Mercy Hospital Lawsuit: Verdicts, Settlements, and Rulings

Mercy hospitals across the Midwest have been named in a string of significant lawsuits in recent years, including a $48.1 million birth injury verdict in St. Louis, wrongful death claims tied to emergency room waits in Springfield, a settled patient-privacy class action in Ohio, religious discrimination suits over COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and a $14.8 million federal settlement in Iowa. Mercy is a Catholic nonprofit health system operating 50 hospitals across eight states.¹ Below is what has happened in the most consequential Mercy Hospital lawsuits, what has been decided, and what remains open.

$48.1 Million St. Louis Birth Injury Verdict

On March 25, 2025, a St. Louis County jury returned a unanimous $48.1 million verdict against Mercy Clinic and obstetrician Dr. Daniel McNeive in a case brought by the family of Remington “Remi” Anyan, a child born with permanent brain damage at Mercy Hospital East on May 4, 2020. The award included $28.1 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitive damages.²³

The mother, Sarah Anyan, was herself a Mercy nurse. The lawsuit alleged that Dr. McNeive let her push for more than twelve hours despite fetal heart rate tracings showing signs of oxygen deprivation, and that he should have performed a cesarean section as early as 9:30 a.m. The family also alleged the doctor observed concerning tracings at 8:00 a.m., then left the bedside and did not return until 2:00 p.m., during which time he delivered three other babies by C-section elsewhere in the hospital. No nurse called him back during that six-hour gap.⁴

Remi suffered hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and cerebral palsy, began having seizures within 24 hours, and spent 46 days in the neonatal intensive care unit. He now uses a gait trainer and an eye-tracking communication device.²³

The actual payout will be far less than the jury number. The parties signed a pre-verdict high-low settlement agreement that capped damages at $18 million, cutting $30.1 million from the verdict. The case is on appeal (Appellate Case No. ED114232), with the enforceability of that settlement agreement still contested in mid-2025. Mercy said it stands by the care its team and Dr. McNeive provided and that no evidence of “dangerous patterns or practices” was introduced at trial.⁵³

Springfield Emergency Room Wrongful Death Suits

Mercy Hospital Springfield in Missouri has been sued at least three times by families of patients who died after long waits in its emergency department. State investigators have twice cited the hospital for violating the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).

Anthony McGowan

Anthony McGowan, 56, arrived at the ER at 8:01 p.m. on May 21, 2023, complaining of chest pain and arm numbness. Triage took nearly an hour, and he was then sent to the waiting room. According to the lawsuit, no medical provider assessed him for the next ten hours. He was found slumped in his wheelchair around 6:45 a.m. and died at 7:25 a.m. His family filed a wrongful death and malpractice suit on February 29, 2024.⁶⁷ The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) later found Mercy out of compliance with EMTALA, with a nurse reporting more than 70 patients waiting to be triaged that night.⁸

Glenda Baxter-McDowell

Weeks later, in June 2023, Glenda Michelle Baxter-McDowell, 51, arrived at the same ER with severe abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting, and a known history of bowel obstruction. The lawsuit alleged she sat untreated for roughly 12 hours while developing dehydration and sepsis, that a physician disregarded a friend’s warning about aspiration risk and told her to lie down, and that she then aspirated vomit, went into cardiac arrest, and died from acute respiratory syndrome secondary to aspiration pneumonia. DHSS cited Mercy for another EMTALA violation after a July 11, 2023, on-site investigation. No court date has been set.⁹

George Lubrano

George Lubrano, a 24-year-old Type 1 diabetic, arrived at Mercy Springfield’s ER at 1:30 p.m. on December 16, 2024, with symptoms of diabetic ketoacidosis and a blood sugar reading above 500. The lawsuit filed by his parents on February 2, 2026, alleged he waited nearly five hours without care, and that during resuscitation staff placed an airway tube into his esophagus rather than his airway. He was pronounced dead at 6:01 p.m. Mercy extended condolences and said it would work with the family toward a resolution.¹⁰¹¹

Following the McGowan investigation, Mercy said it added more frequent reassessments in the waiting room, revised staff communication protocols, created dedicated triage rooms for cardiac patients, and increased nurse staffing. Thirteen percent of patients still left the Mercy Springfield ER before being seen as of 2025, against a national average of 2%, and the hospital’s Medicare star rating dropped from three stars to two.⁸

Chicago Tracheostomy Case: Jefferson v. Mercy Hospital

A Cook County jury in December 2015 awarded $22.18 million to the estate of Jeanette Turner, a single mother of six, after Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago mismanaged her care following an emergency tracheostomy performed in February 2005 for Ludwig’s angina. The suit alleged nurses failed to promptly notify doctors of persistent bleeding from the surgical site and the attending physician failed to follow up on the treatment plan. The cuff of the tracheostomy tube was deflated, blood entered the tube and clotted, and Turner’s airway was obstructed. She was without oxygen for 20 to 25 minutes and suffered an anoxic brain injury that left her wheelchair-bound and fully dependent on caregivers.¹²¹³

Turner died on the evening of December 3, 2015, after the case had been submitted to the jury but before the verdict was returned the next day. On appeal, the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the finding of malpractice but vacated the $15 million in future damages, ruling that once Turner had died, the case became a survival action under the Illinois Survival Act, which does not permit recovery for future injuries the person will not experience. Roughly $7.1 million remained intact, including $1 million for past emotional distress, $500,000 for past pain and suffering, $2 million for past loss of normal life, and $2.5 million for disfigurement.¹²

Ohio Patient Privacy Class Action

Bon Secours Mercy Health, the Ohio-based arm of the broader Mercy network, was sued in a class action alleging it placed digital tracking technologies on its website (mercy.com) and its MyChart patient portal that transmitted personally identifiable and protected health information to third parties including Facebook and Google. The case, John Doe v. Bon Secours Mercy Health (Case No. A 2002633), was filed in Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas in Cincinnati. Mercy Health denied the allegations and specifically denied that any medical information was shared with Facebook or Google.¹⁴¹⁵

The class covered Ohio residents who were Bon Secours Mercy Health patients and logged into MyChart between March 27, 2018, and December 31, 2021. The settlement created a $5 million fund, with another $2.5 million available on a claims-made basis if the initial pool proved insufficient, and eligible class members could receive a $35 cash payment. Mercy also agreed to stop using certain digital analytics technologies on its web properties for two years. Judge Christian A. Jenkins granted final approval on August 19, 2025, finding the settlement “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” and payments went out to eligible claimants on December 17, 2025. The claims process is closed.¹⁵¹⁴

COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Employment Suits

Mercy and its affiliates rolled out mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies in 2021, and the resulting religious discrimination cases have gone different ways depending on which Mercy entity was sued.

Conway v. Mercy Hospital St. Louis

Patricia Conway, a registered nurse employed by an affiliate of Mercy Hospital St. Louis, requested a religious exemption citing fetal tissue cell concerns. The hospital denied her request in August 2021 and terminated her in October 2021. She sued under Title VII, and both the district court and the Eighth Circuit ruled for Mercy. The appellate court held that Mercy qualifies as a religious organization under Title VII because it is a nonprofit owned by Mercy Health, a public juridic person of the Roman Catholic Church listed in the Official Catholic Directory, and is therefore exempt from the statute’s prohibition on religious discrimination in employment. The court also rejected arguments that Mercy had waived or was estopped from invoking the exemption.¹⁶

Mercyhealth EEOC Settlement (Rockford, Illinois)

A different Mercy-affiliated entity, Mercyhealth in Rockford, reached a settlement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in August 2025. The EEOC found reasonable cause to believe that between September 2021 and May 2022 Mercyhealth refused to allow employees to request religious accommodations, firing those who declined the shot or applying a $60 monthly “vaccine incentive charge” wage deduction. Under a three-year conciliation agreement, Mercyhealth agreed to pay more than $1 million in back pay and compensatory damages, offer reinstatement to terminated workers, revise its policies, train HR staff, and report future accommodation requests to the EEOC.¹⁷¹⁸

Shepard v. Mercy Hospital Springfield

Ten former employees of Mercy Hospital Springfield, led by Amy Shepard and Marissa Moffatt, filed a federal Title VII suit claiming the hospital denied religious accommodations, imposed unequal testing and masking conditions on those with exemptions, and retaliated against workers who sought accommodations. The original 2025 complaint was dismissed in April 2026 for failure to properly serve the defendant. The plaintiffs re-filed on May 29, 2026, and Mercy has again moved to dismiss on the ground that the suit falls outside the 90-day statute of limitations triggered by the EEOC’s right-to-sue letter issued to at least one plaintiff in April 2025. The motion remains pending.¹⁹

Iowa: $14.8 Million OIG Settlement

In March 2026, Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, agreed to pay $14,814,581.50 to settle allegations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General that it had violated the Civil Monetary Penalties Law. The OIG alleged Mercy paid fees and expenses on behalf of PCI MMC Surgery Center Investment Company LLC that the investment company itself owed under a Management Services Agreement but had not paid, and that Mercy made profit distributions to the investment company and its physician owners that were not permitted under the surgery center’s operating agreement.²⁰²¹

The matter came to light through Mercy’s own self-disclosure to the OIG. The hospital said it conducted an internal review, reported its findings, implemented compliance changes, and considers the matter closed, adding that the settlement would be funded through investments rather than its operating budget or donor contributions.²²

Bailey v. Mercy Hospital: Illinois Supreme Court Ruling

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in November 2021 on Bailey v. Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, a wrongful death case arising from the March 2012 death of Jill Milton-Hampton, who had presented twice to Mercy’s Chicago ER with abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. Her family alleged doctors failed to diagnose and treat sepsis and toxic shock syndrome, possibly caused by a retained tampon; the defense argued she died of fulminant viral myocarditis, an unrelated cardiac condition. The jury found for the defendants at trial. The Illinois Appellate Court ordered a new trial, but the Supreme Court reversed and reinstated the defense verdict.²³²⁴

Two holdings matter for future Illinois malpractice plaintiffs. On loss of chance, the court held that the doctrine does not create a separate, lower standard for proving causation and is already encompassed within the standard proximate-cause instruction. On informed consent, it held that the claim did not meet the legal requirements because the plaintiff had not shown the patient consented to a medical procedure without being told of its risks.²³

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