A heart-wrenching case involving a health care service plan's alleged negligence has taken a significant turn. The plaintiff, Shooshanik Charkhchian, filed a complaint against Blue Cross of California in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County on July 31, 2024. The lawsuit claims that Blue Cross's failure to provide necessary transportation for life-sustaining hemodialysis treatments led to the death of Charkhchian's daughter.
According to the court documents, Charkhchian’s daughter suffered from renal disease and required hemodialysis treatments three times a week. Blue Cross had agreed to provide non-emergency transportation for these treatments. However, when Charkhchian requested authorization for transportation in November 2015, she was initially assured that it was granted. But when she contacted LogistiCare Solutions, LLC (LogistiCare), the company contracted by Blue Cross to provide transportation, she was informed that no authorization was on file. Despite multiple calls to Blue Cross confirming authorization, the necessary transportation was never provided. Tragically, on November 13, 2015, Charkhchian’s daughter passed away due to the lack of treatment.
The third amended complaint accused Blue Cross of failing to ensure proper authorization for the decedent’s transportation and willfully disregarding her health and well-being. In her wrongful death claim, Charkhchian argued that this failure directly caused her daughter's death. She also brought forth a negligence claim stating that Blue Cross had a duty of care to act reasonably in discharging its obligations but failed to do so.
Charkhchian sought damages for non-economic losses such as emotional distress and loss of companionship, as well as funeral expenses. However, the trial court sustained Blue Cross's demurrer regarding the wrongful death cause of action but overruled it concerning negligence. Later, Blue Cross filed a motion for summary judgment or summary adjudication on March 11, 2021. They argued there were no triable issues regarding their breach of duty or proximate cause related to negligence since they had authorized the transportation.
In response to this motion, Judge Richard E. Rico found that while there was sufficient evidence suggesting a breach of duty by Blue Cross regarding authorization confusion with LogistiCare up until November 2015, plaintiff could not recover damages for emotional distress or funeral expenses under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.34 which limits recoverable damages in such cases.
Ultimately, while the court affirmed its ruling granting summary adjudication in favor of Blue Cross concerning negligence damages due to lack of legally cognizable damage under this cause of action, it reversed its decision sustaining the demurrer on wrongful death claims recognizing sufficient allegations were made regarding duty breach and proximate cause leading up to decedent’s death.
Representing Charkhchian is Armen M. Tashjian from Law Offices of Armen M. Tashjian while Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP attorneys Chad R. Fuller and Tina Safi Felahi among others represent Blue Cross California before Judges Richard E Rico and Timothy Patrick Dillon under Case ID BC663223.