Nelson Insurance

A nurse has finally won her battle to get a payout on her critical illness insurance cover, after being told by the insurance company that she could not claim because of non-disclosure of medical information. The policyholder, a fifty five year old nurse, had taken out a critical illness insurance policy with Abbey National in 2001, but this had been passed over the a company called Phoenix at a later date as part of the sale of one of its divisions.

The policyholder had insurance that paid out £40,000 if she was diagnosed with or suffered any of the illnesses covered. Last year she suffered a brain haemorrhage, and spent two weeks in intensive care. She was told that she would have to return to hospital to have brain surgery, which carried a 25% risk of fatality. In between the time that she was discharged from the hospital and she had to go back for surgery she contacted the insurance company to make a claim, as her condition was covered.

However, when she contacted the company she received a letter just prior to going back in for the surgery. She said: ‘Before my craniotomy on the 28th of September I received a letter saying my policy was nil and void. They said I had not disclosed that I had an episode of stress in 1997, when I was off work for three weeks. I have researched this and stress or depression does not cause brain aneurysms. I felt totally let down by Phoenix because I really believed that I had informed them of all my illnesses when I applied.’

Although she has won the fight for her money a spokesperson for the insurance firm said: ‘The Abbey National application form has a clear warning that clients should tell it about anything which could affect its decision to accept the proposal for insurance. Taking into account her occupation as a nurse, there is clear non disclosure. Her occupational knowledge would not allow any ambiguity as to how to answer the health questions with any required.

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