Regional news:
Many of us have seen the Facebook pages of friends and relatives who post photos and updates on every ordinary and mundane thing going on in their lives: from taking the kids shopping to announcing that they have new tires on the car.
But when a Canadian woman posted photos of herself on a beach vacation and paryting at a Chippendale’s club, the insurance company that had been paying benefits for nearly 18 months because of her inability to work due to major depression found the postings to be anything but “mundane.”
Manulife Financial (the Canadian firm that also owns American John Hancock) halted benefits payments to the Quebec woman after an investigation found photos of her in less-than-depressed situations. (click here for the article from CBC News)
Nathalie Blanchard is fuming because she says that vacations and partying are part of her therapy. Plus, she says that Manulife invaded her privacy by somehow looking at her private photos online.
Manulife says it was just doing its job, sort of like a workers compensation firm would do when investigating an “injured” worker who finds himself atop a surf board while collecting benefits for his injury. Blanchard was covered by Manulife through her employer, IBM.
Having experienced first-hand among family and friends the devastating effects of depression, I can sympathize with someone who claims that they are unable to work because of their condition.
On the other hand, it’s difficult to fault the insurer here. They have paid the claim for more than a year. And they expect that if the claimant has improved enough through treatment and therapy that she is able to enjoy life (at least during certain periods), then she is well enough to work and should not be paid further benefits.
Is it any different than the man in New York who has been collecting workers compensation benefits for 10 years, but was able to go fishing and power washing? (click here for story)
I can’t say whether the woman was defrauding her insurer or not, but for me one thing is certain: a year and a half of therapy that includes beach vacations and evenings at a nightclub would cheer anyone up, unless they happened to post the evidence on Facebook.
One Response to “Being ‘happy’ on Facebook leads to denial of claim for depression”
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lofa Says:
November 24th, 2009 at 7:23 amI’ve read several news articles and researched for additional details before coming to a conclusion.
I’m sorry to say this, but it sounds like to me that this woman is just lazy. Anyone who really had a depression [or other mental] problem would NOT be posting photos on facebook, much less continuing to post photos on facebook. This whole “I have a depression problem” is just one that ANYONE can fake.
Now as for the argument of how facebook profiles should have been locked and private… there is NO such thing as keeping things “safe” and locked on the net. ANYTHING that gets posted or sent [yes that includes EMAIL] through the net STAYS on the net. I’ve known this simple FACT for years.
As for the insurance company being “in the wrong” to snoop and discontinue her benefits… I’m sorry, but they have every right to know if someone is handing them a line of [expletive deleted] just to get free money out of the deal. There ARE people out there who REALLY do need and deserve to have health insurance, but don’t get it because of individuals like this woman who make it bad for everyone else. I commend the insurance company for buckling down and I wish that other leeching individuals would get caught and cut off too.
Bottom line: it doesn’t pay to be a thief, liar, lazy, money moocher. Let this be a lesson for anyone who thinks it’s ok to suck on the system while others pay their hard earned money for it. IBM would be wise to not allow the woman to come back to the job. Instead, they should tell her to take a hike, as this story I’m sure will have some sort of bad reflection on the corporation. If this woman is capable of going to a beach weekly and capable of going to night clubs to see male dancers, then she’s most certainly capable of working a normal job like a normal human being.
Don’t feel sorry for con artists. They’re good at sucking people dry of their money.
