Cheney v. Bell National Life Insurance

GILBERT, Chief Judge. Twenty-four year old Anthony C. Cheney died as a result of receiving a blood transfusion. Unfortunately, the blood contained the dreaded Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome virus (AIDS). 1 His surviving spouse, Theresa M. Cheney, made claim under an accidental death insurance policy issued by Bell National Life Insurance Company (“Bell”). Bell refused payment on the ground that Mr. ¹⁶⁵ Cheney’s demise was not occasioned by accidental means.

Rather, Bell asserted that Mr. Cheney’s death, even if an accident, resulted from a cause that was specifically excluded from policy coverage. Patently dissatisfied with that explanation, Mrs. Cheney filed suit in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City against Bell, which answered and, after obtaining Mrs. Cheney’s response to interrogatories, moved for summary judgment. Judge Elsbeth L. Bothe granted Bell’s motion and entered judgment in its favor. Obviously because of what she views as a suboptimal result, Mrs. Cheney has appealed.

The Facts Mr. Cheney was a hemophiliac and from July 1980 until the time of his death was under the care of the Hemotology Clinic at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore City. Each month Mr. Cheney “received transfusions of several vials of factor 8 concentrate, which is a blood product replacement.” Also in 1980 the Cheneys purchased a home. At that time they acquired a mortgage from Standard Federal Savings and Loan Association and a group accident policy from Bell. The policy provided that in the event of the accidental death of either Anthony or Theresa Cheney, Bell would pay the then “outstanding balance” of the mortgage.

On December 11, 1982, Mr. Cheney was admitted to St. Agnes Hospital because of shortness of breath. His condition worsened progressively, and he expired on December 23, 1982. Death was attributed to pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, an infection of the lungs. The infection “developed as a result of Mr. Cheney’s contraction of ...

(AIDS)” which in turn developed from “the medical treatment of his hemophilia with factor 8 concentrate.” In short, the transfusions necessitated by the hemophilia led to Mr. Cheney’s contracting AIDS. 2 ¹⁶⁶ The record reveals that Dr. Emile R. Mohler Jr., Chief, Section of Hemotology, St. Agnes Hospital, wrote to appellant’s counsel in January 1985: “At the time [of the transfusion of Mr. Cheney] it was not possible ... to test or examine blood and blood products such as blood factor concentrate to determine the absence of AIDS causative factor____” Bell’s policy, as issued to the Cheneys, provided in pertinent part: “The policy does not apply to any loss, fatal or non-fatal, caused by or resulting from: (2) sickness or disease or medical or surgical treatment therefore except pyogenic infection which shall occur through an accidental cut or wound____” The Issue Despite the manner in which Mrs. Cheney phrases the issue before us, the overriding question is: Was there a genuine dispute of a material fact so as to preclude entry of summary judgment in favor of Bell? The Law Md. Rule 2-501 permits a judge of a circuit court to direct the entry of judgment “in favor of or against” a movant “if the pleadings, ... answers to interrogatories, admissions, and affidavits show that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and that the party in whose favor judgment is entered is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” The purpose of Rule 2-501 is to prevent the unnecessary expenditure of time and money in preparing for trial when there is no genuine dispute of material facts, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. ¹⁶⁷ Whitcomb v. Horman, 244 Md. 431 , 224 A.2d 120 (1966); Robertson v. Shell Oil Co., 34 Md.App. 399 , 367 A.2d 962 (1977). With the rule and its purpose in mind, we examine the pleadings, answers to interrogatories, and affidavits in the instant case. It is beyond question that Mr. Cheney died, at least indirectly, as a result of his contracting AIDS. 3 He contracted AIDS from blood transfusions.

The transfusions were administered to combat Mr. Cheney’s hemophilia. The transfusions were prescribed medical treatment for hemophilia. Therefore, the treatment for hemophilia led to the disease that ultimately caused Mr. Cheney’s death. Consequently, Mr. Cheney’s tragic demise was not within the ambit of the policy.

It was, instead, the result of a cause that was specifically excluded from the policy. Although Mrs. Cheney recognizes the cause of death, she argues that the death was “accidental” (the “accident” being the drawing of blood from a donor who had AIDS and infusing it into Mr. Cheney). Mrs. Cheney’s argument falls short in that the receiving of the blood from an infected donor was not an accident. It was purposely drawn from the donor and infused into the deceased.

No test was then available to the hospital to determine whether evidence of AIDS was present in