Slammed health plan appeals

Aetna U.S. Healthcare of California will appeal a San Bernardino jury’s award of the largest-ever punitive damages against a managed care organization. The jury ordered Aetna to pay the widow of a cancer patient $116 million on top of the $4.5 million it awarded her for medical damages and loss of companionship and support (Goodrich v. Aetna U.S. Healthcare of California Inc., Calif. Super. Ct., No. RCV020499, 1/20/99). The jury found the health plan had acted with fraud, malice, and oppression against the plaintiffs, and violated the terms of its contract with the patient by refusing to cover experimental treatment he needed to battle a rare form of stomach cancer.