Thursday, Dec. 18, 1997
HMO agrees to pay family of man who died while awaiting treatment
Associated Press
DALLAS -- An HMO has agreed to
pay $5.35 million to a family
who claimed that medical cost-cutting led to a man's death from
untreated
heart disease.
Lawyers for the family of Ronald Henderson alleged
that
a plan by Kaiser Permanente's North Texas HMO to cut hospital expenses
by 45 percent, plus an HMO official's speech that stressed putting
``the
bottom line'' first, led to the 56-year-old man's death.
The HMO agreed to the settlement Tuesday after a
test
jury in a novel nonbinding minitrial said it would have awarded the
family
more than 10 times that amount if the case had gone to an actual trial.
The experimental two-day procedure in District
Judge John
M. Marshall's court is aimed at encouraging out-of-court settlements.
The family said Kaiser doctors discharged
Henderson from
a hospital without referring him to a cardiologist. They also presented
evidence that Kaiser's medical-advice nurses gave him bad instructions
by telephone.
Family lawyer Randall Moore said the case was
brought
``to take note of our belief that too many people are dying in their
system.''
Kaiser denied wrongdoing and argued that Henderson
was
an overweight smoker who did not obey doctors' orders. Its lawyers
denied
that cost-cutting had anything to do with the Irving man's death and
accused
the family's lawyers of trying to divert attention from specific
medical
issues.
Kaiser spokesman David O'Grady said the settlement
was
not an admission of wrongdoing, but ``enables us to return our focus to
providing our members quality health care -- to move from the courtroom
back to the exam room.''
Kaiser expressed displeasure with the minitrial
process,
saying the ``verdict was not a real verdict, the damages are not real
damages,
this was not a real trial.''