HEALTH COVERAGE DENIED TO PATIENTS WITH ADVANCED GENETIC MUTATIONS OKLAHOMA (November 14) - In the first ruling of its kind, Oklahoma State's Supreme Court has upheld the decision by a major health organization to deny health coverage to patients presenting what it has labeled, "advanced genetic mutations." According to the Azure Lake Health Organization, this includes any and all mutations that fall outside the organization's list of known or diagnosed genetic diseases. "We're not talking about your run-of-the-mill cancer or heart problem here," says Ron Shelte, Azure Lake's Director of Patient Benefits. "We're talking about profoundly altered genomes. We're talking about patients whose genetic mutations are patently obvious and for whom medical treatment is impossible." Offered as examples were patients who were admitted for discharging high levels of electrical energy, patients presenting additional limbs, and patients who complained of unusually ductile skeletal structures. "These ailments require treatment we are simply not equipped to provide, and for which we are unable or unwilling to pay." The problem, according to lawyers from the state's Commission for Medical Ethics, is that this new policy directly contradicts a recent federal ruling prohibiting health organizations from demanding DNA testing as a prerequisite for medical coverage. Anticipating fallout from the ruling, lawyers for Azure Lake Health were quick to find a loophole in the law, arguing that the patients they were excluding present symptoms that do not require DNA testing for identification, and therefore, are not protected under the federal statute. "This is not an issue of privacy," claims one lawyer for Azure Health. "It's just common sense. A DNA test is not required to diagnose a patient with Down's Syndrome. Similarly, if a child comes in complaining that his eyes are emitting glowing beams of light, Azure Lake Health doesn't need a DNA test to identify this child as possessing an advanced genetic mutation." Lawyers for the parents of genetically altered children have wasted no time mounting a class action suit against Azure Lake Health, claiming that the organization intentionally misinterpreted a ruling intended to protect genetically altered children. Final versions of the ruling are to take effect on Feb. 21, after a long period of public comment, but the issues are so complex that it has become clear it will be at least several more months before final rules are in place. BACK

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