We received this email from Accountable Iowa Thursday. This story feels so important that I decided to pass it on:

Last month, we told you about a plot by an out-of-state insurance company to force an Iowa clinic into a fraudulent bankruptcy. The goal: Hoodwink Iowa legislators into passing a law that puts a price tag on the lives of Iowans injured by medical negligence. And it worked! {my bolding – ed.}

Here’s how it all went down:

An Iowa doctor botched the delivery of a baby, crushing her skull with forceps, causing permanent and severe brain damage. The clinic and the family’s lawyers were eager to settle the case, but the clinic’s insurance company refused. When an Iowa jury returned a major verdict against the clinic and its doctors last year, the insurance company pushed the clinic to file bankruptcy.

That bankruptcy would prove pivotal in the decision by many legislators to vote for a law in January that forces a one-size-fits-all limit on damages whenever a negligent doctor, clinic, or hospital kills or permanently injures one of their patients. But then, in March, a judge threw out the clinic’s bankruptcy claim as fraudulent, saying, “A question arises about whether the bankruptcy was motivated by a proper purpose …” Now, the clinic is sharing the truth in their own lawsuit filed in July against their own insurance company, claiming they acted in bad faith to influence state lawmakers.

From start to finish, this story reads like a Grisham novel packed with intrigue and deceit. However, there’s nothing fictional about the outcome for the citizens of Iowa. The law passed partly because of this bankruptcy ruse makes it more challenging to hold negligent hospitals accountable when they cause harm.

We must tell our legislators in the months ahead to never get fooled again and stand up for every Iowan’s right to trial by a citizen jury. Because a trial by jury is about the people, fellow citizens, and their right to decide the outcome of a case, not special interests, politicians, or the government.

For your rights, 

Accountable Iowa