(515) 444-4000In Iowa, laws surrounding medical device liability fall under product liability regulations. When a medical device fails, causing harm or injury, victims may seek redress through legal means. Manufacturers, distributors, and sometimes even healthcare providers can be held accountable for these failures. Iowa law allows victims to file claims based on different theories such as negligence, breach of warranty, or…
The Iowa Capital Dispatch has reported three health aides were fired for alleged emotional and physical abuse at the facilities they worked. Rebecca Schade, an aide at Blackhawk Life Care Center, was fired for mocking a resident who regularly cried out for help due to an illness. She had previously received a warning for telling another resident her hair "looked…
Wildfires have affected thousands of households this summer. Images of destruction from Lahaina in Maui reveal the extreme level of devastation that house fires can cause. A home fire is a terrifying event that not only damages property but can also result in personal injury. In many instances, injuries from a home fire are severe, requiring immediate medical attention. Burns,…
A tragic drowning at Adventureland prompts a hard look at Iowa's wrongful death laws. Who can file a suit, what damages are available, and how liability is established when negligence leads to death? Damage Types Type Compensates For Example Purpose Economic Financial losses Lost income, medical/funeral costs Provide financial stability to dependents Non-economic Intangible losses Pain/suffering, loss of companionship Acknowledge…
In April 2023, an Iowa nursing home chain was sued for the wrongful death of a resident – this is at least the fifth wrongful-death case that Care Initiatives of West Des Moines has faced in the past two years. According to the lawsuit, 87 year-old Alice Ward was admitted to Wapello Specialty Care on June 25, 2021, and had…
Product liability lawsuits, such as those caused by defective products, are commonplace in the United States. According to the Insurance Information Institute, companies paid out an average of $1.5 million every year between 2014 and 2020 in personal injury lawsuit settlements, excluding punitive damages. Some of the largest settlements in history have been associated with design and manufacturing defects. Examples…
Defective products are not uncommon in the U.S. and can pose a significant risk to consumer safety. While not all faulty products result in injuries or damage, they can still have serious consequences. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), appliance, TV, and furniture tip-over injuries accounted for 22,500 emergency department treatments from 2018 - 2022, 44% of whom…
In 2014, Jim Taft of West Columbia had a spinal cord stimulator implanted in his back. He is now mostly paralyzed, and a typical day sees him unable to leave his bed. He’s a prisoner in his own home due to a defective medical device. Jim sought relief from pain. His doctors described a spinal device that could “change his…
An 18-wheeler truck is roughly 20 times the weight of an ordinary vehicle on the road. In a collision involving a car and a truck, the chances of being seriously injured are substantially higher than in a collision involving two automobiles. If a crash victim decides to bring a lawsuit against the trucking firm that hired the driver who hit…
Drivers in many chain reaction car accidents do not have much time to decide whether or not to hit automobiles ahead of them. Most terrified drivers slam on the brakes too late, drift into other lanes, and skid. Sometimes, in order to escape an accident, automobiles swerve into oncoming traffic, only to produce a horrific chain reaction and a greater…