Deadly Decision
December 21st, 2002 | by Tony Steidler-Dennison |The Ohio Supreme Court issued a $32.5 million dollar judgment against Anthem Insurance Friday. Anthem denied payment for brain cancer treatments for an Ohio woman, resulting in her death.
Anthem paid for the first three of a scheduled 12 treatments earlier in 1997 of a new technique that involved injecting chemotherapy drugs directly into Esther Dardinger’s brain. Even though her doctor said the treatment was working, insurance officials said the payments never should have been authorized and denied future payments.
Fearful that paying the estimated $100,000 would ruin them financially, the Dardingers chose to delay treatments while they appealed. The notice that Anthem had denied the appeal arrived in the Dardingers’ mail on Nov. 11, 1997 — the day after her funeral.
Anthem on Saturday called Dardinger’s death a tragedy, but stood by its treatment decision.
We’ve had many, many poor experiences with insurance companies. At least two that we’ve dealt with have, as a matter of course, denied payment on every single claim. They seem to assume that many people simply won’t appeal a denial, thus reducing the monies paid out. We’ve even had claims denied for pre-approved services.
Much of the Anthem award will be paid into a cancer research fund. The justices noted that the punitive element of the damages shouldn’t be intended to make the plaintiffs rich, but rather to deter future bad conduct on the part of Anthem.
Then again, how can you really put a price on a life lost due to an appallingly irresponsible business decision?
4 Responses to “Deadly Decision”
By Matty G on Dec 21, 2002 | Reply
Wow. It’s good to hear that My family isn’t the only ones being jerked around by insurance companies. My dad was cut off from disability payments after *they* deemed him well enough to go back to work. Screw the doctors, they just have a PhD; insurance companies are the ones that know all, the ones with the business diplomas out of cracker jack boxes.
By Neil Turner on Dec 23, 2002 | Reply
Makes me proud to be a Brit, where we pay for a state-run healthcare system through higher taxes. No need for health insurance (although private insurance is still available for those wanting a slightly higher standard of care).
Still, I agree with you. Why should a business have to hold your life to ransom?
By Robert D. on Dec 27, 2002 | Reply
While the story got a couple of things wrong, most of it is right. It is almost impossible to believe how the insurance system is set up to max profits at the expense of the paient and their family. I don’t think state run med. is good in the long run, but all parties need to look at the current system and make it work for everyone.
By Miami Beach on Mar 21, 2003 | Reply
I hope I’m not chaing the subject here, but just so you know: You’re not in good hands with ALLSTATE. I had a claim on a wreck with my Volvo and they tried to deny lots of stuff was their fault after the wreck. I still had coverage to 100k miles(on a 88k mile car) and the other insurance company said it was from the wreck. What I had were two insurance companies pointing fingers at each other.
Neither one would pay. I ended up having to pay for the damage!