Hunter
08/02/22
University of Iowa Physicians medical and surgical group has agreed to settle a lawsuit over the death of a cancer patient.
The Gazette reports that Kathy Pierce of North Liberty brought a $2.5 million claim to the State Appeal Board in August of 2017 accusing UI Hospitals and Clinics of negligence. The state denied the claim, and Pierce filed suit in December 2018.
The suit stemmed from a cancer diagnosis for Pierce’s husband Christopher that was discovered in 2008. A series of CT scans over the years showed a tumor burden on the liver of between 10 and 15 percent. In July 2015 an MRI showed that burden to be at 95 percent. Pierce passed away at the end of August 2015.
Pierce’s suit claimed that the failure to perform an MRI earlier in his diagnosis deprived her husband of getting appropriate treatment.
The state asked the court to dismiss the suit because it wasn’t filed within the two-year window. Pierce’s attorneys argued that the two year window started at the time of his death, not the time of the MRI diagnosis.
On Monday the State Appeal Board approved a payment of $600,000, to be paid by UI Physicians.