MALPRACTICE

Woman With MS Dies of COVID After Doctors Told Her She Couldn’t Get Vaxxed, Family Says

Nerissa Regnier’s family also claims in a new lawsuit that she was denied monoclonal antibody treatment after her COVID-19 case worsened.

The family of a California woman who died from COVID-19 announced that they’re suing health-care provider Kaiser Permanente, alleging she was denied a vaccine and refused monoclonal antibody treatment after she was infected. Nerissa Regnier, a 45-year-old realtor with three children, had multiple sclerosis but was “managing” the disease, said Annee Della Donna, an attorney for the family. When she approached Kaiser about getting vaccinated, Regnier was told more than half a dozen times in six months that she could not receive the vaccine because it contained a “live virus,” the lawyer alleged. (Not one of the available COVID-19 vaccines contains live viruses.) Regnier later tested positive for the coronavirus. Hospitalized at a medical center within Kaiser’s network, she was denied monoclonal antibody treatment, Della Donna alleged. Regnier died Dec. 16. Kaiser officials have declined to comment on Regnier’s case, instead insisting that the company is committed to providing the “highest quality health care appropriate” for each patient.