Medical Malpractice Case of the Month
January 2002

$120M Verdict Against HMO Upheld. A California judge has upheld the award of $4.5 million in compensatory damages and $116 million in punitive against an HMO that was found liable for delaying and denying potentially life-saving treatments to a cancer patient. Goodrich v. Aetna U.S. Healthcare of California, No. RCV020499 (Calif. Super. Ct. San Bernardino Cty. Jan. 20) (see Medical Malpractice Law & Strategy, February 1999). In allowing the award to stand, Judge Christopher J. Warner held that although it was high, it was not excessive. Judge Warner also granted the plaintiff's post-trial motion to include Aetna Services Inc., the Connecticut-based parent of the HMO, as a judgment debtor, but ruled against adding another, Aetna U.S. Healthcare. Initially, Aetna Services had been dismissed as a defendant because the plaintiff had not lodged a direct cause of action against the company. At trial, though, Aetna employees testified that Aetna Services was actively involved in handling the decedent's treatment plan and in operating Aetna U.S. Healthcare of California. The Pennsylvania-based Aetna U.S. Healthcare parent corporation, however, had never been named as a defendant and thus was not named as a judgment debtor in this case. ~

Previous Page | Next Page

Return to the Perry Hookman, M.D., P.A. Home Page