The Case of the Carefree Coronary

It's a good episode worth watching, but as others here have adequately covered the plot elements, I will not repeat that. I am just writing to note that this episode makes me sad. A little over halfway through the episode, Paul Drake keels over apparently suffering from a heart attack. It makes me sad every time I see that scene to realize that William Hopper would lose his life to a stroke at the relatively young of 55 just 4 and 1/2 years after this episode aired. RIP.

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.

This show is somewhat different from a normal episode in that no formal charges are issued. The show never goes to an official courtroom but mainly plays out in a coroner's inquest. But there is this cloud hanging in the air that what ever happens in the inquest could lead to some serious charges. And not for just anyone but for Perry Mason.

Perry is looking into a situation for Safeline Insurance Company. Seems they are having a large number of clients that have disabling heart conditions. So many that it may bankrupt the company. So Perry does some investigation, with help from Paul Drake, into the matter.

Thinking there is something strange, Perry forces one of the disabled client to come for new check-up. When the person arrives he falls over dead from a heart-attack. His wife hires a lawyer claiming Perry was the cause of the death and is ready with legal action against the insurance company and Perry Mason.

But through Paul Drake, Perry gets information concerning the heart conditions but not until it leads Paul to a near death experience. In fact, in one scene Della is crying and tells Perry that Paul is dying which at the time is believed to be another one of those heart-attacks.

As stated this was a good show. Very interesting activities going on during the entire show. However, how we got to the climax of the show is still under investigation. Someone was presented with a piece of paper with their signature and somehow Perry is saved from losing his law license. Why that writing was so important did not seem to play well. Just to unbelievable. However I did enjoy watching this episode.

Note- during the show Paul Drake goes out and films some people claiming to be disabled. In one filming session he is in a doubled opened window in broad daylight. Yet somehow was not spotted with a movie camera and recording device.

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.