When a Disability Denial Became the Loss of Everything

My name is Dr. Sharisse Stephenson. I am a neurologist, and I used to work at Bon Secours Mercy Health in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

One day, my career changed forever.

I had a terrifying experience in clinic. I was cornered by a large, aggressive male patient, and afterward I developed PTSD. I did what physicians are told to do — I asked for help. I asked for accommodations so I could continue working in a safe clinical environment and keep caring for my patients.

Instead, Sun Life Insurance — acting as a third-party administrator for Bon Secours — denied those accommodations and placed me on ADA leave.

I assumed that meant disability benefits would follow.

I was wrong.

When Denial Turns Into a Downward Spiral

What followed wasn’t support — it was a battle.

Phone calls.

Emails.

Regulatory complaints.

Legal filings.

Eventually, it became a federal ERISA lawsuit just to secure benefits that should have been routine.

What I never expected was that a disability insurance denial wouldn’t just impact my paycheck — it would unravel my entire life.

Sun Life refused to pay benefits for the full period of my leave. I had to hire attorneys and pursue legal action just to receive payments through the end of my intensive outpatient treatment. While I was trying to heal from PTSD, I was also fighting a corporation just to survive.

Starve or Survive

I wasn’t allowed to return to my job.

I wasn’t receiving consistent benefits.

So I faced an impossible choice:

Starve — or work.

I chose survival.

I picked up clinical work elsewhere, even though my contract created risks. And that decision — made out of necessity — became the justification to fire me.

Since then, the fallout has been devastating:

• Termination from my position

• Enforcement of a non-compete limiting where I can practice

• Lost professional opportunities

• Loss of my community in Portsmouth

• Even the loss of personal spaces that once felt like home

All of it began with a disability insurance denial.

What People Don’t See

When executives make decisions about claims, they see numbers.

What they don’t see is what those decisions destroy:

Careers.

Communities.

Identity.

I didn’t just lose a job.

I lost a future I had been building — a neurology program, a patient base, a life rooted in a place I believed in.

And all of it started because an insurer chose delay and denial over support.

Why I’m Speaking Now

This story isn’t just about me.

It’s about every clinician who asks for help after trauma and finds themselves pushed out instead.

It’s about what happens when disability systems become adversarial instead of protective.

And it’s about the very real human cost behind corporate decisions.

I survived.

But some people don’t.

Call to Action

If you are a healthcare worker navigating retaliation, disability denial, or moral injury — you are not alone.

👉 Share your story.

👉 Support advocacy for fair disability practices.

👉 Explore resources at Phoenix Advocacy Network to connect, learn, and speak out.

Because silence protects systems.

But stories protect people.