The family of a woman left with a severe brain injury after being driven down by a New York City driver said insurance companies are refusing to pay for treatment because she won't recover from her near vegetative state.
Mimi Silver Liebenberg, 37, was run over by Clossie Spencer, 29, last August as she crossed the street while apartment hunting in the Crown Heights neighbourhood of Brooklyn.
Clossie Spencer backed into Mini Silver Liebenberg with an SUV while he was parking, then fled the scene after seeing what he did. He was eventually arrested last week and charged with reckless driving, assault, and fleeing the scene of an accident with injury.
Liebenberg was left in a coma for seven weeks after the accident, and upon emerging was left unable to speak, control her body, had lost her memory, and was completely unable to take care of herself.
Doctors have said Liebenberg's condition is unlikely to ever improve, and her family said insurers have used that prognosis to cease paying for treatment.
Liebenberg's sister, Creecy Richardson-Creef, told a newspaper outlet the situation was a nightmare that wouldn't end, and that their mother, who's 63 years old, had been staying with her sister for the last five and a half months in all these hospitals and traumatic brain injury facilities, and that it's taken a toll on their mother and her health, as well.
She said insurance companies have given up on her sister's recovery, and that getting them to pay for treatment has become a full-time job.
Richardson-Creef said that they don't believe it's medically necessary, that was their justification and that she was being treated less than human.
After waking from her coma, Liebenberg was left barely able to function, and her sister said that she can't control her arms and legs and had to be restrained so she won't hurt herself because in her mind she believes she was communicating clearly, but all they hear is gibberish and she gets extremely frustrated.
Richardson-Creef added that her sister's memory is unreliable, adding to the day-to-day trauma of her new life, and she said that they have to tell her, again and again, that she was run over by a car, and that every time, she's terrified and horrified all over again.
Liebenberg had been working her dream job as an architect before the accident.
This could happen to anyone, but thankfully she has a caring family, not everyone would be that fortunate.
And in cases like this one, the person who hit her should be forced into working the remainder of their lives to pay for her medical bills, with no excuses, and why are the media not showing photos of Clossie Spencer? He should be shamed! And please name her insurer's so that we know who these people are and how they operate so that they can be avoided in the future.
Most of these insurers are a farm for profit, your health is of no concern to them, and before signing on the dotted line for insurance, you should read the small print because medical plans generally don't cover treatment that's just sustaining life and not improving it, yours included.
If someone has a stroke, does this mean they won't make a complete recovery? Their insurers might pay for some of their medical bills, but eventually, they will say that they won't make a full recovery, so why are insurers permitted to act like doctors in matters like this? Simply because it's broken with its unethical tactics.
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