IOWA CITY (AP) — A judge has ordered an October trial in a lawsuit that alleges doctors at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics conducted an experimental brain stimulation therapy that left a patient’s face paralyzed and then failed to get her proper treatment.
Judge Marsha Bergan last week rejected the hospital’s request to dismiss Tamara Stellmach’s medical malpractice lawsuit.
She says jurors should decide whether Stellmach was informed of the risks about her participation in the National Institutes of Health-funded study into whether biofeedback can improve bowel function. She says jurors should also decide whether emergency room doctors treated Stellmach properly one day after the experiment.
Stellmach contends she was injured by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, which involves stimulating the brain using pulses of magnetic energy through the scalp. Hospital lawyers deny that.