Settlement reached in Sen. Tyler Johnson malpractice case
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An Indiana senator’s medical malpractice case involving the 2018 death of a young woman has an “agreed resolution,” according to court records.
Sen. Tyler Johnson, a Republican from Leo, Indiana, is an ER physician. The case predates his election in November 2022.
Allen Superior Court Judge Andrew S. Williams in May ordered the parties to participate in a judicial settlement conference. It was set for August, but last week it was cancelled.
Court records cite an agreed resolution with no further details.
Years-long dispute, opaque end
The lawsuit centers around the death of Esperanza Umana, a 20-year-old from Fort Wayne. She died shortly after receiving care from Johnson in an emergency room at Parkview Regional Medical Center in January 2018, leaving behind a newborn son.
Umana’s mother, Jennifer Becerra, filed suit on behalf of her daughter’s estate. She sued Johnson alongside Professional Emergency Physicians Inc. and Parkview Hospital Inc.
The senator didn’t return a request for comment.
Benjamin Ice, an attorney representing Professional Emergency Physicians declined to comment on the settlement in a phone call Monday. Jason Scheele, an attorney representing Parkview, was unavailable — but his legal administrative assistant said she wasn’t “at liberty” to speak.
“We’re not allowed to talk about the settlement,” Carol Pratt added.
Lawyers for Becerra also didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Hearing still on
An August hearing on motions for summary judgment, to strike and to vacate deadlines remains scheduled.
Two others have previously filed complaints with the Indiana Department of Insurance against Johnson, but in those cases, a medical review panel agreed with his care and dismissed the complaints. But in the Parkview case his peers ruled in March 2022 that Johnson deviated from the “appropriate standard of care,” a rarity in malpractice cases.
Johnson authored the state’s ban on transition-related medical care for transgender youth and is also a plaintiff in a national case to block access to abortion medication.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.