LOS ANGELES (CN) - A class-action says that Wellpoint and Blue Cross of California "systematically deny medically necessary chemotherapy treatments for cancer victims." The Superior Court complaint says the defendants do this "routinely ... on invalid and unjustified and unjustifiable grounds for the sole purpose of saving money and, ultimately, causing the premature death of members, thus relieving defendants of the continuing financial obligation to provide care and treatment to desperately ill people."
Named plaintiff Ron Smalstig, a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, claims Wellpoint denied necessary treatment to his late wife, Cathy. She died in January 2007, at age 50, six months after Wellpoint refused to allow her to receive the drug Xeloda to treat her pancreatic cancer.
He is represented by Arkin & Glovsky of Pasadena.
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