The state of Iowa and University of Iowa Health Care have settled a wrongful death case with the family of a late Iowa City resident who died a few days after surgery.
Jennifer Kennedy, 31, passed away in 2022 at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics following complications from a cardiac arrest less than 12 hours after a hysterectomy.
Kennedy’s husband, Luke, and her parents, Kathleen and Charles Sechrist, filed a lawsuit against the state of Iowa and UI Health Care in January 2025, nearly three years after her death, accusing UI nurses and physicians of negligence, which they believe contributed to her death.
The state attorney general’s office announced March 31 that the parties had settled the case “to avoid a jury trial” and “continued litigation.” UI Health Care is required to pay Jennifer Kennedy’s estate $4.5 million.
Lawsuit disputes hospital’s claim that a heart attack killed woman
The lawsuit claims Jennifer Kennedy was not appropriately monitored after her abdominal hysterectomy, failing to timely recognize “respiratory depression,” which they believe led to her death.
The lawsuit claims Jennifer Kennedy suffered a cardiac arrest less than 10 hours after surgery on May 24, 2022. Nurses found her in a hospital room, unresponsive and without a pulse.
UI Health Care physicians, according to the lawsuit, discovered that Kennedy suffered an anoxic brain injury. Her family chose to “discontinue life-sustaining measures,” and she was pronounced dead a few days later, on May 28, 2022, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claimed Jennifer Kennedy’s death certificate lists a cause of death “as complications of resuscitated cardiorespiratory arrest of uncertain cause.”
Her estate disputes the cause, saying the care and treatment of Jennifer Kennedy by UI Health Care physicians and nurses was “below the standard of care,” accusing them of being negligent, leading to death.
Jennifer Kennedy’s husband and her parents filed the lawsuit because they did not receive a response from the State Appeal Board after filing a claim six months earlier, in April 2024.
Late Jennifer Kennedy was a native of Arizona, liked to bike
The late Jennifer Kennedy, according to her 2022 obituary, was born in Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1991. She “exuded warmth, kindness and had an infectious personality that would light every room she walked into.”
Jennifer Kennedy enjoyed gardening, sewing, and riding bikes with her husband, Luke.
Brandon Hurley is editor of the Iowa City Press-Citizen and the Ames Tribune. He can be reached at bhurley@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: UI Health Care settles wrongful death suit with Iowa family for $4.5M
Reporting by Brandon Hurley, Iowa City Press-Citizen / Ames Tribune
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