Courtney was experiencing extreme pain due to pelvic prolapse in 2017 for which she needed immediate medical care. She received an urgent referral to a colorectal specialist for a surgical consult, but was told that the correct specialist was not available to her under her Health Net Medi-Cal plan…medicalmalpracticelawyers.com, $14.42 Million Verdict Against Health Net For Patient’s Opioid Addiction, Dec 2022
She was referred to a general surgeon that she had already seen who was not a specialist for her medical condition. Courtney’s lawsuit alleged that Health Net had 25 colorectal surgeons available in its Southern California network, but refused Courtney access to any of them until August 2017.
When she was finally able to meet with an appropriate specialist, the specialist’s surgical requests were denied five times allegedly due to network issues.
By the time Courtney finally had the necessary surgery in December 2017,
she was dependent on prescribed opioid pain medication. During the
unnecessary delay in receiving needed medical care, Courtney allegedly that she was in extreme pain and that Health Net knew that she was unable to care for her four children during that time.