Hospital to Appeal Award to Woman Denied Visits to Dying Man

A $30,000 judgment in favor of a woman who said she was denied visiting rights to her dying husband will be appealed.

Gloria Barron, who encountered two other women also claiming to be the wives of Thomas Barron while he was near death, deserved the damages for the emotional distress she suffered, Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert C. Todd had decided.

But Anaheim Memorial Hospital will appeal that verdict, saying Todd’s decision was not supported by the evidence, according to hospital lawyer Steven Randall Odell.

Son Asked to Sort Out Wives

The hospital turned to Barron’s eldest son, David, to sort out the conflicting demands for visits to Barron, who was in intensive care. Gloria Barron said that she was excluded and that the hospital turned the body over David, rather than her, after Barron died on July 24, 1984.

Gloria Barron participated in a marriage ceremony with Thomas Barron in Las Vegas in 1981. But at the time, his divorce from his first wife, Carol, was not final.

Another woman, Thomas Barron’s partner in an auto repossession business, also appeared at the hospital claiming to be his common-law wife.

Todd ruled that the hospital, faced with the bizarre conflicting claims, should have filed a lawsuit and asked a judge to sort out the family feud.

Neither Gloria Barron nor her lawyer, Edirissa M. O. Faal, could be reached for comment.

Odell said he felt that the hospital won the case four times. Two settlement judges found that there was no liability, as did an arbitrator, and finally Todd after a short trial.

But Todd had second thoughts about the rights of Gloria, who was not Thomas Barron’s legal spouse, but thought she was. He ordered more evidence and ruled last week.

Asked if the incident has had an effect on hospital visiting policy, Odell responded: “I guess the next time three women claiming to be wives walk into the emergency room, the hospital might be a little more careful.”