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Settlement reached over disabled son

Bob Mahlburg, Star-Telegram A Glen Rose couple could be paid as much as $82.6 million under a court settlement with an Irving-based insurance company that refused to pay for a transplant operation, leaving their 10-month-old baby permanently disabled.

Sanus Texas Health Care has reached an agreement with Dallas firefighter John Hedrick and his wife, Jaye, to establish a trust fund for their son, John Bradley Hedrick, who doctors say will have to be fed through a tube for the rest of his life.

A Somervell County jury voted last month to award $13.75 million to the Hedricks after finding that Sanus officials acted in "conscious indifference" to the infant's health by refusing to pay for a bone marrow transplant. The jury said they hoped the costs would serve "as punishment and a warning and example to others."

The plaintiffs predicted that the judge would exercise his prerogative to increase the jury award. But before state District Judge C.C. Cooke entered a final judgment in the case, Sanus officials agreed to a settlement in which the company will pay approximately $14 million to establish a permanent annuity for the child.

Under terms of the agreement, the family will get $7.3 million up front, and monthly payments totaling at least $20.8 million, including interest, over the next 40 years, said Don Weeks, a Fort Worth annuities specialist appointed by the court. They could be paid up to $82.6 million if all three of the Hedricks live average lifespans, he said yesterday.

In October, the child, now 17 months old, was found to have Hurler's syndrome, a rare and potentially fatal disease that prevents the body from breaking down protein and that typically leads to mental retardation and a curved spine, said the Hedricks' attorney, Rickey Brantley of Fort Worth.

Sanus attorney Raymond La Driere maintained that the insurance policy did not cover the operation.

The Hedricks eventually used other city of Dallas insurance to have the surgery performed, but Brantley said the delay caused permanent damage to the infant, including a hunched spine and a swelling of the throat that prevents normal breathing and eating.

Attorneys on both sides agreed that the settlement would avoid a lengthy, expensive appeals battle that could have lasted years.

"This family has been through a lot, and they needed some finality," said Brantley's partner, John Jose.

Jaye Hedrick quit her job as a Cleburne grade school teacher to care for their sick child. She said Dallas firefighters and friends in Glen Rose and Cleburne raised money to help them.

"We sold our furniture and a lot of things to get by," she said. "But we'd have sold our souls to save our child."

Attorneys for both sides agreed that the amount of money that could be awarded was limited by a Texas law that restricts damages against insurance companies to no more than the firm's net assets.

However, attorneys disagreed over the effect that a successful appeal might have had on Sanus.

Sanus Texas Health Plan also insures Fort Worth city employees and many other large Tarrant County employers.

"The case was settled basically to keep the insurance company from going into receivership," Jose said.

But La Driere disagreed, saying that the firm is financially solid and that a significant part of the settlement will be paid by Sanus' own insurance company.

"Sanus Texas was not in any danger," La Driere said. "Sanus felt like the verdict was excessive and improper and we were confident we would win on appeal. But we elected to settle to avoid the expense and the risk."

Copyright 1991, 1994 STAR-TELEGRAM INC.
Record Number: FWST23109