Health insurance fund ordered to pay 664 261 EUR to Laura for a double arm transplant in the United States

Laura Nataf, a 28-year-old Frenchwoman who had all four limbs am-putated in 2007 as a result of septic shock, received two arm trans-plants in the United States in 2016 at a total cost of 990 000 EUR.

The French health insurance fund (CPAM) then refused to reimburse her for the surgical costs incurred at the PENN MEDICINE hospital in Philadelphia (United States), even though at the time of her operation, no equivalent care was offered in France. In 2017, L. Nataf sued the CPAM.

Four years later, the lawyer succeeded in overturning the CPAM's re-fusal to cover his client's health care costs. The health insurance company was ordered in the first instance to reimburse 664 261 EUR (768 280 USD) to L. Nataf.

The next step is to convince the Paris Court of Appeal to recognize the patients' right to reimbursement of surgical care received abroad if no suitable treatment exists in France.