Iowa lawmakers advanced a bill Wednesday that removes time limits for patients seeking a medical malpractice lawsuit against providers that concealed a cause of injury. 

The law saw bipartisan support in a three-member panel of lawmakers that moved the bill forward to be considered by the whole Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Under current Iowa law, patients must file a medical malpractice lawsuit within six years of the injury or death they are seeking damages for. If signed into law, the bill would remove the time limit for patients who had their cause of injury or death concealed by a provider. 

Elizabeth Downey, the daughter of Linda Berry — who died in 2019 from Kidney Cancer — spoke to the panel of lawmakers. 

Downey said when her mother had a CT scan in 2004, it was noted by a radiologist that she had a tumor on her kidney, but was never informed of the finding by her doctor. 

“In my opinion, because of the statute of repose, they said ‘Your life’s not worthy,’ and my mom died in vain,” Downey said. 

Berry’s attorney took the case to the Iowa Supreme Court which decided that the common law exception for fraudulent concealment doesn’t apply to Berry’s case, since they couldn’t identify an act of concealment outside of failing to disclose the CT results. 

Under the common law exception of fraudulent concealment, if a doctor knows a patient has an ailment and purposefully hides the condition from the patient, a patient can bring a suit at any time. Medical group lobbyists said the bill could cause doctors who don’t think a finding is concerning to later be sued for malpractice even if in good faith they thought the finding wasn’t relevant. 

Lobbyists for medical groups that registered in opposition to the bill including the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Iowa Medical Society, and the Iowa Hospital Association spoke at the panel on Monday. 

They argued that the bill’s definition of concealment was too broad and that observations that don’t meet the level of concern could be considered as part of concealment down the line. 

Currently, one other exception to the six-year time frame exists in Iowa law for patients who have medical equipment left in their body after an operation.