Family Claims Hospital Staff Ignored Fatal Warning Signs After Routine Surgery

Clear Facts

• Laura Belt, 46, died in May 2024 from septic shock following hernia repair surgery at Decatur County Hospital in Iowa
• Family lawsuit alleges nurses dismissed brown liquid draining from incision site as “normal” despite patient’s repeated concerns
• Iowa Board of Medicine has charged the surgeon with professional incompetency and practicing in a manner harmful to the public

A routine medical procedure turned deadly for an Iowa mother after hospital staff allegedly dismissed critical warning signs in the days following surgery. Laura Belt, 46, died in May 2024 from complications that her family claims should have been caught and treated by medical professionals.

Belt underwent hernia repair surgery at Decatur County Hospital, a procedure that should have been straightforward. But according to a lawsuit filed by her family, what happened next reveals a pattern of negligence that cost Belt her life.

The family is suing Dr. Edwin Vincent Wehling and nurses Brandi Oesch and Tammy Roberts for medical malpractice. Decatur County Hospital is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

After the surgery, Belt reportedly told staff she felt “very uncomfortable” and “very anxious and tearful.” She suffered from “constant drainage” of “significant amounts of feculent, brown liquid” pouring out of her incision site, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch. Belt also had not had a bowel movement since the surgery.

Despite these alarming symptoms, Belt was discharged from the hospital a week after the operation. The incision site continued leaking more than a week after discharge.

Belt sent photographs of the brown liquid to nurse Tammy Roberts, seeking guidance. The nurses assured her that what she was experiencing was normal.

“Consulted with Brandi, she states all is normal … Brandi stated incision will drain like this for at least a month,” Roberts texted Belt on May 9, 2024.

The following day, Belt had a video call with nurse Brandi Oesch and showed her the brown fluid still pouring from the wound. According to the family’s lawsuit, she was not told to seek emergency medical care.

On May 11, 2024, Belt was taken by ambulance to Wayne County Hospital’s Emergency Department. Medical staff there immediately recognized the severity of her condition — the incision site showed signs of dead, necrotic tissue along with “constant drainage” of stool. She was diagnosed as being in septic shock from an infection stemming from the hernia repair.

Two days later, nurse Oesch allegedly added a back-charted entry into Belt’s electronic medical record at Decatur County Hospital. The entry affirmed she had the video call with Belt and noted that the woman was crying and that fluid had poured out of her wound onto the bathroom floor during the call.

“This nurse advised I would call Dr. Wehling and advise. This nurse notified Dr. Wehling and he requested (the antibiotic) Bactrim to be started,” Oesch wrote, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit claims no Bactrim prescription was ever ordered.

Laura Belt died on May 15, 2024. The medical examiner determined her death was due to complications linked to a bowel perforation that resulted in sepsis — issues that were allegedly missed by staff at Decatur County Hospital.

The Iowa Board of Medicine has charged Dr. Wehling with “professional incompetency” and practicing in a manner that is “harmful and detrimental to the public.” A board hearing on the disciplinary charges is scheduled for September.

Wehling, Oesch and Roberts have all denied any wrongdoing. Wehling has claimed that the cause of Belt’s injuries and complications “may have been a pre-existing medical condition and/or a subsequently occurring medical condition for which (he) is not responsible,” according to Iowa Capital Dispatch.

A trial has been scheduled for August 23. The case raises serious questions about accountability in our healthcare system and whether medical professionals adequately responded to a patient’s distress signals.

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