Kenneth Dale Lows heart condition was bad enough his doctor decided he needed a pacemaker to correct it. Problem was, according to a lawsuit, that Lows insurance company, Indianapolis-based Anthem, disagreed with his doctors that a pacemaker was the right treatment. The doctors went back and forth with Anthem for nearly five months before the insurer agreed to pay for it. But eight days after approval was granted and three days before the planned surgery Low died. Now his widow, Lisa Low, has taken what experts say is a relatively unusual step: suing the insurance company for wrongful death with a claim that Anthems delays cost Low his life.
“All I can do is tell you what the doctor said,” said Patrick “Woody” Harrison, the attorney representing Lisa Low, “that he would still be alive today if they had not been refused coverage.”