University of Iowa Health Care settles lawsuit it prepared to ‘vigorously defend’

IOWA CITY — The state has agreed to pay a Le Claire mother $50,000 to settle her 2022 lawsuit accusing University of Iowa Health Care providers of perforating her bowel and charring her rectum during a 2020 cervical cancer surgery — leaving her permanently impaired and limiting her ability to parent two sons.

“To date, (she) continues to deal with PTSD, scarring, pain, and gastrointestinal dysfunction as a result of her bowel perforation,” according to Tiffany Lunsford’s lawsuit against the state, which oversees UIHC and its providers.

Lunsford originally filed a tort claim with the State Appeal Board seeking $6 million in March 2022 but withdrew it after filing her medical negligence lawsuit later that year.

Her complaints stem from a radical hysterectomy, bilateral salpingectomy, right ovarian cystectomy, pelvic lymph node dissection, and cystoscopy following a cervical cancer diagnosis. Lunsford spent one night in the hospital following her procedure and was discharged the next day — but complained of significant pain and swelling.

Having not experienced a bowel movement for nearly a week, Lunsford underwent a CT scan — revealing evidence of a bowel perforation, according to the lawsuit. As a result, she had exploratory surgery — after which, a doctor told her “that her rectum was so charred that he was unable to evaluate exactly where the perforation was, and that it appeared as if the cautery tool was left on the rectum for too long during the March 11, 2020 procedure,” according to the lawsuit.

Lunsford in her suit said while hospitalized she received a phone call to her room from her original surgeon, who said, “This is the worst thing a surgeon can hear … I am so sorry.”

Although Lunsford in her lawsuit said she suffered substantial or permanent bodily impairment limiting her ability to parent her sons, new settlement documents report, “Her complications successfully resolved by July 2020.”

“UI Health Care retained qualified experts to support its providers’ care and vigorously defended this lawsuit,” according to settlement documents. “This case was settled less than a week before trial for significantly less than it would have cost to try the case and significantly less than plaintiff was claiming in damages.”

UNI Dome fall

The state also has agreed to pay a Black Hawk County family $4,000 after a child on Nov. 12, 2022 slipped and fell through a gate to the floor of the UNI Dome during a football game, causing injuries. Yellow tape had been placed where a gate normally would have been, according to the lawsuit, causing the child to fall and suffer injuries — incurring medical expenses and future pain and suffering.

“Had a proper barrier been installed, the child would not have fallen onto the University of Northern Iowa’s UNI Dome floor,” according to the lawsuit.

The state’s general fund will contribute the full $4,000 payout.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com