Inset: Laura Belt (Tharp Funeral Home and Crematory). Background: The Iowa hospital where Laura Belt had the hernia repair surgery that led to her death (Google Maps).
An Iowa surgeon and two registered nurses are being sued by the family of a woman who died after a routine hernia repair, with their lawsuit alleging she suffered from an infection and deadly constipation symptoms that were brushed off as “normal.”
Laura Belt, 46, died due to complications associated with a bowel perforation that led to sepsis and were allegedly missed by staff at Decatur County Hospital, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Her family”s legal complaint, obtained by the independent news outlet, accuses Dr. Edwin Vincent Wehling, of Leon, and nurses Brandi Oesch and Tammy Roberts of medical malpractice in connection with her May 2024 death.
An April 2026 order viewed by Law&Crime shows that the Iowa Board of Medicine has charged Wehling with “professional incompetency” and practicing in a manner that is “harmful and detrimental to the public.”
Board records show that Wehling was working as a surgeon at Decatur County Hospital, which is also being sued, when Belt came in for a hernia repair surgery. Her family says Wehling operated on her, while Oesch and Roberts handled her recovery.
According to the complaint, Belt reported feeling “very uncomfortable” and “very anxious and tearful” after the surgery as she suffered from “constant drainage” of a “brown liquid” pouring out of her incision site. The liquid was deemed to be stool, which the nurses said was nothing to worry about, per the complaint, and Belt was discharged from the hospital a week after the hernia procedure.
Belt allegedly told hospital staff she had not had a bowel movement since the surgery.
“Consulted with Brandi, she states all is normal,” Roberts texted Belt on May 9, 2024, after she sent the nurse a photo of her incision site, which was still leaking a little over a week after she was discharged, according to the complaint.
“Brandi stated incision will drain like this for at least a month,” Roberts allegedly said.
Belt’s family alleges that she had a video call with Oesch the following day and showed her the wound, but she failed to advise Belt that she should seek emergency medical care, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
On May 11, 2024, Belt was taken to Wayne County Hospital’s emergency department in an ambulance and her incision site allegedly showed signs of necrotic tissue along with the same “constant drainage” of stool. She was diagnosed as being in septic shock related to an infection stemming from her hernia repair, the complaint says.
Two days later, Oesch allegedly added a back-charted entry into Belt’s electronic medical record at Decatur County Hospital saying she had the video call with Belt and indicated that Belt was crying and experiencing problems with the incision site.
Oesch went on to write, “This nurse advised I would call Dr. Wehling and advise. This nurse notified Dr. Wehling and he requested (the antibiotic) Bactrim to be started,” according to the complaint. But the Bactrim prescription was allegedly never ordered.
Belt died on May 15, 2024. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports that Wehling, Oesch and Roberts have all denied any wrongdoing. Wehling has reportedly 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,” per the Dispatch.
A trial has been set for Aug. 23.
