Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Attorneys for an Iowa surgeon accused of sterilizing a woman without her consent are requesting that a scheduled Sept. 9 hearing before the Iowa Board of Medicine be postponed — a request that is typically granted.
Dr. George H. Pfaltzgraff, 64, had formal disciplinary charges filed against him on July 8 by the Board for allegedly performing a tubal ligation on a woman without obtaining proper consent. Board documents further allege that the woman told the surgeon she did not want the procedure, and that no consent form was signed for the procedure. A hearing was set for Sept. 9 in Des Moines.
Waterloo attorney Timothy C. Boller, who is representing Pfaltzgraff, responded to the charges on the surgeon’s behalf and, in addition to denying all charges, requested a continuance of the date and time of the hearing “to conduct necessary discovery and to prepare presentation of evidence and argument at the hearing.”
Kent M. Nebel, director of legal affairs for the Iowa Board of Medicine, told The Iowa Independent that it would be unusual for such a request to be denied, and that it was very likely the hearing will postponed a minimum of 30 days from the initial Sept. 9 date. The exact continuance date will be set by the 10-member Board, which is comprised of seven practicing doctors and three members of the public.
As The Iowa Independent previously reported, Pfaltzgraff was given an administrative warning in 2002 by the Wisconsin Medical Examing Board. He was also the respondent in a 2005 medical malpractice Wisconsin suit, as well as the defendant in a 2003 Wisconsin medical malpractice suit.
In February 2007, after Pfaltzgraff had moved to Iowa, he initiated an intential tort suit in Wisconsin against four individuals, St. Croix Regional Medical Center, Luther Midelfort Mayo Health Systems and Midwest Medical Insurance Co. According to court records, the case was dismissed with prejudice in March 2009.
Pfaltzgraff remains listed on the Ellsworth Municipal Hospital active medical staff directory.
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