Dec 23, 2007 8:37 pm US/Pacific
Vigil Held In Memory Of Dead Encino Teen
ENCINO (CBS) ―
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Nataline Sarkiyan, 17, finally got her insurance company's approval for a liver transplant, but died before the surgery. A vigil was held for her Sunday evening in Encino.
CBS
A candlelight vigil was held Sunday evening for a 17-year-old Northridge girl who died after an insurance company delayed approving a liver transplant.
Nataline Sarkisyan died at 5:50 p.m. Thursday after being pulled off life support at UCLA Medical Center.
Her family is suing CIGNA HealthCare, and their attorney, Mark Geragos, said he will also ask the District Attorney's Office to pursue murder or manslaughter charges against CIGNA.
Geragos said CIGNA twice took Nataline off the liver transplant list and purposely waited until she was near death to approve the transplant because the company didn't want to pay for her after-care.
Just hours before the girl died, CIGNA announced it would pay for the transplant.
CIGNA "literally, maliciously killed" Sarkisyan, Geragos said Friday.
CIGNA did not respond to Geragos' threat to file a lawsuit, but earlier said they felt sorry for the family and their ordeal."Their loss is immeasurable, and our thoughts and prayers are with them," the company's statement said. "We deeply hope that the outpouring of concern, care and love that are being expressed for Nataline's family help them at this time."
The vigil was held at Birmingham Senior High School.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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