow to his sister a month ago and said her death should touch every family.
"This could be your sister," he said. "It could be you."
http://www.presstelegram.com/ci_7784048