DES MOINES, Iowa (Iowa Capital Dispatch) – A wrongful death lawsuit against a Des Moines hospital alleges a pattern of failing to stabilize patients in the emergency room and provide timely treatment.
The estate of late Ankeny man Stephen Riker is suing Central Iowa Hospital Corp., which does business as UnityPoint Health Des Moines Iowa Methodist Medical Center. Addie Hinson, Senior Registered Nurse, and Ashley Onken, Registered Nurse.
Riker was taken to the hospital by ambulance on the morning of January 8, 2024, and paramedics reported that his blood pressure was elevated, according to the complaint. He was admitted to the hospital a few minutes before noon and was triaged by Onken by 12:17 p.m.
The complaint alleges Onken did not perform a stroke test on Ryker and did not perform an intensive neurological examination. At 12:23 p.m., Hinson allegedly ordered a laboratory test on Ryker, but did not do so while he was in the emergency room.
“No other medical provider attended to Stephen for approximately seven hours while he was decompensated in the emergency room due to an acute stroke,” the complaint alleges. “While waiting in IMMC’s emergency department, Stephen was losing sensation on his left side, which was reported to IMMC staff multiple times.”
Nurses reportedly performed the first neurological exam on Riker at 6:54 p.m., about seven hours after he arrived at the hospital. Tests recorded that Riker had “stroke-like symptoms, particularly weakness on the left side and slurred speech,” the lawsuit alleges.
Hospital staff did not provide a rapid medical examination to determine whether Riker had an urgent medical condition requiring immediate intervention, the lawsuit alleges, adding that Riker “died of his injuries on January 17, 2024 at Iowa Methodist Medical Center.”
Past violations cited by estate attorney
In support of the wrongful death claim against Iowa Methodist, attorneys for Riker’s estate argued that the Central Iowa Hospital Authority is accused of a series of violations related to the federal Emergency Medical Labor Act, which requires hospitals to quickly evaluate and stabilize emergency patients.
The violations and other incidents alleged by the Foundation include:
February 2017 — CIHC was cited after a state inspector general concluded it was not operating in accordance with federal regulations as a result of an EMTALA investigation. This violation was considered sufficiently serious that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services determined that the hospitalized patient was in imminent danger.
September 2022 — CIHC cited again after EMTALA investigation
August 2023 – Amanda Kuhlman, 45, reportedly deteriorated in the waiting room of the IMMC emergency department when she suffered a pulmonary embolism that led to cardiovascular collapse and died. “She was not seen by a medical provider for nearly 10 hours, and only after going into cardiac arrest in the waiting room of the IMMC Emergency Department,” the complaint alleges.
November 2023 — CIHC cited again after EMTALA investigation.
June 2024 – After a separate investigation into EMTALA, CIHC was charged with several violations, some of which were related to a “failure to care for Steven Riker,” the lawsuit alleges.
“Central Iowa Hospital has engaged in a consistent pattern of behavior in its Des Moines area emergency department, and more specifically in the IMMC emergency department, that fails to provide emergency care within the standard of care due to significant delays in emergency care, inadequate staffing, and inadequate triage of critically ill patients,” the complaint alleges. “For years, CIHC has noted inadequate and unsafe staffing, and CIHC nurses have complained about such staffing, yet CIHC has refused to increase staffing to provide care to patients within the standard of care.”
The lawsuit accuses Hinson, Onken and the hospital of medical malpractice and wrongful death, and also accuses the hospital of corporate negligence.
“UnityPoint Health Des Moines respects the privacy of our patients and their families and does not comment on the details of pending litigation,” a hospital spokesperson said Monday.
However, the spokesperson added, “The allegations set forth in this lawsuit are just that: allegations. We have defended similar claims brought by this same law firm in two recent lawsuits, and in both cases those claims were dismissed in federal court. We intend to vigorously defend the allegations set forth in this new lawsuit through the same legal channels.”
Hospital: Lawsuit ‘calculated to garner media attention’
The lawsuit was originally filed in state court but was recently transferred to federal court. In its response to the original petition, the hospital argued that the lawsuit contains “inflammatory” information and seeks to “insert specific alleged facts and conclusions regarding care provided to other patients at a past date that are completely unrelated” to the Riker case.
“This appears to be a strategy designed to drum up media attention and publicity and cast negative light on the medical providers and hospital involved, rather than simply and clearly stating Plaintiffs’ claims based on the care provided to Mr. Riker,” the hospital argued. “In fact, some of the previous cases mentioned have previously received media attention, particularly those involving the same law firm.”
Lawyers for Riker’s estate argued that the hospital’s efforts to refile the lawsuit by omitting some of the information in question were part of a strategy to “eliminate punitive damages in this case,” as well as claims for corporate negligence.
“The defendant’s desire to be protected from negative media publicity is a non-legal concern unrelated to the pleading requirements of the Iowa Rules of Civil Procedure,” the estate’s attorneys argued.
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