Wife Hanged Self Over ‘Tumor’; Man Awarded $200,000

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — A federal jury awarded $200,000 to a man whose wife hanged herself after reading an erroneous insurance report that said she had a brain tumor.

The jury ruled in favor of Robert Stafford, 85, of Grafton, Ill., and against a doctor and a medical clinic. Stafford’s wife Pauline, 79, died Jan. 14.

“I didn’t have any idea what they’d do,” Stafford said today. “But when you’re left alone at 85, you’re really alone.”

Pauline Stafford had surgery for lung cancer in September, 1984, and a brain scan taken at the time indicated she had no brain tumor.

But a claim form submitted to the General American Insurance Co. by Dr. Raymond Cohen and Neurological Medicine Inc. of St. Louis said she had a brain tumor.

The form was submitted to collect $129 from Medicare.

“When we went to file with our (supplemental) insurance, we saw that form they sent to the insurance company,” Stafford said. “That’s what did it. She accidentally saw that, and 36 hours later she hanged herself.”