The Iowa Supreme Court will these week decide on the fate of a lawsuit filed against the doctor who treated late Slipknot bassist Paul Gray before he overdosed.
Dr Daniel Baldi of Des Moines has previously been found not guilty by a jury of causing the death of Gray and a number of other patients and a lawsuit filed by the musician’s wife Brenna Gray was thrown out by a district judge because it was filed too late after the death.
Now Brenna Gray has taken her lawsuit further up the legal chain and the Supreme Court will explore the case on Tuesday (February 16). If the seven judges allow the lawsuit to proceed, it will change the rules on wrongful death suits.
David Brown, a Des Moines attorney who handles professional malpractice claims, tells the Des Moines Register that the question the judges must answer is how much time survivors have to file a lawsuit if they suspect a family member’s death was caused by negligence or some other wrongful action by a doctor.
Currently, they have two years to start proceedings.
Brown adds: “I think the argument by the defence will be that you’re going to be opening unfortunate medical complications up for review long after the treatment.”
During Dr Baldi’s trial, Brenna Gray recalled how her husband had slipped into addiction in the weeks before his death in an Iowa hotel room in 2010.
