Bloom’s widow sues for insurance

Melanie Bloom, whose husband, David, died while covering the Iraq war for NBC News, has sued MetLife Inc. and Cigna Corp. for refusing to honor war-zone life insurance policies the broadcaster purchased before he went overseas.

Bloom filed suit Thursday in federal court in New York against MetLife and Cigna to force them to pay. She says MetLife won’t honor a $1-million policy and Cigna a $1.2-million policy because they concluded that Bloom died of natural causes, not war-related ones.

“Bloom was under tremendous stress and in extremely difficult and confining conditions,” Melanie Bloom’s lawyer, David Jaroslawicz, said in court papers. “When one is exposed to conditions in a battle zone, the military autopsy report lists the death as ‘natural’ when the decedent was not blown apart by a bullet or a bomb.”

Bloom, who was survived by his wife and three daughters, died April 6, 2003, of a pulmonary embolism. He was 39.

MetLife spokesman John Calagna said the New York-based company had paid all valid coverage claims and would “vigorously defend this lawsuit.” Michael Frandsen, a spokesman for Philadelphia-based Cigna, said the company doesn’t comment on claims issues.