The Case of the Carefree Coronary

This was an outstanding Perry Mason episode and even more unusual in that it comes toward the tail end of the series run. After nine years usually the writers have run out of ideas.

Raymond Burr is retained by an insurance company to investigate a rash of claims for disability. All heart attacks, the people don't die they just keep collecting. William Hopper goes undercover as a working stiff to find out just how this is happening with a construction outfit for which Safeline Insurance is the carrier.

They get the goods on one of the 'disabled', Hal Baylor who is a former boxer and out doing a workout that no cardiac patient should be undertaking. But when he collapses in a doctor's office with Raymond Burr right there, it's Perry Mason who is in a potential jackpot.

This episode has an unusually good cast and standing out is Robert Emhardt who is a bottom feeding shyster and the polar opposite of what Perry Mason is in the legal profession.

The murderer of Baylor and the perpetrator of the frauds also poisons William Hopper and at the Coroner's Inquest where the drama is played out as opposed to an actual trial, he gives himself away rather stupidly in my opinion. A very simple error that Burr catches does the whole scheme in.

This one is one of the Mason best.

This was very good and different. I know it would be a real spoiler, but I dozed off and missed the last 5 minutes or so and don't know who did what??

Instead of Mason for the defense, here Perry is hired by an insurance company to conduct an investigation or audit of claims. Hamilton Burger appears but only as an observer as Mason tries to unravel the situation and disentangle himself from misconduct allegations. Paul Drake, as usual, plays a major role. The story line is unusual but gripping with excellent performances that match the writing.

People are having coronaries, surviving them, but ultimately being disabled by them at rates much higher than general statistics indicate. Also, all of these people have disability insurance from the same small insurance company, and that small insurance company is going broke from all of the claims. For some reason the company calls Perry Mason, an attorney not an investigator, to deal with it. It is so odd that even some of the executives that run the company second guess the decision to bring in Mason.

Of course Mason farms out the investigative work to Paul Drake, who stakes out all of the disability policy recipients to see if they are faking, and he can't catch them at it except for one claimant who is seen jumping rope and exercising with vigor. So this one man is called in for a follow up physical and dies, seemingly from a second coronary, entering the doctor's office for his follow up exam. The family blames the stress Mason's accusation has put him under and sues the insurance company and Perry Mason. What goes on here? Watch and find out.

This episode gives a much bigger role to Paul Drake than is normal and shows the comradery between the characters. And strangely enough, when Hamilton Burger is asked if he will be indicting Perry over the death of the man who had the coronary in the doctor's office, he shows some moderation, not licking his chops at the idea of putting Perry, his longtime nemesis, behind bars.

This was a unique episode as it was delving into the health/ insurance business and a practicing fraudulent medical professional. I liked the episode because it allows series regulars-Paul and Della to have key roles and not just be in the background supporting Perry. Being a Perry/Della fan, I loved their embrace (the only time in the series),even though it was for a sad reason. I still think Della was not used to her full capacity throughout the series-Raymond and Barbara had such great chemistry when they worked together.