Cancer patient, insurer reach agreement

Kota Kinabalu: A cancer patient has reached an agreement with Great Eastern to settle her claims against the insurance company, not winning her lawsuit as previously reported, the company has clarified.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court was reported on March 31 to have recorded a consent judgement between 42-year-old Tan Siew Wei and Great Eastern in her RM2.5mil lawsuit.

In the judgement recorded before Judicial Commissioner Liza Chan Sow Keng in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 29, businesswoman Tan and the insurance company achieved a full and final settlement for RM500,000 in one of the two insurance policies she was claiming for. 

In a statement issued on April 5, Great Eastern said it had avoided the first insurance policy from inception on the grounds of non-disclosure of a psychology consultation and returned all premiums paid to Tan.

“In the course of the suit filed by Madam Tan, parties had reached settlement in which parties had agreed to settle the first insurance policy on a without-prejudice basis,” said Great Eastern.

“There is no admission of liability for the policy benefits. As the first insurance policy was not litigated, the title of the report published on 31 March, 2021 stating “Cancer Patient Wins RM500,000 Lawsuit Against Great Eastern’ was in fact erroneous,” said the company, referring to the headline of the previous news articles. 

Tan had been diagnosed with Stage 4 cervical cancer in 2019 and sued Great Eastern for rejecting her critical illness insurance claims on the said grounds. Tan was diagnosed with anxiety in February 2017.