Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos

Last Updated: Thursday, November 19, 2009 | 9:45 PM ET Comments411Recommend264

CBC News

A Quebec woman on long-term sick leave is fighting to have her benefits reinstated after her employer's insurance company cut them, she says, because of photos posted on Facebook.

Nathalie Blanchard, shown here on a beach holiday during her sick leave. (Facebook)Nathalie Blanchard, 29, has been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Que., for the last year and a half after she was diagnosed with major depression.

The Eastern Townships woman was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from Manulife, her insurance company, but the payments dried up this fall.

When Blanchard called Manulife, the company said that "I'm available to work, because of Facebook," she told CBC News this week.

She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on the popular social networking site, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday — evidence that she is no longer depressed, Manulife said.

Blanchard said she notified Manulife that she was taking a trip, and she's shocked the company would investigate her in such a manner and interpret her photos that way.

"In the moment I'm happy, but before and after I have the same problems" as before, she said.

Blanchard said that on her doctor's advice, she tried to have fun, including nights out at her local bar with friends and short getaways to sun destinations, as a way to forget her problems.

She also doesn’t understand how Manulife accessed her photos because her Facebook profile is locked and only people she approves can look at what she posts.

Insurer confirms it uses Facebook

Her lawyer Tom Lavin said Manulife's investigation was inappropriate.

"I don't think for judging a mental state that Facebook is a very good tool," he said, adding that he has requested another psychiatric evaluation for Blanchard.

"It's not as if somebody had a broken back and there was a picture of them carrying with a load of bricks," Lavin said. "My client was diagnosed with a major depression. And there were pictures of her on Facebook, in a party or having a good time. It could be that she was just trying to escape."

Manulife wouldn't comment on Blanchard's case, but in a written statement sent to CBC News, the insurer said: "We would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on websites such as Facebook." It confirmed that it uses the popular social networking site to investigate clients.

Insurance companies must weigh information found on such sites, said Claude Distasio, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association.

"We can't ignore it, wherever the source of the information is," she said. "We can't ignore it."

Blanchard estimated she’s lost thousands of dollars in benefits since Manulife changed her claim.

Wild Divorce Parties a Growing Trend

Wild Divorce Parties a Growing Trend
Celebrate a new beginning by getting a bit crazy.

Updated: Thursday, 19 Nov 2009, 10:50 PM PST
Published : Thursday, 19 Nov 2009, 10:50 PM PST

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Video Story Producer:
Martin Burns
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Reporter:
Mark Thompson

Posted by: Scott Coppersmith

Los Angeles - Half of all marriages end in divorce... and maybe the divorce party is the reason why!

Nothing helps end a bad marriage like a good and wild party with your friends.

We hooked up with some women curing their heartache with big doses of man medicine.

Angel:
"I'm divorced now, i can do that."

Mercy:
"You gain your heart back and the sexiness."

Dancer:
"They've been with Joe Schmoe. Finally, they've got someone they actually like in front of them. They go crazy."

Some say parties like these send a message to ex-husbands.

Angel:
"See what you missed out on?"

Divorce parties are becoming big business. There are books to help you plan them... sweet designer cakes with bitter themes... and even custom coffins for your wedding ring.

Mercy and Katherine invited us along as they took their newly-divorced friend, Anya, to The Highlands Hollywood ... home of the Hollywood Men , LA's hottest male revue.

Mercy:
"I wanted to get her out of what she was going through and show her a good time."

Smokin' hot firemen... sizzling old west cowboys... steamy bare-chested soldiers... and hot cops, in and out of uniform.

The kinds of guys that really get these women's horns up.

Mercy:
"It really made me feel good to show her what it's like to be single."

The boom in divorce parties has sparked a whole new industry.

Janet Morante LaFauci runs a party planning and decoration business called Party Over Here . She's been swamped with requests for decorations... for divorce parties!

Janet:
"I had to custom make them because there wasn't a lot of party supplies out there."

So she came up with divorce party sashes, divorce diva necklaces, and all kinds of party favors... and expanded her business to cater to ladies returning to the bachelorette pool at DivorcePartySupply.com .

The top seller? The "ex-husband voodoo doll."

Janet:
"Life is too short not to have fun and celebrate."

Home divorce parties are another new trend.

Angel had hers two days after her divorce was final. No sense in wasting time getting on with a new life, right?

For her and her friends, this is their fourth divorce party... and their fave dancers from West Coast Hunks say they get wilder every time.

Dancer:
"We're being bitten up. We're being scratched. I've got scars!"

Divorce parties may seem like a guilty pleasure, but the women we talked to had no regrets.

Anja:
"It's all about getting out there. New doors opening."

Angel:
"So much fun, i recommend it to everyone, it was amazing."

Study: Men Focus on Women's Breasts

Study: Men Focus on Women's Breasts

Updated: Sunday, 06 Sep 2009, 12:42 PM EDT
Published : Sunday, 06 Sep 2009, 12:29 PM EDT

By MIKE BRODY

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - Many women have complained that men look at their breasts instead of their eyes when they meet, and a new study seems to have proved them right.

Researchers from New Zealand’s University of Wellington found that just under half -- 47 percent -- of men first look at a woman's chest when they first meet, according to the Daily Mail .

Another third of men look at a woman's waist or hips as their "first fixations," and fewer than 20 percent look at the face.

Some believed that evolution could be behind the findings as women with larger chests and slimmer waists have higher levels of hormones and are more fertile, but the researchers said the reasons may be simpler than that.

"Men may be looking more often at the breasts because they are simply aesthetically pleasing, regardless of the size," they said.

The researchers also found that breasts are not only the first thing men look at, they also glance at them for longer than any other body part. And that may not be a bad thing for men.

A 2007 German study published in the New England Journal of Medicine stated that staring at women's breasts improved men's health. The study claimed that staring at breasts for 10 minutes a day was as healthy as going to the gym for 30 minutes daily and prolonged a man's life by five years.

How Much Skin Should Women Show?

How Much Skin Should Women Show?
Study says '40 percent'

Updated: Tuesday, 17 Nov 2009, 6:12 PM PST
Published : Tuesday, 17 Nov 2009, 4:55 PM PST

By LILY FU

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - Ladies, if you're looking to attract the right kind of attention from men, flash 40 percent of your skin.

How do you figure that? For the purposes of their study, British scientists defined each arm as 10 percent, each leg as 15 percent and the torso for 50 percent, according to the Daily Mail. The study involved observing females at a popular nightclub in Leeds, UK, and how often they were asked to dance by men. What the study revealed was that that women who showed 40 percent of their skin were approached by twice as many men as those who were more covered up.

An outfit that would qualify as showing off 40 percent would be a sleeveless top and a skirt that's just above the knees.

"Any more than 40 percent and the signal changes from 'allure' to one indicating general availability and future infidelity," said researcher Dr. Colin Hendrie of the University of Leeds. "Show some leg, show some arm, but not any more than that."

Those most popular were women who combined the 40-percent rule with tight clothing and sexy dancing.

Some mocked the findings of the research. "Clearly this is a ridiculous survey with about as much subtlety as one of Simon Cowell's putdowns," wrote Carola Long on the New Zealand Herald . "For a start, the observation that sexy dancing and tight clothing also help attract men is hardly revelatory. It's one nightclub in one city, and the way women dress and men's responses to them varies hugely between cultural tribes and postcodes, while the assumption that women are passive creatures waiting to be approached is highly patronising. But it's hardly an isolated nugget of research."

Added Daily Mail reader Frank LeMoyne , "Sending 'researchers' into nightclubs seems to be all the rage among (pseudo)scientists these days. What a load of rubbish. Here's the real deal: Every woman is different. And that didn't cost you anything,"