Fighting For Time: Update
Editor's note: Bob Iritano died on Sept. 1, 2011. He was 51. Here is David Lazarus' column from that day.
David Lazarus revisits the story of Bob Iritano, the Westlake Village man with terminal cancer who was denied coverage for a previously approved treatment by his insurer, Health Net.
Our earlier report, Fighting for Time, and Lazarus' columnin the L.A. Times, explored the predicament of a person who knows he’s going to die but is battling for as much time as he can get with his wife and four kids.
As a result of our shining a light on the matter, Health Net told Iritano he could have the treatment, but on a one-time-only basis. Lazarus reports the procedure — radio frequency ablation— went well and left Iritano relatively pain-free, at least for a time.