Alan Andersen, Individually and as injured parent of Chelsea Andersen and Brody Andersen and Diane Andersen, Wife of Alan Andersen
v.
Sohit Khanna, M.D. and Iowa Heart Center, P.C.
Appellant
Alan Andersen, Individually and as injured parent of Chelsea Andersen and Brody Andersen and Diane Andersen, Wife of Alan Andersen
Appellee
Sohit Khanna, M.D. and Iowa Heart Center, P.C.
Attorneys for the Appellant
Michael J. Streit
Marc S. Harding
Attorneys for the Appellee
Jennifer E. Rinden
Robert D. Houghton
Nancy J. Penner
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Heather Lauber, Judge. AFFIRMED. Heard by Tabor, P.J. and Schumacher and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by Ahlers, J. (17 pages)
Plaintiffs Alan and Diane Andersen appeal the district court’s grant of mistrial and dismissal of their petition. OPINION HOLDS: The Andersens’ counsel describing the failure to obtain proper informed consent as a “crime” resulted in significant unfair prejudice to the defendants with little to no relevance to the issues of informed consent to be presented at trial. We find no abuse of discretion in granting the mistrial. With this third mistrial caused by the Andersens despite escalating prior sanctions, we find no abuse of discretion in dismissing the petition as a sanction.
