Hunter
12/03/25
University of Iowa Health Care has agreed to a $4.16 million settlement with a Johnson County man who reportedly went into cardiac arrest and suffered brain damage after being restrained.
The case involves 38-year-old Conrad Columbo, who self-admitted to the UIHC ER at about 6:30pm April 10th, 2022. He had been released from jail that morning following a fight with his brother.
According to the article in the Gazette, Columbo told staff he had a history of bipolar and schizoaffective disorder and for two days had been without his prescribed medications to treat ADHD and bipolar disorder. He hadn’t slept for 3 days and was hallucinating.
Columbo tested positive for marijuana and amphetamines and was to be admitted for psychiatric treatment, but no beds were available. He wasn’t assigned a doctor for nearly nine hours, didn’t get a medication order until 6:30am the next day, and it wasn’t administered for another 90 minutes.
Later that morning he was approached by a social worker and UIHC police officer after he was screaming in his bed. An altercation ensued that involved several UIHC employees and ended with Columbo being put into a prone restraint, face-down on the ground. He was given two doses of a rapid sedative and another dose of sedative.
The suit claims that in the minutes between the sedatives were administered and staff preparing him for bed restraint, Columbo suffered cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. It took 8 minutes to regain a pulse.
Multiple UIHC employees were injured as a result of the incident, and Columbo suffered lasting brain damage.
UI Health care opted to settle the suit, rather than going to jury trial.
A link to the Gazette article: