Post
Daniel Keywan Hollister
@dkh.bsky.social
Storytime.
In 2005, my mom died from cancer, but the real cause was the actions taken by an insurance company 12 years earlier. What happened to her was evil, hard to identify or fight, and hidden from the public by legal mechanisms. Because of that, I have no idea how often it has happened.
December 8, 2024 at 10:45 AM
1.2K reposts
296 quotes
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I was raised in Orange County by my mom, a single parent losing her vision to diabetic retinopathy. She couldn't work as a nurse anymore, so money was always scarce, but we got by. She had an affordable health insurance plan with a company called FHP, based out of Fountain Valley.
In 1993, my mom had concerning symptoms and her doctor referred her to a urogynecologist. FHP wouldn't authorize seeing a gynecologist because she had seen one recently. The doctor wasn't concerned, but did a Pap test. The results, he said, were normal. He downplayed her symptoms and sent her home.
In the 1990s, women were recommended to get a Pap test annually, more frequently than today. So a few months later, at her annual exam, my mom was was given another Pap test. Again, she was told it came back normal. Next time, same exact thing: Pap test, results normal. Symptoms, no big deal.
A few months later, my mom got engaged to my stepfather. He was an electrical engineer and was financially stable. He also had little tolerance for nonsense. Once he learned this whole story so far, he insisted she get a second opinion, and he paid for it himself, since insurance would not.
My mom saw a different doctor outside the FHP network and was again given a Pap test. But this time, the results were very different. They were highly abnormal, indicating possible cancer. The doctor immediately had her undergo a colposcopy, which confirmed a diagnosis of cervical cancer.
So how did this happen? Was this a coincidence? Did the cancer advance so rapidly that no trace was detected in previous tests? Or had there been a mistake? My parents wanted to find out. When they requested her old pathology from FHP, they were told they didn't know where it was. My parents sued.
During the trial, FHP was asked for my mom's pathology so that independent doctors could review it. FHP claimed they could not find it. The judge ordered FHP to produce it by the weekend or else summary judgement would be in my mom's favor. Suddenly, magically, FHP was able to locate her results.
This is when it gets crazy. Multiple independent pathologists reviewed her Pap tests in court. They unanimously concluded that for nearly two years, the tests had not been normal, but in fact, quite abnormal. While they didn't confirm cancer, they were very concerning and warranted a colposcopy.
It was revealed during the trial that FHP had agreements with pathologists, where some % of tests with abnormal but inconclusive results would be reported as normal, preventing tests and costs. These agreements were once in writing, but for obvious reasons, became verbal. But the practice continued.
Continue thread...
We lost my dad 4years ago it hurts so much to think he could have been saved or even had more time not bed ridden with us his family
Thank u I'm sorry also hang in there sending love and prayers
This is very relatable for a subset of us. Docs encouraged by insurance companies to offer minimal interventions and testing until there’s no option. Managed healthcare was the end of doctors and patients working as true partners. I’m so sorry about your mother. And paps should still be yearly.
Thanks for telling your story. Your mom would would be proud of you♥️
My dad went to his Dr for a few times a year for check ups one day he was at work and lost his eye sight we took him to the hospital and they told him he had hundreds of cancer tumors in his stomach when we asked his Dr how this was missed he then let us know my dad didn't ask him to look for it
I believe it happened to my mom. She was 59. Went in to Kaiser with horrible stomachs pains. She was there a week. She died of a treatable blood clot. We still don’t know what happened. They had a week to figure it out. I was young, but looking back the signs were there, I know it was foul play.
Is Kaiser still in business? If they are, they need to be closed down NOW.
Non disclosure agreements shouldn't be enforceable if a crime has been committed. This should have been a case where they could have gone to the media. Crimes should not be hidden by using the courts against the victims.
They’re not. But the bad actors rely on the fact that most people don’t know that, are scared, and don’t have the money for the legal fight initially even if they’d eventually win.
My wife is a doctor. She has to fight the insurance companies daily for lifesaving treatments for her patients. My guess is thousands of times per year that an insurance company kills someone.
My dad had a stroke in 1984. The company he was president of immediately dropped his insurance coverage. It was horrible. He did so much for the company and they turned their backs on him the day after his stroke.
Such a sad & tragic story, but told in such a heartfelt & loving way about your mom. I recently posted a similar story, which I repost below in support of your implied theory (that this kinda shit happens more than we think). I may post another story of how laws often work to screw people.
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Here’s the link to the recent story. The upcoming one involves a man who literally bled to death in an ER which basically treated him exclusively w/Gatorade (electrolytes). Despite the obvious gross negligence, his case was only worth $250,000 b/c he was old when he died.
bsky.app/profile/wtel...
Years ago Texas wanted to pass a constitutional amendment supposedly meant to stop “frivolous” lawsuits by capping damages in non-frivolous cases (which makes no sense). I wrote an article that ran in our newspaper pointing out the obvious flaw. The proposal was intentionally put on a ballot…
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Thank you for sharing your story. I lost my mother to Multiple Myeloma. She was in her 60s. Early in her diagnosis, her oncologist recommended a bone marrow transplant. United Healthcare denied coverage for the procedure.
Retired RN who's worked with ins companies. The answer is a lot. I'm a victim; palpitations blown off as side effect of a med I didn't really need. Two years later I'm in the ER with heart failure and uncontrollable aFib. Now I have a pacemaker. I'm 65 and fit.
This happened because healthcare is privatized. It needs to change.
Early diagnosis is the most important thing in surviving cancer. They were all complicit in your mom's death. Thank you for sharing!
So sorry you lost your mother to corporate greed. I lost my mother not quite three years ago, and it hurts.
Oh my gosh im so sorry for your loss :( I read all the way through this is such a heartbreaking story. Thank you for sharing more people should see this. I want to staple it to every insurance company’s doors.
Hiding the pathology report from the court should have resulted in an investigation and someone going to prison.
It should be considered fraud and result in jail time.
Daniel, thank you for adding your personal experience to all that we now know about the direct impacts of the private insurance system of healthcare. Much love to you and I’m glad you got the time you did with your mom and step dad.
Fuck this system in particular.
Thank you for sharing your mum's story.
Being from the UK, were lucky enough to have the NHS, yet some populist politicians and commentators would have us adopt the same system.
No ta.
The NHS (mostly) providing equal quality of care to all is the key. Plenty of world-class healthcare exists in the USA, it's just not available to those without great jobs/high income. I cannot fathom why you'd ever want to replace a fair system with one where income determines healthcare quality
The vast majority here don't. But many able to push the agenda, see money to be made à la the US.
So they try to convince us that the NHS is:
Broken (they broke it over the last 15yrs with underfunding and "reform")
Unaffordable (wasn't perfect, but £for£ one of the best out there)
www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/unite... worth a read as well.
Many of us have lost our moms, other family members, or friends prematurely to the abject evil of both apathetic & intentional dehumanization by bad actors in the health insurance & medical fields. It was a brave act to tell your family story—thank you. 🙏💔
Both my parents received shockingly bad health care in rural PA that contributed directly to their suffering and deaths. Old coal mining area. Around there, you get what you get.
Fascinating. So sorry for your loss. Until 1995 or so FHP was a staff model HMO (similar to Kaiser) so that the doctors worked for the health plan. But they would also have a network of doctors who didn't work for them. Do you recall if the doctors were FHP employees?
Several of the doctors involved, including the urogynecologist, were independent contractors. This came into play when my mom tried to poke holes in her contract with FHP and found this didn’t apply to the doctors because they were not FHP employees and therefore not bound by it.
She had her contract with FHP, and each doctor had her sign an arbitration agreement with them on her first visit (probably buried in other paperwork). This made each attempt at arbitration a separate process per doctor and also meant they couldn’t be compelled into her malpractice case against FHP.
In 2005, my uncle finished treatment for advanced melanoma while I was diagnosed with a rare cancer.
What an appalling story. I am so sorry. I have always been horrified by how uncivilised the US is when it comes to healthcare (and guns) but this kind of murderous corruption is staggering
I am embarrassed to be a pathologist today. I understand that reading pap smears was never black and white, but if in doubt it was the patient's interest that was most important. How anybody could fudge this is astonishing.
"The Rainmaker" John Gresham film was all about this and exposes their sharp practices .. It's disgusting how insurance companies play prophet for profit .. Deciding by % who lives and who dies .. So sorry your Mum died due to wanton criminal negligence
My mom had a stroke in 2021 and Wellcare and Humana penny pinched her care. A roller coaster of "care" facilities, UTIs, and getting finished off by a C.Diff infection they mismanaged. They sent her home as bones to die on me a month later.
They just wouldn't take care of her. She would make progress then "oops, her days are up..." and then back on the coaster. What's a half paralyzed woman gonna do with 10 outpatient visits?
It was just us by ourselves. She was only 66...
I hope that CEO flopped around gurgling for a while...
I am so sorry you went through that. Sort of the same story with my mom in 2001 only it was Kaiser.
Thank you, and sorry about your mom as well. Kaiser is pretty high up on my shit list, with the general practice/concept of HMOs in the USA not too far behind
But I did file a complaint against her primary doctor and her oncologist with the state of Ohio. She was treated horribly at the hospital but she was also in a Kaiser wing there. That explains a lot.
You told your story very well and it's a searing example of what is wrong with our profit given healthcare system - and I use that term loosely.
I'm very sorry for your loss.
Sadly, I knew exactly how to predict the story when I saw 'FHP'... I worked there as a file clerk in my late teens; a real horrorshow.
Thank you for sharing this. It’s horrific. May your mom’s memory be a blessing.
I'm so sorry this happened to you and your family. ♥️ My dad also passed away of cancer that reoccured and metastasized to his lungs and brain 15 years after he was declared cancer free. We lost him last year, and they said there was nothing they could have done.
I’m so sorry for what this system did to your family. You’re right — the only word for it is “evil.” And the fact that this kind of behavior is incentivized by our system is inexcusable.
Thank you for telling your and your Mom’s story, heartbreaking and enraging as it is.
Thank you for telling this story. It sounds like you had a great relationship with your mum. I am so sorry your family had to go through all this.
Fuck Daniel, I am so sorry. These people have no claim to humanity.
I'm sure this was painful to write but I appreciate sharing your story.
It's only going to get worse over the next 4 years at a minimum.
Let's hope it lights the spark that burns it all down.
So sorry to read this, & my condolences on the loss of your mother. So angry to read this thread too, & at the malfeasance of large corporations who see people as things to exploit, & their utter lack of sympathy for those they should be helping.
This is mindblowingly cruel. Where I live, if you get even ASC-US results on 2/3 paps, you are referred to the colposcopy clinic, and you aren’t discharged until you are showing normal annual results.
May I ask where do you live? (Which country?)
Canada. Universal healthcare means that prevention is far cheaper than treatment, so they are very aggressive in screening. We also have HPV vaccine campaigns in school for kids and cover the vaccines for anyone under 27.
Thank you, Daniel, for sharing your story. It infuriates and frightens me - how many people were affected and how widespread could this be today even 😳😡. My heart aches for you! 💔😢😭
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