Case Background
This medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuit arose from the death of 68-year-old Terri Price at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. The case was filed in the Court of Common Pleas, Hamilton County, Ohio on March 18, 2024. Jennifer Wiesner, Price's daughter, brought the action as the administratrix of her mother's estate.
Cause
The Plaintiff alleged that Good Samaritan Hospital and its physicians and nursing staff committed medical negligence by admitting Terri Price to the hospital's psychiatric unit despite clear indicators that her condition was medical, not psychiatric. The Plaintiff further alleged failures in monitoring, medication administration, and communication among the medical team during Price's seven-day stay, which the Plaintiff contended directly caused her death.
Injury
According to the complaint, Terri Price suffered untreated delirium, untreated bowel complications, untreated tachycardia, a full-thickness head laceration from a fall, two cardiac arrests, and ultimately death from septic shock caused by bowel perforation on March 29, 2020.
Damages Sought
The Plaintiff sought judgment in an amount exceeding $25,000, along with full and fair compensation for all injuries and damages sustained by Price and her next of kin, including Court costs. The complaint stated that an economic loss calculation performed by Dr. Harvey S. Rosen, PhD, exceeded $400,000. Price left behind her husband, a daughter, a son, and four grandchildren.
Key Arguments and Proceedings
Legal Representation
Plaintiff: The Estate of Terri Price by Jennifer Wiesner, Administratrix
· Counsel for Plaintiff: Joseph W. Shea III | Charles M. Rittgers
Defendants: Good Samaritan Hospital | TriHealth G, LLC | Stephanie Parrish, MD | Charles M. Hendricks, MD | Michael Cholera, DO
· Counsel for Defendants: Joel L. Peschke | Brian Goldwasser
Claims
The Plaintiff's complaint outlined allegations against the Defendants across multiple categories of negligence.
Admitting Physician Failures
The complaint alleged that Dr. Stephanie Parrish, the admitting physician, accepted Terri Price into the psychiatric unit by telephone without physically evaluating her. According to the complaint, the admitting registered nurse, Stephanie Sams, performed a Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) screening on Price at admission. The CAM result was four out of four, a positive finding for delirium, and the complaint stated that a score of three out of four already qualified as positive. The complaint alleged that delirium is a neurocognitive disorder caused by a medical condition, and that hospital policy prohibited admitting medically ill patients to the psychiatric unit. The complaint further alleged that Dr. Parrish never reviewed the UCMC medical records that accompanied Price in paper format, which documented a discharge diagnosis of cognitive disorder due to a medical condition and an antibiotic prescription for a suspected urinary tract infection.
Nursing Staff Failures
The complaint alleged that the GSH nursing staff failed to administer two medications — Ativan for anxiety and Haldol for psychosis — those physicians ordered within hours of admission. According to the complaint, the nurses did not administer these medications because the orders lacked a specific indication for use. The complaint alleged that the nursing staff also failed to perform daily CAM tests, failed to communicate to physicians that Price posted a heart rate persistently above 100 beats per minute on more than 70 occasions over seven days, and incorrectly charted the sustained tachycardia as within defined limits. The complaint further alleged that the nursing staff dismissed Price's ongoing bowel complaints as a psychiatric fixation rather than a medical problem, and failed to communicate laboratory results suggesting infection, dehydration, and electrolyte imbalance to the attending physicians.
Physician Failures
The complaint alleged that all three attending physicians — Dr. Parrish, Dr. Hendricks, and Dr. Cholera — failed to recognize that Price's bowel complaints were medical in nature and not a psychotic fixation. According to the complaint, the three physicians never received a single dose of six medications ordered on a PRN basis because the orders lacked indications for use.
Hospital Institutional Failures
The complaint alleged that Good Samaritan Hospital failed to establish and enforce policies consistent with The Joint Commission standards, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requirements, and the Ohio Nurse Practice Act. The complaint alleged the hospital unlawfully restricted the scope of practice for its registered nurses on the psychiatric unit.
Defense
In his answer filed April 17, 2024, Dr. Michael Cholera denied all allegations of negligence and proximate causation. His answer raised multiple affirmative defenses, including that the Plaintiff's claims were time-barred by the applicable statute of limitations, that the alleged injuries resulted from a pre-existing condition, that independent and superseding causes contributed to the outcome, and that the Plaintiff's decedent assumed the risks of the alleged injuries. Dr. Cholera also challenged the qualifications of the Plaintiff's experts to render standard-of-care opinions against him.
Jury Verdict
The case proceeded to trial before a jury on April 20, 2026, with Judge Christopher A. Wagner presiding. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the Plaintiff, the Estate of Terri Price, and against Good Samaritan Hospital in the amount of $10,000,000. The jury also returned a verdict in favor of Defendants Stephanie Parrish, MD, Charles Hendricks, MD, and their employer TriHealth G, LLC. Judge Wagner entered the judgment on May 12, 2026, with costs taxed to the Defendant.
Court documents are available upon request at [email protected]
