ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 12, 1996 TAG: 9612120022
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
A former University of Virginia surgeon admitted in court Tuesday that he changed a health record to get an insurance company to pay for a possibly life-saving liver transplant.
William C. Stevenson is being tried on a charge of forgery and passing a forged document by changing a cardiac stress test for a critically ill patient in January.
An Albemarle County jury will decide whether Stevenson's deception is a felony or a well-intentioned misunderstanding.
Stevenson said it was necessary to change the date on the stress test Leonard M. Kraditor, 60, took in April 1994 to secure funding from Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield and return Kraditor to a waiting list for a donor liver.
Stevenson, 41, said he changed the date of the test to October 1995 in January.
``I didn't feel like I did anything wrong,'' Stevenson testified. It was a matter of ``either get him on the list or let him die.''
Commonwealth's Attorney James Camblos III argued that Stevenson's motive for changing the document was far less noble.
Trigon refused to pay for the procedure unless Kraditor underwent a stress test on his heart to ensure it was strong enough to withstand the trauma of transplant surgery.
Camblos suggested that when Trigon demanded a copy of the stress test Stevenson had alluded to in an earlier letter to Trigon, Stevenson had to invent one to avoid trouble with his bosses. University officials discovered the altered document and withdrew their request that Trigon pay for the Jan. 21 operation on Kraditor.
Kraditor, of Virginia Beach, died Feb. 2 when his body rejected his transplanted liver. Heart problems were not involved.
Stevenson acknowledged he changed the date of the stress test using his home computer and a scanner. He admitted Tuesday his actions were a mistake.
He said he changed the date to coincide with the time when he thought a Virginia Beach doctor had actually done some type of heart evaluation for Kraditor.
But Stevenson denied sending the bogus document to Trigon. Someone else must have taken it from his office desk and sent it along, he testified.
Virginia fired Stevenson, who had been one of its highest-paid doctors. He earned $235,000 in his last year.
``Dr. Stevenson acted in the best medical interest of his patient,'' said Robert Cabell Jr., one of his three attorneys. ``What he did was without criminal intent.''
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB