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Woman's Facebook Pictures Lead to Losing her Benefits

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A Canadian woman was diagnosed with major depression, and receiving monthly sick leave benefits. Her attorney says that her psychiatrist recommended she take a vacation and go somewhere at her lowest points.

However, (allegedly) the insurance company Manulife found photos on her Facebook profile of her whoopin' it up having a blast...seemingly enjoying a Chippendale's show, a vacation, and her birthday party. The company found this to be evidence enough that she wasn't depressed anymore, and cut off her benefits.

The woman's attorney said this:

"The issue for me is that they stopped her disability benefits without the proper medical recommendations. Her doctor recommended she go on vacation."

read more here

Did the insurance company step out of bounds by looking at her photos on facebook? Or was it fair game? And did they have the right to determine that she was not depressed by allegedly only looking at her Facebook photos?

I guess no matter who was wrong, the moral of the story is be careful of what you post on Facebook and who can see it!! (see our thread if you need help with this)

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Re: Woman's Facebook Pictures Lead to Losing her Benefits

Yep Facebook has become "evil" Devil Always be careful what you post, but in saying that I'm wondering how the "insurance" company got to see those pics, did they fake friend request her? And just because someone is being shown as out having a good time does not mean that they're not depressed, being depressed doesn't mean that you can't laugh or enjoy yourself for short periods of time. Typical insurance companies always out to discredit you so they don't have to pay Shame On You

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Re: Woman's Facebook Pictures Lead to Losing her Benefits
missb wrote:

I'm wondering how the "insurance" company got to see those pics, did they fake friend request her?

I don''t Know i wonder if her profile was just completely public. yeah i see a major lawsuit headed their way if they did it solely based upon those photos.

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Re: Woman's Facebook Pictures Lead to Losing her Benefits

Isn't that the exception to the rule though? I thought by default that your profile is private, why anyone would change that, especially in a situation like hers is beyond me I don''t Know

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Re: Woman's Facebook Pictures Lead to Losing her Benefits
I think the default is that you are visible to everyone in your network. ??
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Re: Woman's Facebook Pictures Lead to Losing her Benefits

OK I'm reading this and as one who runs a business I would not be happy however since I'm not a medical dr and I don't pretend to be (ok I do hand out bandaids from time to time) who is to say if she was on a fun vacation or a destressing or getting over depression. I would think the only one who could or could not determine what was going on was her Dr. Now granted I'm sure that the insurance company that she works for has Dr's but unless they have treated her how can then determine what was healing time and what was party time.

The second red flag that goes up is unless she signed medical release information aren't some HIPAA laws being broke here? If anything I would think she might have a strong case against them.

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Re: Woman's Facebook Pictures Lead to Losing her Benefits
Thinking yeah i wonder if there is more to the story because it seems so far out there that they would think they have the power to decide whether or not their insurance customer is depressed (like you said they may have docs but they are not HER doc). time will tell!!!
but it does bring up the much-talked-about topic of Facebook Fails!!

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Re: Woman's Facebook Pictures Lead to Losing her Benefits

I don't really have a comment about this specific strory, other than "Be Careful what you post, especially when it involves free money!"

But I do know someone who lost her job due to a comment on Facebook. Short version: It had to do when Obama came to FL recently. She didn't like that when some county officials went to meet him (she was also invited to meet the Pres...) they couldn't be bothered to dress better than a standard redneck out on the farm- jeans, cowboy hat, boots, etc. She put up a pic and commented on it. Kinda funny, really. I mean, I didn't vote for him but I'd think it would be special to meet ANY President... Anyway, they pressured her boss to fire her or make her resign, because she was in a public position and blah blah blah. Stupid thing is, her position was state based and not county, but I guess in a good ol' boy part of the state they had enough pull to get their way.

This also reminds me that I would like to be the guy who gets to bust people with handicap stickers that pull into a parking spot then practically run into a grocery store...

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