Bounthath Phetsomphou was 75-years-old when she had surgery on January 15, 2019 to remove a cancerous lesion in her cheek at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Immediately after the successful surgery, she was placed in the Intensive Care Unit (“ICU”). Shortly afterwards, she was transferred to an acute care unit in the hospital.
Early in the morning on January 18, 2019, she was found unresponsive on the floor by her bed where she suffered cardiac arrest due to a blockage in her throat that prevented her from breathing for 15 to 20 minutes, according to the Iowa medical malpractice lawsuit. She suffered hypoxia due to oxygen not getting to her brain, and she suffered brain damage as a result. She died two days later.
The Iowa medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit filed by Phetsomphou’s daughter that named Iowa as the defendant and was filed in 2022 alleged that it was a breach of the standard of care to have transferred her from the ICU to the unmonitored acute care unit at the time the transfer took place.
The Iowa Board of Appeals contended that UI Health Care had experts prepared to testify that the hospital had acted within the standard of care. The settlement agreement between the parties was approved by the court on March 13, 2025, which was fifteen days before the trial was scheduled to begin.
UI Health Care Malpractice Claims
The University of Iowa Health Care is an agency of the State of Iowa, which self insures the tort liability of the State and its employees under the provisions of the State Tort Claims Act, Chapter 669, Code of Iowa. Resident and Fellow Physicians at the University of Iowa Health Care are State employees for the purposes of the State Tort Claims Act. The coverage provided to Resident and Fellow Physicians by the State Tort Claims Act is occurrence coverage.
House staff physicians and dentists, under contract as house staff members with the UI Health Care, are covered by Iowa’s State Tort Claims Act when they are providing services within the scope of their training during assigned rotations at the University of Iowa Health Care and assigned rotations elsewhere in Iowa. If a claim is made against a house staff member arising out of an act or omission within the scope of the residency or fellowship training, the Attorney General’s Office will defend the house staff member and the state will pay any settlement or judgment awarded. The State Tort Claims Act provides the house staff member with liability protection, without dollar limits, for clinical services rendered in Iowa within the scope of the training program. The State Tort Claims Act is the equivalent of an occurrence malpractice policy, and no tail coverage is required.
Should the house staff member be engaged in any moonlighting activity outside the scope of the training program, that house staff member is personally responsible for assuring that he/she has adequate liability coverage and for obtaining and maintaining that coverage.
If the house staff member engages in an elective rotation outside the State of Iowa, liability protection is also not provided and the house staff member is responsible for obtaining his/her own short-term liability coverage.
If you or a loved one may have been harmed as a result of medical negligence in Iowa or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find an Iowa medical malpractice lawyer or a medical malpractice lawyer in your state who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
Click on the “Contact Us Now” tab to the right, visit our website, or call us toll-free in the United States at 800-295-3959 to find medical malpractice attorneys in your state who may assist you.
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