A recently filed Iowa medical malpractice lawsuit alleges that the defendant hospital’s medical staff negligently delayed diagnosing the decedent’s stroke, thereby unnecessarily delaying treatment and leading to his death nine days later.
The decedent was brought by by ambulance to the hospital ER. The paramedics reported that the decedent had elevated blood pressure. A RN in the ER triaged the decedent but allegedly did not screen for a stroke and failed to perform a focused neurological examination. Six minutes later, a nurse practitioner allegedly ordered lab tests but did not examine the decedent while he was in the emergency room.
Almost seven hours after the decedent’s arrival at the ER, a nurse allegedly performed the first neurological examination and found that he was “experiencing stroke-like symptoms, specifically left-sided weakness and slurred speech.” The decedent died nine days later.
The Iowa medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit reportedly alleges that the defendant hospital, Central Iowa Hospital Corp. (“CIHC”), which does business as UnityPoint Health-Des Moines Iowa Methodist Medical Center, has been cited for a series of violations related to the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act including:
February 2017 — CIHC was cited after an EMTALA investigation resulted in state inspectors concluding it was not operating in compliance with federal regulations. This violation was deemed significant enough that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that hospital patients were in immediate jeopardy.
September 2022 — CIHC was cited again after an EMTALA investigation
August of 2023 – The condition of Amanda Kuhlman, 45, allegedly deteriorated in the IMMC emergency department’s waiting room while suffering from a pulmonary embolism that precipitated cardiovascular collapse and her death. “She was not examined by a medical provider for nearly 10 hours, and only after she went into cardiac arrest in the IMMC emergency department waiting area,” the lawsuit alleges.
November 2023 — CIHC was cited again after an EMTALA investigation.
June 2024 — CIHC was cited for several violations after another EMTALA investigation, with some of those violations tied to “the failure to care for Stephen Liker,” the lawsuit claims.
The decedent’s lawsuit claims: “Central Iowa Hospital Corp. has engaged in a persistent pattern of conduct of failing to provide emergency medical care within the standard of care due to extensive delays for emergency medical care, poor staffing practices, and inappropriate triage of seriously ill patients in its Des Moines area emergency departments, and more specifically, in the IMMC emergency department. For years, CIHC has been on notice of their deficient and unsafe staffing practices, with CIHC nurses complaining about said practices, while CIHC refuses to increase staffing to provide care to patients within the standard of care.”
If you or a loved one may have been harmed as a result of medical negligence in a hospital 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 hospital medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a hospital medical medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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