EO MARKETING te Your Legal Practice
YES, SUN LIFE INSURANCE SAID THAT TO OUR CLIENT! ‘A Quick Diarrhea Break During Surgery Was Acceptable’ Cancer is a common reason physicians get long-term disability. Our client, Dr. David Jones, is an ear, nose, and throat physician whose duties include performing surgery. He went out on disability in 2020 due to multiple medical issues, including colorectal cancer requiring surgery and ongoing gastrointestinal problems. Sun Life Insurance Company terminated Dr. Jones’ claim for long-term disability benefits after paying for a very short period, claiming he could resume all of his duties after chemotherapy treatment. The problem was that Dr. Jones could only return to a part-time schedule and clinical work only. He could not perform surgery due to unpredictable emergent bathroom needs, and his earnings from performing surgery were a substantial part of his income. Dr. Jones had true “own specialty occupation” long-term disability coverage. That means he is considered disabled if he cannot perform all of the duties of his chosen specialty, even if he could earn at the same income level as before by working in a different specialty. Dr. Jones’ treating physicians insisted he could not safely perform surgery and would put patients at risk for obvious reasons. But Sun Life ignored their opinions and Dr. Jones’ graphic testimony about why he could not perform surgery. Sun Life didn’t dispute Dr. Jones’ unpredictable bathroom needs, but they found a physician to testify that “a quick diarrhea break during surgery was acceptable.” Then, Sun Life’s vocational expert’s analysis focused only on the physical exertional requirements of Dr. Jones’ surgical specialty when there’s obviously much more to consider from the perspective of safe patient care. So, Sun Life denied Dr. Jones’ appeal for terminating his benefits. With Dr. Jones’ help, we were able to speak with his treating physicians and create detailed physician notes to better support the claim. We also created a vivid, detailed statement for Dr. Jones to describe his symptoms and how he would have no warning at all that he was about to have a bathroom emergency that could last an extended time.
I’m fortunate to have a paralegal, Erika, who is very creative and talented in shooting videos and combining all of the above into a beautifully polished product. But it takes her a full day to perfect just one video! And we got so busy practicing law that our video-making stopped for the last year. But we’re back at it because Erika created a brilliant system. Here’s what we do: First, we create a list of video topics we’ll do for the next six months. We calendar one two-hour session each month to shoot four videos. We shoot the raw footage of me explaining how we handle various cases, answering FAQs, etc. But then, she and I are done. If you read last month’s Brief Recess, you heard me raving about the endless possibilities of accessing talented virtual assistants (VAs) through worldwide platforms such as Upwork. Erika now uploads the raw footage to the VA she vetted, and they deliver a perfectly edited video the very next day with visual effects, a thumbnail image, and a transcript — a finished product. We give it to our website manager to publish on a specific page and to our social media VA to post as instructed. It’s a no-brainer!
So, if we can help you with the details of creating your prolific video system, give us a call. We’re happy to walk you through it step by step.
HAVE A LAUGH!
We presented this and other evidence to Sun Life for reconsideration of the claim before filing suit. That way, it became part of the official administrative record and could be considered by the court. Sun Life again denied the claim, and we filed suit.
Thankfully, presented with undeniable new evidence and facing trial, Sun Life Insurance Company finally did the right thing.
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