Iowa Code Section 147.140 (2022)
Iowa Code section 147.140(1)(a) provides: “In any action for personal injury or wrongful death against a health care provider based upon the alleged negligence in the practice of that profession or occupation or in patient care, which includes a cause of action for which expert testimony is necessary to establish a prima facie case, the plaintiff shall, prior to the commencement of discovery in the case and within sixty days of the defendant’s answer, serve upon the defendant a certificate of merit affidavit signed by an expert witness with respect to the issue of standard of care and an alleged breach of the standard of care. The expert witness must meet the qualifying standards of section 147.139.”
Background Facts
Dr. Amareshwar Chiruvella performed abdominal surgery on Shirley Gomez at the Mercy Medical Center in Clinton on September 4, 2020. Dr. Chiruvella provided follow-up care in the weeks after her surgery. On September 16, Gomez suffered a fatal pulmonary embolism. On August 26, 2022, her estate and her three daughters filed an Iowa medical malpractice wrongful death civil action against Mercy and Dr. Chiruvella alleging negligence in the surgical and post-surgical care of Gomez. The plaintiffs timely served separate certificates of merit against each defendant signed by Dr. Leo A. Gordon, a board-certified general surgeon. Neither certificate contained a jurat nor was there any indication that Dr. Gordon had signed under oath. Furthermore, neither certificate included a declaration that he signed under penalty of perjury.
In its Per curiam unpublished opinion filed on June 7, 2024, the Supreme Court of Iowa held: “We granted the defendants’ application for interlocutory appeal and retained the case. We had already granted an interlocutory appeal in Miller to review rulings by another district court judge denying dispositive motions under section 147.140 on grounds that the expert’s unsworn signature substantially complied with the statute. On May 24, 2024, we filed our opinion in Miller, holding that the expert’s unsworn signature on the certificate of merit did not substantially comply with the statute’s affidavit requirement. _ N.W.3d at , 2024 WL 2484448, at *6. We observed that the oath, like the declaration under penalty of perjury, “bind[s] the conscience of the person and emphasizes the obligation to be truthful.” Id. at , 2024 WL 2484448, at *6 (quoting State v. Carter, 618 N.W.2d 374, 378 (Iowa 2000 (en banc)). We determined that we “are not at liberty to eliminate the requirement that the expert sign the certificate of merit under oath when the governing statute uses the term ‘affidavit’ six times.” Id. at , 2024 WL 2484448, at *6. And we concluded that “[a] contrary holding would undermine many Iowa statutes requiring sworn statements or verifications.” Id. at , 2024 WL 2484448, at *6. We reversed the district court rulings in Miller for the reasons thoroughly explained in that decision and remanded that case for entry of an order dismissing that medical malpractice action with prejudice. Id. at _, 2024 WL 2484448, at *7. Stare decisis dictates the same result here.”
“Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s ruling that denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss, and we remand this case for entry of an order dismissing this action with prejudice pursuant to section 147.140(6) and Miller.”
Source Shontz v. Mercy Medical Center-Clinton, Inc. No. 23–0719.
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