Insurers refuse to pay out after dad’s cardiac arrest
Insurance firm rejects £90,000 payout claim
AHEALTH insurance company is refusing to pay out to a dadof-three who suffered a cardiac arrest and nearly died – because they claim it isn’t a ‘critical illness.’
Lee Norcross, a barber from Cheadle, was playing squash at David Lloyd when he suffered the lifethreatening incident at the end of August.
He had to be brought back to life with a defibrillator, then spent several days in intensive care at Manchester Royal Infirmary where doctors eventually diagnosed him with the heart condition Dilated Cardiomyopathy.
Friends and family, including wife Sue and sons Zach, Joel and Blake, are delighted Lee survived, but he faces a long road to recovery. He has had a pacemaker fitted and will be on medication for the rest of his life.
He is also unable to drive and, being self-employed, will receive no sick pay.
The situation has been compounded by a row with insurance giant Aviva.
Lee took out a policy in 2007 that would pay off his mortgage in the event of a critical illness such as a heart attack, stroke or cancer and has been paying a £65 premium ever since.
Like many people, Lee, 43, assumed a cardiac arrest and heart attack mean the same thing.
But Aviva has rejected his claim for a £90,000 payout, saying cardiac arrest is not on the list of conditions covered.
In a further twist, his friend Jason Morris, a financial adviser, discovered Aviva changed its critical illness policy to include cardiac arrest in 2009, but the company say the new terms and conditions didn’t apply to existing customers.
“I don’t know when I’ll be able to go back to work,” said Lee.
“My wife Sue is worried, I’ve got three kids but I thought ‘at least we’re covered’ and then it turns out we’re not. What did I pay all that money for?
“I can’t drink, I can’t play sport, I’ve got to take tablets for the rest of my life – it’s pretty critical. It’s a genuine claim.”
According to the British Heart Foundation, a heart attack is when one of the coronary arteries becomes blocked.
A cardiac arrest is when a person’s heart stops pumping blood around their body and they stop breathing normally. However, to complicate matters further, in many cases a cardiac arrest is CAUSED by a heart attack.
Unfortunately for Lee, who works at The Barber Shop in Burnage, the cardiac arrest was caused by an undiagnosed heart condition, so Aviva are standing firm.
“I know a lot of people will get technical,” said Lee. “But when you’re a 30-yearold guy and you buy the policy and they say ‘we’ll send you a booklet,’ you don’t know what you’re going to get.
“I insured myself for a critical illness so to me it should be anything that makes you critically ill. It’s scandalous.”
An Aviva spokesperson said: “Critical illness insurance is designed to cover a defined set of medical conditions, which are clearly stated at the outset of the insurance policy, and policy premiums are priced to meet a claim against these specific conditions, and not others.
“It is important that customers review their protection insurance periodically alongside their financial adviser, particularly if cover was arranged some time ago, to decide whether a new policy would be more appropriate and to be reminded of the conditions they are covered for.”