Terrorist Victims Say County Used UR to Cut off Medications
Wednesday, November 23, 2016 | 6
As the first anniversary of the terrorist attack in San Bernardino approaches, victims of the shooting told The Press Enterprise newspaper that the county has cut off counseling services and their prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications and anti-depressants.
San Bernardino County Environmental Health Services employee Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people in the Dec. 2, 2015, attack during a holiday party sponsored by the division. The newspaper reported that 57 survivors are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
County Risk Management Director Ken Hernandez told the Press Enterprise that survivors are getting all the medical care they need. He said the county sends doctors' requests for prescriptions through utilization review.
“We’re not denying any medication or any treatment that’s been approved,” he said. “If it’s non-certified through utilization review, that’s not the county denying any medication.”
But applicants' attorney Geraldine Ly of Santa Ana, who represents eight of the survivors, said the county does not have to send the treatment requests through utilization review, which she said uses rigid standards to find any reason to deny care.
According to the report, some 20 to 25 survivors attended a meeting with county officials on Thursday. One employee, program specialist Sally Cardinale, said she had returned to work part-time, but her doctor put her on medical leave Friday after she began withdrawing from her anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications that were denied in mid-October.
Cardinale said the medications cost $300 to $400.
“On paper, they said they were doing it safely. But in real life, they just cut it off,” said Cardinale, 35.
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