Iowa hospital sued after allegedly extracting patient’s organs without family consent

A hospital in Iowa is being sued over an incident in April where staff at the facility allegedly harvested a patient’s organs without consulting next of kin. The patient was deceased at the time clinicians began removing vital tissue, a local report from the Iowa Capital Dispatch confirmed.

According to the outlet, a lawsuit filed in a U.S. District Court has named Alegent Health-Community Memorial Hospital of Missouri Valley as the defendant, with plaintiffs representing the family of the patient, seeking damages.

Court documents claim Martin Gillespie arrived at Alegent Health-Community Memorial by ambulance on April 1. While he was pronounced dead on arrival, Gillespie’s daughters—the primary plaintiffs—allege their father was not an organ donor.

When a patient is not an organ donor and has not specifically made an affirmative request of what should happen to his/her donatable tissue, the decision extends to those with de facto power of attorney, such as a spouse, parent or child.

In this case, it’s alleged that determination would fall on the biological daughters of Gillespie, Christina Gubbels and Daun Stoddard, both from Nebraska.

The sisters allege that the hospital didn’t wait for proper informed consent, and began extracting Gillespie’s organs within hours of making a referral to the Iowa Donor Network.

That referral occurred at 4:50 a.m., a couple of hours after Gillespie was pronounced dead, the lawsuit contends.

Gubbels and Stoddard are seeking a judgment of $75,000, accusing Alegent Health-Community Memorial of medical malpractice, fraud, and negligence causing emotional distress.

The hospital has yet to publicly reply to the pending litigation. As it’s newly filed, the lawsuit has not been reviewed by a judge.

For more, read Iowa Capital Dispatch’s full coverage by clicking the link below.