Cleveland Clinic Lawsuit: Settlements, Verdicts, and Civil Suits

The Cleveland Clinic lawsuits and government actions of recent years span federal False Claims Act settlements, multi-million-dollar malpractice verdicts, and pending class actions over billing and patient privacy. The largest resolutions include a June 2026 U.S. Department of Justice agreement tied to pediatric gender-affirming care, a $21.25 million kickback settlement by subsidiary Akron General Health System, and a $7.6 million foreign-funding settlement with the federal government. Two juries have also returned verdicts against the Clinic exceeding $7 million, one of them for $32 million.

DOJ Settlement Over Pediatric Gender-Affirming Care

On June 5, 2026, the Justice Department announced a resolution with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation over allegations that the hospital submitted false billing claims to public and private insurers to secure coverage for what the DOJ called “sex-rejecting procedures” performed on minors, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.¹ The DOJ alleged the Clinic knowingly used false diagnosis codes on claims submitted to Ohio Medicaid to obscure the nature of the treatments.²

The agreement, reached in coordination with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, includes three main components. The Clinic committed to a 20-year moratorium on most pediatric gender-affirming interventions across its facilities in Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. It agreed to pay $308,000 to resolve the false billing allegations. And it pledged $2 million toward “restorative care” for individuals who underwent gender-affirming interventions as minors and later sought to detransition, covering hormonal balancing, endocrine care, surgical revision, fertility restoration, and psychological support.¹ Within 30 days, the Clinic was required to establish a dedicated webpage, phone number, and care coordinator for detransitioning services.²

The Cleveland Clinic denied all allegations, describing the matter as an “unintentional coding issue involving a small number of patients.”³ The settlement expressly states there was no determination of liability, and the DOJ described the Clinic’s cooperation as “cooperative, proactive, and solution-driven.”¹ The Clinic added that the moratorium reflected existing Ohio and Florida law rather than a change in practice, pointing to Ohio’s 2024 SAFE Act (House Bill 68), which already prohibited hormone therapy and puberty blockers for transgender minors.

Akron General $21.25 Million Kickback Settlement

On July 2, 2021, the DOJ announced that Akron General Health System, a Cleveland Clinic subsidiary, agreed to pay $21.25 million to settle False Claims Act allegations in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. The case, United States ex rel. Brouse et al. v. Akron General Health System, Inc. et al. (No. 5:15-cv-2720), was a whistleblower action brought by Beverly Brouse, Akron General’s former Director of Internal Audit, along with Ethical Solutions LLC.⁴

The government alleged that between August 2010 and March 2016, Akron General paid physician groups compensation above fair market value to induce patient referrals, violating both the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law). Because the resulting Medicare claims were tainted by those improper arrangements, the government argued they also violated the False Claims Act.⁵ The DOJ noted the claims were allegations only and that no determination of liability had been made.⁴

Foreign Funding Disclosure Settlement

In May 2024, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation paid $7.6 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by failing to disclose foreign sources of funding on three National Institutes of Health grant applications and later updates between November 2013 and May 2020. Half the settlement, $3.8 million, was designated as restitution. The case centered on research by Qing Wang, a scientist the Clinic terminated in 2020 after federal charges were brought against him for allegedly misrepresenting his grant funding sources.⁶ Federal prosecutors dropped all charges against Wang in July 2021 without proceeding to indictment.⁷

As part of the settlement, the Clinic was placed under NIH-imposed special award conditions on all its grants for one year and required to implement corrective measures, including personal attestation by a senior employee to the accuracy of grant disclosures and mandatory training on research security and foreign-component reporting.⁶

Major Medical Malpractice Verdicts

In March 2024, a Broward County, Florida jury returned a verdict of approximately $32 million against Cleveland Clinic Florida in a wrongful death case involving Saverio Sasso, a 51-year-old patient who died in September 2018. The plaintiff’s estate alleged the Clinic was negligent in failing to admit Sasso to intensive care when he presented with septic shock, and that a subsequent intubation attempt was delayed and poorly managed, leaving him without oxygen for 14 minutes. The jury awarded $30 million to Sasso’s minor daughter for pain, suffering, and loss of companionship, plus roughly $1.9 million in medical and funeral expenses. Plaintiff’s attorneys also sought sanctions, alleging the Clinic deliberately withheld emails about which provider performed the intubation. Cleveland Clinic denied the allegations and said it was “evaluating our options.”⁸

In June 2023, a Cuyahoga County jury awarded $7.6 million to Laurie Hance, a Gates Mills woman left paralyzed from the waist down after spinal surgery performed by Dr. Iain Kalfas at Cleveland Clinic in October 2018. Her attorneys alleged the surgical team left a foreign object in her back and failed to perform a postoperative MRI that would have identified spinal compression. The jury rejected a separate punitive damages claim. Cleveland Clinic maintained the surgery carried known risks and that its physicians met the standard of care.⁹

Pending Civil Suits

Alim Excessive Force Lawsuit

In June 2026, Ibrahim Alim filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio (Case No. 1:26-cv-01242) against the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, the Cleveland Clinic Police Department, unnamed officers, and the City of Cleveland, seeking $10 million in damages.¹⁰ The complaint says Alim drove a shooting victim to Cleveland Clinic on May 30, 2025, and was detained by hospital police officers who confiscated his car keys and demanded identification. Alim alleges a Cleveland Clinic police officer sexually assaulted him during a search following his arrest. The complaint includes counts for false arrest, illegal search, false imprisonment, excessive force, battery, and due process violations. Cleveland Clinic called the allegations “false.” The case is pending before Judge Dan Aaron Polster.¹¹

Deceptive Billing Class Action

Former patient Amanda Van Brakle filed a lawsuit in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas alleging the Cleveland Clinic engages in “unfair and deceptive” billing. The complaint claims the Clinic accepts payments without providing legally required receipts, ignores payments already made, makes errors that result in double-billing, and sends inflated bills to collections. Van Brakle sought class-action status.¹² In January 2021, Judge John O’Donnell denied the Clinic’s motion to dismiss, ruling the claims were “sufficient to support a class-action claim.”¹³ As of the most recent reporting, the class had not been formally certified. Cleveland Clinic said its billing and collections are “consistent with standards for nonprofit healthcare systems.”

Website Tracking Class Action

In December 2025, a class action styled Weatherly et al v. Cleveland Clinic Foundation et al (Case No. 0:25cv62530) was filed alleging the Clinic embedded third-party tracking technologies from Adobe, Google, Amazon, Magnite, Index Exchange, and OpenX on its website. The suit claims those tools collected sensitive patient health information, including details about medical conditions, appointment scheduling, and provider interactions, without user consent, and that the data was used for advertising and marketing. The complaint charges violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Florida Security of Communications Act.¹⁴

Federal Civil Rights Investigation

In August 2024, the advocacy group Do No Harm and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights challenging two Cleveland Clinic programs: the Minority Stroke Program and the Minority Men’s Health Center. The complaint alleged the programs violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Affordable Care Act by offering separate care based on race.¹⁵

HHS-OCR initially opened an investigation, and the Biden Administration closed the matter in January 2025. Do No Harm filed a request for reconsideration in June 2025, which the Trump Administration granted; HHS-OCR formally reopened the investigation in December 2025.¹⁶ As of mid-2026, the investigation remains open, and no public information indicates the Cleveland Clinic has modified the targeted programs.¹⁷

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Department Secures Resolution With Cleveland Clinic to End Pediatric Gender-Affirming Care
2
The Buckeye Flame. Cleveland Clinic Commits $2 Million to Detransition Care in DOJ Settlement
3
Cleveland Clinic Newsroom. Information on Recent Settlement
4
U.S. Department of Justice. Northern Ohio Health System Agrees to Pay Over $21 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations
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Healthcare Dive. Cleveland Clinic-Owned Hospital System Pays $21M to Settle False Claims Allegations
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Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP. Cleveland Clinic Foundation to Pay $7.6 Million to Settle Foreign Funding False Statement Allegations
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The Washington Post. China Initiative Questions Dismissals
8
Insurance Journal. $32 Million Verdict Against Cleveland Clinic Florida in Wrongful Death Case
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Cleveland.com. Jury Awards Gates Mills Woman $7.6 Million Verdict Against Cleveland Clinic Over Surgery
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PACER Monitor. Alim v. Cleveland Clinic Foundation, et al
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Cleveland.com. A Man Drove a Shooting Victim to Cleveland Clinic. Then He Says He Was Detained and Assaulted
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News 5 Cleveland. New Lawsuit Claims Cleveland Clinic Uses Deceptive Billing Practices
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News 5 Cleveland. Deceptive Billing Lawsuit Against Cleveland Clinic Can Move Forward, Judge Says
14
ClassAction.org. Cleveland Clinic Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Alleging Third-Party Tracking Tools Collect Sensitive Health Info
15
Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. WILL Files Federal Civil Rights Complaint Against Cleveland Clinic’s Racially Discriminatory Patient Programming
16
Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. Trump Administration Re-Opens Investigation Into Cleveland Clinic’s Racially Discriminatory Patient Programming
17
Do No Harm. Cleveland Clinic Racial Discrimination Civil Rights