State settles University of Iowa cancer patient death lawsuit for $1.5 million

IOWA CITY — After over two years of fighting a medical negligence lawsuit involving the death of a 75-year-old University of Iowa cancer patient — who was found unresponsive on the floor next to her inpatient bed three days postsurgery — the state has agreed to pay the family $1.5 million.

The settlement — approved Tuesday by the Iowa Board of Appeals — involves the death of Bounthath Phetsomphou in January 2019 after she had surgery to remove an advanced cancerous lesion in her left cheek.

The Bettendorf woman — after first discovering the painful cancer in fall 2018 — had surgery at the university on Jan. 15, 2019, and initially was placed in intensive care.

After she was weaned off a ventilator, her daughter told attorneys her mother was transferred out of the ICU to an inpatient bed, where she was alert on the evening of Jan. 17, according to a deposition.

About 3 a.m. Jan. 18, 2019, her daughter — Lotchana Meidinger — received a phone call from a nurse who said, “We found your mom on the floor and she had coded three times," according to the deposition.

The lawsuit alleges Phetsomphou had gone into respiratory arrest due to a blockage in her endotracheal tube, leaving her deprived of oxygen for 15 to 20 minutes. Although she was resuscitated from that event, Phetsomphou died Jan. 20, 2019.

Her adult children in August 2022 sued the university for medical negligence — accusing its providers of, among other things, failing to properly monitor Phetsomphou’s condition after surgery; improperly transferring her to a step-down unit; and failing to properly monitor and treat her in that step-down unit.

The university denied the allegations and in December 2024 asked a judge to issue a summary judgment — ending the case in its favor before the trial scheduled for last Friday. The university, among its arguments, said the breaches of care the family alleged “did not cause Ms. Phetsomphou’s death.”

The family countered with its own request for summary judgment.

A district court judge March 4 granted part of the university’s request — but said one of the allegations could proceed to trial. Attorneys settled the case the next day.

UI Health Care will cover the full amount under a seven-year limited self-insurance agreement it signed with the state in 2023 that mandates UI Physicians cover up to $6 million per claim and up to $15 million annually. The old deal capped UI Physician coverage at $5 million per claim and $9 million per year.

Under the new arrangement, the state so far this budget year — which started July 1, 2024 — has paid nothing toward any UIHC claims, and $10.9 million total in settlements and judgments across all its agencies.

At the end of the 2023 budget year, before the renegotiated deal, the state had paid $9.7 million toward UIHC claims — accounting for the majority of its total $13.7 million in settlements and judgments that year.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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