Posted on 03/12/2018 6:58:34 AM PDT by Gamecock
A North Carolina pastor who claimed she had a crippling disease is being sued by her insurer, which says it found church Facebook photos of her going down a slide and playing Skee-Ball.
Cynthia McCullough of Charlotte told her insurer that reflex sympathetic dystrophy left her unable to bathe and dress. She said she needed constant home care, according to the lawsuit filed by New York Life in federal court in Charlotte on Friday. Reflex sympathetic dystrophy is a rare and chronic nervous system disorder that causes severe pain, according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders.
McCullough has received about $389,500 from her comprehensive long-term care insurance policy since 2010, the lawsuit said. The insurer wants its money back.
The lawsuit said McCullough was freely moving about, lifting objects into her SUV without problem, when the insurer conducted surveillance on Dec. 30, 2016, and Jan. 1, 2017. She drove about 50 miles to a church in Rutherfordton, where she apparently is a pastor, according to the lawsuit.
A church news listing on Rutherford Weekly.com said McCullough is pastor of St. John AME Zion Church.
Further surveillance over 15 days in 2017 showed her driving to a doctor’s office, a bank, two restaurants and a gas station, where she pumped her own gas, the lawsuit said. Twice again she drove to Rutherfordton to attend church.
When New York Life told her in July 2017 that it was cutting off her payments, McCullough appealed, according to the lawsuit. She claimed her disease was “severe and debilitating.”
McCullough did not return a message from the Observer Friday.
She was clearly the recipient of a miraculous healing.
AME church
They need say no more.
Sorry . . . I just had to look to confirm my suspicion . . . ‘nuff said
She looks and sounds like the perfect U.S. Senate candidate. “D”, of course.
I cringe when anyone calls themselves “Rev.”.
Being repeated thousands of times around the country daily.
Around these parts, “disabled” people have plenty of time to spend fishing and camping. They always have a great tan. Bless their hearts.
Stopped reading right there...................
My step-borhter managed to get himself on disability for back problems.
He wiped out his motorcycle not long ago.
I say if you can ride a motorcycle you should not collect disability for back pain.
(He swore riding the motorcycle HELPED his back).
Yep, expect to see her name on a ballot in some liberal precinct soon.
Wonder if there are any statistics on the amount of disability fraud? It must be rampant. Not to mention very costly.
Seems like an area ripe for reform.
OOOHH...YOU CAN"T SAY THAT! It might be R-R-R...never mind.
Two words together, SHE and PASTOR, and you know it’s not headed in the right direction.
Relatively easy to put surveillance on individuals receiving the aid or insurance payments, and document whether the disability is real. It is a costly process, but the savings overall might be worth the cost.
You can be sure her honest co-religionists are disgusted by her fraudulent behavior. You can be pretty darn sure, I think, that they won't offer to help her pcy back the money.
Disability fraud has been institutionalize under Obama
Millions of able bodied workers were diverted directly to Social Security Disability when their 99 weeks of enhanced ran out.
In 2008 there were about 6 million people on Social Security Disabilty, now there are about 13 million
They - the insurers - may lose the suit; then again they may not.
First reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) effects just one aspect of the nervous system, one group of nerve lines - the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system deals with the senses of touch & pain, and blood vessels. Someone can have excruciating pain with RSD but still be able to do everything they could previously do with their body, and doing so does not add to or change the pain - because RSD is in the nerves that deal with pain, not body movement.
However, her videos show that in spite of the RSD pain, it was not so excruciating (some meds do help with it) that it debilitated her; she was able to get around normally and even appeared to be in good spirits.
Maybe she does have RSD (the only diagnosis for it is that yes, the patient is in obvious and demonstrable pain, though even if there was an initial cause for the pain, there is not any longer any observable reason for why the pain persists) that is how it got its name. She might be able to support the RSD diagnosis.
However, the insurance company can argue that regardless of the diagnosis, she is obviously not totally disabled.
I once was diagnosed as having RSD (for which there is no good explanation medically, and no cure), but later learned it was not RSD but a permanent remnant of a spinal chord injury; an injury that had eluded prior diagnosis and detection. I actually was happy to get the right diagnosis, even though it meant something permanent that could not be fixed. At least it was clear with a factual basis, not something like RSD which medical science does not have clear answers for.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.