15 year old Cara Pressman has been suffering seizures since she was nine years old. During these years she has been suffering, as well as her family. Even if doctor wanted to do brain surgery and try to improve her condition, her insurance company, Aetna, said no.
Cara Pressman gets the devastating news from her parents
Cara’s parent had the difficult mission to inform their daughter she cannot get the brain surgery she needs to stop her seizures because Aetna does not sponsor it.
The teenage girl had everything coordinated with her friend to visit her at the hospital and she was scheduled for surgery on the 23rd of October.
Since the denial on behalf of the insurance company, Cara has suffered numerous seizures. Most of the seizures are triggered by stress, being happy or just getting excited.
Cara is not the only one being denied the surgery
It seems that Cara Pressman was not the only one the third largest insurance company in the US has refused. Jennifer Rittereiser, 44 years-old, has also approached CNN to tell her story. She was also denied the brain ablation surgery. The surgery consists of a minimal invasive procedure. Neurologists use laser to heat and destroy brain lesions from where seizures originate. They consider the procedure better for the patient because it is less invasive than traditional surgeries, which involve getting patient’s brain parts removed and opening their skull.
Aetna responds to the patients
According to the insurance company, laser ablation surgery is not covered because it is an experimental procedure. The company says there are not studies suggesting it is an effective method.
Dr. Jamie Van Gomel, a neurosurgeon at Mayo Clinic, disagrees with the insurance company. He does not consider the procedure experimental, especially since he is conducting a clinical trial on laser ablation surgery.