Red tape keeps half of woman’s skull in freezer

A WOMAN was forced to spend four months with almost half her skull stored in a hospital freezer due to insurance problems.

After a car accident in January, 22-year-old Briana Lane had half her skull removed to save her life. When she woke in a hospital in Utah, one side of her head was left with only skin and sutures covering an area where the bone had been removed.

Upon her release in February, her half-skull remained in a hospital freezer while paperwork passed between the hospital and the Medicaid health insurance programme to decide who would pay for the surgery to repair the damage.