(Des Moines, Iowa) – The state of Iowa says it will not necessarily disclose to the public the rationale for disciplinary charges against licensed professionals such as physicians, nurses, therapists and nursing home administrators. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports the determining factor appears to be whether the state’s licensing boards choose to include the allegations within the text of a final order in a disciplinary case. If a board opts to omit those allegations from the final order, the public may never know what gave rise to the charges. The result is that Iowa’s licensing boards are now, in some cases, keeping secret the alleged misconduct that is tied to charges of professional incompetence, ethical violations, patient abuse and even criminal convictions.

Over the past three years, public access to information from Iowa’s licensing boards has been greatly restricted. Prior to October 2021, all state licensing boards publicly disclosed charges against practitioners at the time they were filed or at the time the practitioners were notified of the charges. That disclosure included not just the charges themselves — which are often vague, such “professional incompetence” or “unethical conduct” — but also the specific underlying conduct that gave rise to the charges, such as a botched surgery or the theft of patient medications.

In October 2021, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the basic facts and circumstances surrounding disciplinary action against licensed professionals must be kept confidential at least until the licensing boards issue their final rulings in the matter – a process that sometimes takes years. The court’s decision was based on a statute that says “investigative information” gathered as part of a complaint against a licensee must be kept confidential at least until the board issues its final decision. The court concluded that the basic facts and circumstances surrounding a case are “investigative” in nature.

In the aftermath of the court’s decision, most of Iowa’s licensing boards began issuing redacted statements of charges to keep secret the facts and circumstances of the cases until the cases were closed. Last fall, however, some boards took the position that the basic facts and circumstances that triggered the charges should remain sealed from public view even after a case was finalized.

For example, the Iowa Board of Nursing repeatedly refused a request from Iowa Capital Dispatch for an unredacted copy of the written statement of charges against a nurse whose license has been revoked. The redacted portion of that document outlines the specific conduct that led to the charges against the nurse. In a Board of Chiropractic case involving Bruce Lindberg, the board resolved the case with a settlement calling for Lindberg to surrender his license. The basic facts and circumstances in that case remained sealed until an Open Records Law request was filed by the Iowa Capital Dispatch. That request led to the unredacted version of the statement of charges being published on the website of the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals & Licensing, which oversees many of the state’s licensing boards.

Last fall, DIAL attributed widespread inconsistency on public disclosure by the various licensing boards to the agency having taken over their administration just a few months before in July 2023. Prior to that, the boards were overseen by four different state agencies. “The goal of DIAL has been to standardize, modernize and simplify its processes in order to promote best practices across the entire department and provide Iowans great service,” a DIAL spokesperson said last fall. “The department is working closely with the attorney general’s office to ensure all information is timely and accurately provided to the public in accordance with Iowa law.”

In recent months, some of the boards under DIAL’s control have taken to not only keeping secret the facts and circumstances in their statements of charges, but also the terms of board agreements to reinstate licenses. Historically, Iowa’s licensing boards have tended to disclose far less information on licensees’ alleged wrongdoing than is common practice in other states.

(Cedar County, Iowa) – A collision between an SUV and a UTV Saturday evening on the southwest side of Tipton left one person dead and two others injured. The Iowa State Patrol says the accident happened at around 7:45-p.m. at the intersection of Cedar Valley Road and Sand Trap Circle, when a 2022 Polaris off-road vehicle crossed Cedar Valley Road and was struck by a 2009 Mazda CX-9 that crossed the center line of the road. The UTV was traveling northbound and the SUV was southbound when the collision occurred.

One person died at the scene. Two others were transported by Stanwood and Tipton ambulance crews to the the University of Iowa Hospital. The victims’ names were not immediately released. The crash remains under investigation. Tipton Police and the Cedar County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.

(Spirit Lake, Iowa) – One person died and another was injured, during a single-vehicle crash Saturday night in northwest Iowa’s Dickinson County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2019 KIA Stinger driven by 18-year-old Teagan Vos, of Sheldon, was traveling north on 130th Avenue at around 10:15-p.m., when Vos failed to negotiate a curve in the road to the northeast. The car crossed the center line and entered the northwest ditch before going out of control.

The vehicle rolled over and crossed 131st Avenue before coming to rest in the north ditch. Vos – who was wearing a seat belt – was critically injured, and transported by Spirit Lake Ambulance to the local hospital. A passenger in the car, 19-year-old Edith Lupercio-Lopez, of Sioux Center, died at the scene. She was not wearing a seat belt.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – An attempted traffic stop at around 7:10-p.m. Saturday in Montgomery County resulted in a pursuit, and an arrest. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports Deputies initiated the traffic stop on a vehicle driven by 18-year-old Michael David Johnson, of Red Oak, near S. 8th Street and Park Avenue. Johnson failed to yield to law enforcement and led Deputies on a chase through Red Oak.

He was taken into custody in the 600 block of Sunset Avenue and transported to the Montgomery County Jail. Johnson was charged with Driving While Barred, Felony Eluding, and Possession of a Controlled Substance/2nd offense. Bond was set at $5,000.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies were assisted by the Red Oak Police Department and Montgomery County Dispatch.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak report a man from Council Bluffs was arrested at around 7:45-p.m., Saturday, at Highway 34 and 310th Street in Mills County. 33-year-old David Scott Horvath was arrested for 2nd Degree/Theft of a Motor Vehicle. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and booked-in. Red Oak Police were assisted by Mills County Sheriff’s Deputies in conducting the arrest.