Good Morning America - Chris Cuomo report on disability insurance denial Fen 26 2009
On May 17, 2004 doing work at home (I am a solo real estate lawyer who at the time had an office in Manhattan, a very large practice and 1 associate) when my printer jammed and I nearly sliced off my right pointer finger. I "rushed" (it was pretty slow in coming) to Methodist Hospital by car service at midnight not knowing just how deep the slice was - but just looking at it, it was deep and bad). They did not take an x-ray, just cleaned it, stitched it, and splinted it, and told me to see a hand specialist (they should have called one in that same night) within the week. As it turned out I obviously could not work for some time.
I had disability insurance for over 20 years "just in case" from Northwestern Mutual - I was told they were the "cadillac" of disability policies. They were anything but. They had an office worker come over to see my finger; he knew nothing of medicine or sliced fingers. A Jerome Bonney from their NJ office. He asked to take a picture - I didnt realize it was only to make fun of me and then have a photo of my face so they could surveil and stalk me. Scarey for a woman living alone.
The accident sliced my nerves which never were able to regrow. It also nearly sliced my tendon work and as there are no muscles in the finger it nearly stopped working; as it was, the student surgeons cut off too much of the tendon and were themselves unable to re-attach the nerves. I developed a painful curvature in the finger and neuromas, scarring from the nerves not being re-attached. The physical therapist the doctor I went to - the chief of Maimonodes hand surgery, Jack Choueka - lied on the papers which NML asked him to complete. I sat there with him. I said one thing, and he wrote another. He told me he would give me a nerve block, he never did. HE said if it hurt so much he could always just cut the whole finger off (his idea of a joke), this after telling me why the pointer/grasping finger is the most important for feeling and holding. Plus I played violin and guitar for over 40 years. He never told me that he himself would not be doing the surgery.
NML did research to find out I took medication for constant tension headaches - and they found out through their agent who should have had a fiduciary duty to ME - that I had lost alot of work from a managing agent. What the NML agent didnt know was that I had 2 more years with them till I was to lose that work so I could try to re-establish my practice. I did not lose it that day, week, month or year. So he lied, I saw the paper he wrote them saying I couldnt work because of that and not because of my injury which was not true at all.
When they denied my claim they were nasty and they (1) did not state these as the reasons and (2) did not tell me that I had a right to contest their denial.
They paid me for something like 5 days of missed work. The lawyers I later used figured out that at the time, about a year and a half ago, I was due well over $100,000 plus continued amounts till age 65. They (Quadrino and Schwartz, Michael Hack, the only one who did not properly sign a release giving me back my retainer and making me vow not to talk of this matter - they knew they were in the wrong) - had a relationship with NML and were to call Sharon Hyde of NML the day I met with him. He never ever put in a claim with either her or with the courts, totally screwing me when I could have been helped by another lawyer.
For years now I have made less money than my expenses of running the office which I finally gave up 2 years ago. The pain is constant in my hand, 24/7, and I cannot grasp, constantly drop things, etc.
My agent, Scott Nagle at Tudor City in NY told me that NML was like this.
So did their own employee in Newburgh NY whom Scott told me to speak to, Linda Godbey, whose daughter nearly lost part of her arm and they denied her claim, then changed their mind after she fought with them. SHe wrote a letter on my behalf then backed up - I suppose after she was threatened with loss of her job.
I was still covered for one yr after the accident under their terms - meaning the Statute of Limitations was actually one year longer than I'd been told. And when they wrote me to re-instate the policy in full, it required that I admit that I never had an injury, that if I did it never caused me any problems, I was satisfied with their handing of my claim, etc - all lies.
There was no way to win.
Then they told me (the reasons kept changing) that I was denied because (1) their physiatrist said my injury wasnt covered - he never saw me, called me, or was a specialist in hand injuries and it didnt matter if I was a "rightie" or a leftie" - indeed, I am ambidextrous, and (2) they stalked me and had photos of me (a) opening the heavy door to my office bldg (I never ever used the injured finger when I did but I am sure the angle they shot from failed to show that or showed some misperception of that; it was so hard to open I prayed someone else would come by. Indeed - what does this have to do with doing my job as a real estate attorney or not?
(b) They said they had photos of me carrying a heavy file. Yes, sometimes I had to take one home to do work I couldnt do at the office by day because of the pain. Or I had to go to fedex across the street. Did they know how painful it was to carry that file, how many times I dropped it, how often I prayed that I wouldnt drop it, especially while crossing the street - and again, what has this to do with being a real estate attorney, and
(c) They told me they had a photo of me sitting on the subway (this really freaked me out) with a book open on my lap - to mean I could turn pages. If I did, after years of not being able to, it was 1 page the entire ride. Did they have photos of how I sat on the filthy subway floor 90% of the time because if I didnt get a seat, I couldnt hold the pole or stand on the way home to Brooklyn from Manhattan.
I asked for copies of the physiatrist's report and of these photos and never ever was given them. I asked about the medication list and never received it nor understood their point - as if I had an accident because I was some addict.
If you could help me in any way Mr Cuomo - this disability insurance denial is a huger problem than most people realize. I thought I was covered and now I have no practice and no money after paying them for over 20 years in good faith. There is more to the story but for now, these are the main events. I got 5 different opinions afterwards and a different physical therapist at Hospital for Special Surgery who after a year taught me how to bend my finger so it could fit into a glove or pocket pants - though still painfully and difficultly. The opinion from the key finger injury doctor, Harold Rosewald of Beth Israel, gave the most thorough exam and report and said I had developed a central nervous disorder (and something like tendinitis) from the sliced finger, calling it "RSD" - Reflexive Sympathetic Disorder. A neurogist gave me medication for it but it didnt agree with me. He also gave me an EMG which tests nerve connections when they are sliced off and which showed that the nerves COULD have been reconnected.
I became a lawyer in part after reading your father's book on the Forest Hills Diary on Low Income Housing. And I think you are the best.
Please - whatever you can do; there have been so many wrongdoings here and I am getting close to my last penny now. The sneakiness and nastiness of NML is unbelievable. I have to contact the attorney general and the insurance commissioner too - but i have felt so sick from the RSD all this time I havent yet been able to bring myself to do it. I remember once asking my boyfriend if I should keep the insurance or save the money I was spending on it. He said, the day I cant afford it, I should worry. Well, he was wrong, it wasnt worth anything and now I have nothing.
And SHaron Hyde who is close to retirement and wants nothing to go wrong (and probably attorney Hack was being nice to her in that regard so long as she went along with other larger cases of his) - or so I heard from someone who heard Scott Nagle talking and said he is a good for nothing and only out for his own good.
I will sign off now and hope I hear from you and get some help. I have gone through all my savings and have the tiniest amount of retirement money left now at age 53. I am scared. I am in constant pain. I was helping my elderly widowed mom for 7 years and now cannot. I need to sell my coop but cant lift boxes.
Whatever you can do, I will be most appreciative.
Diane Ungar
718 - 623 - 0777
deu624@aol.com
10 Plaza St # 8-A
Brooklyn (PK SLOPE) NY 11238
