Farmer's mission work lives on after jury's malpractice verdict

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By Ann McGlynn | Sunday, March 25, 2007 10:00 PM CDT | () comments

By Ann McGlynn

QUAD-CITY TIMES

A quiet crop and hog farmer, Dennis Goetz discovered in his mid-40s that international mission trips fed his soul.

The African country of Zambia particularly captured his heart. He made three trips there in five years to spread the word of God while working on projects with the people there.

During his final trip to the country in 2002, Goetz contracted malaria despite taking all of the precautions he was told about: anti-malaria pills, mosquito nets and bug repellent. He fell ill when he returned home. He died a month later, leaving behind his wife, children, hundreds of friends and the work he started.

“It was something he was passionate about,” said Laura Goetz, his wife of 25 years. “When you do missions work, you always think about what you are going to do for that other person, be it overseas or right in the Quad-Cities. But it’s really always what you learn and bring home.”

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Dennis and Laura Goetz, members of Heritage Wesleyan Church in Rock Island, attended a meeting in 1997 about a mission trip to Russia.

When he raised his hand to volunteer to go, “I fell off my chair,” she said.

The trip to Russia led to trips to India and Zambia.

When the Goetzes returned home Sept. 25, 2002, after a 13-day trip to Zambia, he began feeling sick. He began shaking at the end of church services Oct. 6. He went to the doctor, but was not diagnosed with malaria and came home to harvest soybeans.

On Oct. 10, he was admitted to a hospital and diagnosed with the most severe of the four strains of malaria, known as black water fever.

He died a week after entering the hospital.

Almost four years to the day later, a jury in Henry County Circuit Court found that Goetz’s physician, Randall Mullin, bore responsibility for his death. Mullin, according to court

documents, did not prescribe Goetz the correct anti-malaria medication before his trip and then misdiagnosed him when he returned home sick.

The jury awarded Goetz’s estate $3.5 million, the largest verdict in Henry County history, Circuit Clerk Deb Doss said.

However, that verdict is not the end of the legal action. In a second lawsuit, filed in federal court last week, Mullin, who practices in Geneseo, Ill., at Trinity Family Medical Associates, and his physician group, Iowa Health Physicians, are suing the malpractice insurance company that provided coverage for Mullin.

The doctor and Iowa Health Physicians wanted to settle before the case went to trial, court documents state. One offer from the Goetz family was for $900,000. A second offer, as evidence mounted, was for $1.5 million.

The insurance carrier, Physicians Insurance Company of Wisconsin, declined to settle. An attorney for the company could not be reached for comment last week.

Now, the insurance company is liable for $1 million of the verdict, the limit on Mullin’s policy. Mullin and Iowa Health Physicians are liable for the remaining $2.5 million.

“We believe that a settlement should have occurred as outlined by our claims against the insurance company in our court papers,” said Robin McNichols, chief operating officer for Iowa Health Physicians. “Because we respect the legal process, we will let it run its course and will await the outcome.”

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A few weeks before Laura Goetz took the witness stand at the trial, she led a mission trip to Mexico. She also has traveled to Honduras to do such work since losing her husband.

In October, she will mark the fifth anniversary of his death with a return trip to Zambia. She will be checking on the work completed there with the money from his memorial fund and the jury verdict.

The village of Chabbeboma, where the Goetzes developed “wonderful relationships,” will have electricity and water in her husband’s name. The first light installed is at the church there. “How powerful that would be for the first time to see light to have it be in the church,” she said.

Other projects are in the works, including the training of two pastors per year in Africa.

Goetz hopes the work will inspire others.

“I hope people will realize what a huge difference they can make in the world,” she said. “I pray every day, ‘God let me get out of myself so I can get into others.’ If you never plant the seed, you will never reap the harvest.”

Ann McGlynn can be contacted at

(563) 383-2336 or amcglynn@qctimes.com.