Couple Gets $4M From IA After Son Dies Of Strep Infection

Couple Gets $4M From IA After Son Dies Of Strep Infection

Introduction

The state has agreed to pay a North Liberty couple nearly $4 million after their almost 2-year-old son died in 2018 from an undiagnosed strep infection after visiting University of Iowa-affiliated clinics and facilities, including a UI Quick Care and the UI emergency room.

The State Appeal Board unanimously approved a $3.99 million settlement with the infant's parents. The parents sued the state, UI Children's Hospital and its affiliated Pediatric Associates in 2019, and then a UI nurse practitioner and UI Community Medical Services in 2020 for negligence in the same incident.

UI Physicians, a medical and surgical clinical practice based at the UI Carver College of Medicine with over 1,000 physicians, will pay two-thirds of the settlement, or $2.7 million. According to the agreement, the remaining $1.3 million will be paid from Iowa's general fund.

The defendants and their employees and agents who interacted with and provided medical evaluation, assessment, care, treatment, and advice to the child regarding his medical condition, according to the couple's lawsuit, were negligent and violated the standard of care.

According to the couple's lawsuit, the family's concerns began in February 2018, when the infant, who was just days away from his second birthday, developed a fever and raspy breathing. On February 15, 2018, they took him to a UI Quick Care in North Liberty, where he was seen by an advanced registered nurse practitioner and diagnosed with croup.

At the time, the boy was given a steroid and sent home. That night, at 1:25 a.m. on February 16, the child awoke with a fever of 104 degrees Fahrenheit, prompting his parents to dial the UI nurse line.

According to the lawsuit, a UI-affiliated doctor advised the couple to alternate giving their son Tylenol and ibuprofen, as well as cool baths. The parents took him to UI-affiliated Pediatric Associates at 8:30 a.m., where a doctor diagnosed him with "fever" and possible constipation and sent him home with instructions for a liquid laxative.

According to the lawsuit, the boy's parent called another on-call nurse about his ongoing symptoms at 8:12 p.m. that evening and received no new instructions. According to the lawsuit, a registered nurse on that call expressed no concerns.

The infant's condition was not improving, and his cough was worsening, so his parents took him to the UIHC emergency department around 2:30 p.m. on February 17, 2018, according to the lawsuit. Following an examination in the emergency room by doctors, the parents were informed that the child's lungs were "great" and that there was "no concern for pneumonia or any secondary infections."

The family was sent home around 3:30 p.m. with an "upper respiratory infection" diagnosis and a dose of ibuprofen. According to the lawsuit, the parents were told to keep alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen until the illness passed.

Not even two days later, on February 19, at 6:08 a.m., the child's parent called an on-call nurse, concerned that the boy was struggling to breathe. They were instructed to dial 911 or drive the child to the emergency room "if they felt they could safely do so."

The parents began driving the infant to the UIHC emergency room right away, but he became unresponsive on the way. His mother attempted to resuscitate him, but by the time they arrived at 6:27 a.m., the child had gone into "full cardiopulmonary arrest." According to the lawsuit, resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, and the child was pronounced dead at 6:49 a.m. on February 19, 2018.

His cause of death was "overwhelming undiagnosed Group A Streptococcus infection," which can manifest in minor to fatal illnesses ranging from strep throat to toxic shock syndrome or rheumatic fever, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The lawsuit accused UIHC and its employees of negligence and failure to properly assess, examine, test, diagnose, and treat their son in a timely manner, among other things.

The plaintiffs agreed to release UIHC and its medical personnel from any and all liability for their son's death as part of the settlement. The payment, according to the agreement, does not constitute an admission of liability.