The 29 year old from Quebec was receiving a monthly check from Manulife, the insurance she has through her employer. When the payments stopped, Blanchard contacted the insurer and was told by an agent that her benefits had been suspended due to photos she posted on Facebook.
The photos cited by the insurance company as proving she is not depressed include shots of Blanchard at her birthday party, on a beach vacation, and at a Chippendales show. She says the activities were meant to help her combat her illness.
Blanchard stated that the pictures capture momentary happiness and are not indicative of the issues she claims to have before and after they were taken. Although Manulife confirms that they use Facebook as an investigative tool for claims, on the record they say that they do “not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on websites such as Facebook."
She's retaliated with a lawsuit against the insurance company in what may be an unprecedented case. Blanchard's lawyer is arguing that his client may have been attempting to escape the confines of her condition, that her doctor recommended the vacation, and also that (and this is my favorite part of the whole story) the social networking site is not adequate “for judging a mental state.”
No matter whether Blanchard was taking advantage of the system or these photos document a woman trying to pull herself out of diagnosed depression, her lawyer does have a valid point. I'm pretty sure that if we were all judged by the photos we have up on Facebook, most of us would be declared over-excited, overly friendly, overly happy, and often over-served at whatever kegger, holiday dinner, or girls night out we're pictured attending.
I'm not going to advocate taking down your photos or not applying for disability benefits if you really need them. But I do think the lesson to take from all of this is that it is best to use your recovery time off of work to check and double-check your Facebook privacy settings. And if your insurance company requests to be your Facebook friend, give them a dose of their own medicine and deny, deny, deny.
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