Monday, September 27, 1999
Health insurer liable in death
Widower wins $51.5 million
The Associated Press
NEWARK, Ohio — A fight between a widower and the insurance company that refused to pay for a cancer treatment for his wife has led to a record $51.5 million judgment against Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Cincinnati, the Columbus Dispatch reported on Sunday.
In a victory for supporters of patients' rights, Licking County Common Pleas Judge Gregory Frost handed down the verdict late Friday in favor of Robert Dardinger, 51, of Johnstown.
Mr. Dardinger sued Anthem in March 1998, saying the insurer refused to pay for his wife's cancer treatment.
“Bob said that Esther was about responsibility and doing the right thing,” said Mr. Dardinger's attorney, Elizabeth Burkett. “If he didn't bring this suit, then Anthem would win.
“In the end, what was good was that the jury so believed him. And they so didn't believe Anthem.”
Ms. Burkett told the Dispatch that it is likely the largest verdict in Ohio and one of the largest in the nation to be awarded against a health-insurance carrier in a single-plaintiff case.
An attorney for Anthem, which is expected to appeal the decision, refused to comment Saturday.
Mrs. Dardinger was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 1995 and doctors discovered a brain tumor in October 1996.
Dr. Herbert Newton, a cancer spe cialist at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital, recommended a direct treatment called intra-arterial chemotherapy, which puts chemicals directly into the brain to shrink tumors.
Anthem told Mrs. Dardinger in June 1997 that her first two treatments, which she responded to well, were certified erroneously.
Anthem said no more would be approved because the company deemed the treatment experimental, Ms. Burkett said.
Dr. Newton and other doctors — including an Oregon physician who has used the method for 20 years — disagreed with Anthem.
Mrs. Dardinger chose to appeal and use another treatment in the meantime, instead of putting her family in debt from the $10,000 intra-arterial treatments.
She died in October from two brain tumors.
Challenges to health insurer decisions in Ohio are growing and have resulted in the passage of a state bill dubbed the Patient Protection Plan of 1999. However, the bill does not give patients the right to sue their insurers.
“(The plan) just adds one more layer of bureaucracy, but it still doesn't make the insurance company responsible,” Mr. Dardinger said. “The worst that can happen to them is they go through the process and get overturned.”
Mr. Dardinger said he hopes the verdict will do more for patients' rights. “(The award) does send a message, not just to Anthem. That was the bottom line for me. I want insurance companies to have an incentive to change.”
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