A family says they are wrongfully denied thousands of dollars in insurance benefits for the death of a deceased West Islip firefighter.
John Bradley had been a member of the West Islip Fire Department for over 30 years when he suffered a traumatic brain injury at the scene of a fire in May 2018.
He later died in a rehab facility, but the insurance company says his death was unrelated to his community service.
His family says they should have received a death benefit of $150,000, but so far they have received nothing.
“This person deserves his edge,” Christopher Bradley said. “When you signed your name on the dotted line and took an oath that you would protect the community and defend the Constitution. And then for that to happen? That’s wrong.”
After major brain surgery, John Bradley was at Our Lady of Consolation Rehabilitation Center where he caught COVID-19 in April 2020.
The insurance company says that because the firefighter’s death certificate says the virus killed him, it doesn’t have to pay the insurance payout.
They wrote in a denial letter: “The death was due to the consequences of COVID-19 and not a direct result of an activity covered by the West Islip Fire District.”
Christopher Bradley says the company is hiding behind loopholes and that’s not right.
He says the money would be used to help his mother – who is still dealing with the loss of her husband.
The firefighter’s son says he hopes the insurer will consider why his father was in rehab in the first place.
“If he wasn’t there for the injury line, he never would have gotten COVID-19,” Christopher Bradley said.
Arch Insurance and McNeil & Company were the two insurers that handled the case.
News 12 reached out to the two for comment but did not hear back as of 10 p.m. Friday.
The family tried to contact the companies again in March 2021. They again received a one-sentence response saying their request had been denied.