Omnipure Denies Stockdale's Appeal
Posted: July 20, 2009 05:27 PM
Idaho's Extreme Makeover Family receives news they didn't want to hear: the former employer of Ryan Stockdale has denied his final appeal for brain surgery to treat his cluster headaches.
The condition has left him in agonizing pain and unable to work or even get out of bed. The treatment he needs is called Deep Brain Stimulation. The health plan administrator for Ryan's former employer, Omnipure Filter Company denied Ryan's appeals, saying the treatment was experimental/investigational.
A final appeal was made by representatives for the company nearly two weeks ago. The company's trustees had the authority to approve the treatment. In a statement released to Today's Channel 6 News by Omnipure, the company said "after additional extensive medical review and complete analysis of the federal law governing Omnipure's insurance plan, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), plan trustees have determined there is no legal way that the company's insurance plan can cover the experimental procedure sought by Ryan Stockdale. In fact, attempting to go beyond the precise limits of Omnipure's health plan could bring legal sanctions and jeopardize coverage for the company's other 180 employees."
The plan went on to say "Over the last ten days, we sought three new independent medical reviews of the case, with the cooperation of Ryan's representatives we consulted with his physician, and we undertook a complete and painstaking review of our plan and the federal law that governs the plan. We had hoped for a different outcome, but unfortunately there is no legal way our plan can cover the procedure."
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this is so cruel what is happening to this family in despair. You and I like so many others would do anything in their own power if they could for this man to relieve his headaches. Some years back a friend of mine was plagued with the same headaches until he died at a young age.
This site you talk about needs to be started by you or someone who knows how to do it, along with having a little pull in the community. It seems that compassion is becoming a thing of the past. I for one would be willing to put up a set of three 19th Century Solders done in watercolors, painted in France in 1889.
I'm sure who the artist was myself since there is only one guy that I know of who would possibly even attempt to paint these three men portraying solders of past armies. One solder being English, another being French, while the third looks to be in a South Africa uniform. Their names would be Vincent, Theo & Cor.
Kind regards,
Bob Miller---vanrijngo