IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The wife of a man who jumped to his death off a parking ramp at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City has sued the state of Iowa, alleging negligence by state-paid doctors.
The Gazette says (http://bit.ly/PykrRX ) the lawsuit was filed last week for Phyllis Cabbage.
The lawsuit says Kenneth Cabbage was receiving custodial psychiatric care for severe depression when he asked to leave the hospital on July 27, 2009, to go have ice cream with his wife. The staff let him go with her. When they returned, he jumped to his death.
Phyllis Cabbage seeks unspecified damages, alleging doctors negligently let her husband leave unescorted just days after expressing death wishes.
A state Attorney General's Office spokesman didn't immediately return messages Friday from The Associated Press.
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Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazetteonline.com/
