DES MOINES, Iowa (IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) – After committing a procedural error related to charges of incompetence against a Des Moines transplant surgeon, the Iowa Board of Medicine has lifted its emergency suspension of the doctor’s license.
State records show that on Jan. 6, 2026, the board filed an emergency order suspending Dr. Qasim Chaudhry’s license to practice medicine in Iowa, alleging he posed “an immediate danger” to the public.
At the same time, the board charged Chaudhry with professional incompetence and knowingly making misleading, deceptive, untrue, or fraudulent representations in the practice of medicine.
On Feb. 5 and 6, 2026, the matter was the subject of a closed-door hearing before three members of the board — Dr. Jerry Rozeboom, Dr. Robert Donnelly, and the board’s public representative, Diane McDonald. It was only after all of the evidence was presented and the case was submitted to the board for deliberation that it was discovered that under Iowa law, disciplinary hearings are to be attended by “not less than three board members who are licensed in the profession.”
Because the board was not lawfully empaneled, it was decided that the matter must be rescheduled for another two-day hearing.
In newly filed records, the board says its emergency order in January was based on “findings on complaints received and investigated” related to Chaudhry’s practice of medicine, and a determination by the board that Chaudhry had failed to meet the standard of care expected of physicians.
The board now says it “has since received additional information to negate the need for an emergency suspension” of Chaudhry’s license and it has lifted the suspension, allowing Chaudhry to resume his practice.
The charges of incompetence and making untrue representations remain in place and will be considered at the second hearing, now scheduled for July 23-24, 2026.
Board records indicate the state’s lawyers at the February board hearing were assistant attorneys general Samantha Wagner and Jennifer Klein.
Chaudhry, who has not responded to inquiries from the Iowa Capital Dispatch, has been an Iowa-licensed physician since June 2010. His practice specialty, according to board records, is transplant surgery.
The board’s emergency action in January came four weeks after a medical malpractice and wrongful death case against Chaudhry and Iowa Methodist Medical Center was dropped by the plaintiffs after an out-of-court settlement was reached.
In that case, the estate of the late Donna Burton of Des Moines alleged Chaudhry performed a hernia repair on Burton on Nov. 23, 2020. Six days later, Burton allegedly went to the Iowa Methodist Medical Center emergency room to report that she was in pain, had not had a bowel movement since the operation, and was vomiting two or three times per day. She was allegedly admitted to the hospital and was found in her room the next morning, vomiting and gasping for air. She died minutes later, the lawsuit alleged, due to a bowel obstruction.
Prior to the settlement in the case, Chaudhry and the other defendants denied any wrongdoing.
In February 2025, Chaudhry and Iowa Methodist Medical Center were accused of negligence in a lawsuit by Jasmine Hart, a 37-year-old woman who underwent a kidney transplant on Feb. 23, 2023. In her lawsuit, Hart alleged Chaudhry observed in his surgical notes that the donor’s kidney was “oozy,” and that after the surgery was completed, Iowa Methodist received a call from the Iowa Donor Network indicating the donor had tested positive for cancer.
The lawsuit claimed Chaudhry then determined the transplanted organ needed to be removed. After that operation was completed, Hart resumed dialysis and underwent regular cancer screenings as a result of her exposure to the cancerous donor organ, the lawsuit alleged.
In December 2023, Hart was allegedly diagnosed with kidney cancer. The cancerous kidney was removed, but Hart continued to suffer from nerve damage and pain as a result of the operations, the lawsuit claimed.
Chaudhry and the other defendants in the case denied any wrongdoing. The lawsuit was dropped by Hart in August 2025, with no reference to any out-of-court settlement that may have been reached.
In May 2025, Chaudhry and Iowa Methodist Medical Center were the focus of a third lawsuit alleging medical malpractice. In that case, the estate of the late Faye Jean Robinson of Waterloo alleged that in May 2023, Chaudhry performed surgery on Robinson to repair a hernia and to remove her kidney and spleen.
After the operation was complete, Chaudhry allegedly left the hospital and Robinson twice went into cardiac arrest and was placed on a ventilator. The lawsuit alleges that a second surgery was planned to repair suspected internal bleeding, but before it took place, Robinson went into cardiac arrest three more times, became “visibly swollen with blood coming from the orifices protruding from her body,” and then died.
Chaudhry and the other defendants in the case denied any wrongdoing. The case was dismissed in late January with no mention of any settlement that may have been reached.
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