The Orlando Health lawsuit drawing the most attention is a $45 million wrongful death verdict a Florida jury returned in April 2025 against the Orlando-based nonprofit hospital system, but it is one of several active or recently resolved cases. Orlando Health has also faced litigation over physician credentialing, website tracking and patient privacy, a mishandled sexual assault examination, physician whistleblower claims, and labor practices. Here is where each major matter stands.
The $45 Million Sada Wrongful Death Verdict
James R. Sada, 55, was taken by ambulance in July 2020 to Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital in Longwood with a ST-elevation myocardial infarction, a severe heart attack. South Seminole had no cardiac catheterization lab, so staff arranged a helicopter transfer to Orlando Regional Medical Center, another Orlando Health facility about 20 miles south.1Cardiovascular Business. Family of Heart Patient Who Died Awarded $45M After Suing Health System for Negligence
Roughly an hour passed between Sada’s arrival and the helicopter’s departure. Part of that time, about 23 minutes, was spent burning fuel to lighten the aircraft because Sada exceeded its weight capacity. A competing hospital with a catheterization unit sat only a few miles away, and the plaintiffs said staff never told Sada or his family about it.2Yahoo News. Jury Rules Orlando Health Must Pay $45M When Sada reached Orlando Regional and entered the catheterization lab, he went into respiratory distress. An intubation attempt failed in part because the team lacked a key piece of equipment to confirm tube placement. He died on July 26, 2020.1Cardiovascular Business. Family of Heart Patient Who Died Awarded $45M After Suing Health System for Negligence
The estate’s suit cited more than 20 instances of negligence. Attorney Stuart Ratzan argued the hospital system prioritized keeping patients inside its own network over the fastest available care, calling it the “corporatization of healthcare” and accusing Orlando Health of using the helicopter to “leapfrog” closer competitor hospitals.2Yahoo News. Jury Rules Orlando Health Must Pay $45M In April 2025, a jury in Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit found Orlando Health acted with “reckless disregard” and awarded $45 million: $15 million each to Sada’s wife, Donna, and their two children, Blake and Dade.3Law360. Orlando Health Hit With $45M Verdict Over Heart Attack Death
As of May 2025, Orlando Health was seeking a new trial.4Orlando Business Journal. Orlando Health Malpractice Verdict Florida’s medical malpractice statute caps noneconomic damages against a hospital system at $750,000 per claimant and $1.5 million in aggregate, with higher limits for deaths and catastrophic injuries, and directs trial courts to reduce jury awards that exceed those limits.5Florida Legislature. F.S. 766.118 – Determination of Noneconomic Damages How those caps interact with the jury’s reckless-disregard finding is expected to be a central post-trial issue.
The Mohan Negligent Credentialing Case
On May 8, 2011, Dr. Karl M. Hagen performed an appendectomy on Mark R. Mohan at South Lake Hospital, which Orlando Health managed. Instead of removing the inflamed appendix, Hagen removed a healthy right ureter.6FindLaw. Orlando Health Inc. v. Mohan, 5D2023-1596
The plaintiffs alleged Hagen’s background made the error foreseeable: multiple prior malpractice suits, prosecution by the Florida Department of Health in 2006 and 2007 for wrong-site surgeries that resulted in patient deaths, and a revoked California medical license. Colleagues reportedly knew him as “Speedy Hagen,” and peers were aware of his alcohol abuse. After an internal investigation following the Mohan surgery, Hagen admitted to a drinking problem and was forced to resign his privileges.6FindLaw. Orlando Health Inc. v. Mohan, 5D2023-1596
In May 2024, Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal ruled the plaintiffs had established a “reasonable factual basis” to seek punitive damages for gross negligence in the credentialing process. The appellate court reversed one portion of the order tied to vicarious liability, because the underlying negligent credentialing claim against South Lake Hospital had already been dismissed on the pleadings, and remanded the case for further proceedings.7Fifth District Court of Appeal. Orlando Health Inc. v. Mohan, Opinion 5D2023-1596
Website Tracking and Patient Privacy
In W.W. v. Orlando Health, a plaintiff alleged the hospital system embedded Meta and Google tracking code on its web pages, capturing medical search terms and symptoms visitors entered and transmitting that data to those third parties in real time without the users’ knowledge.8HIPAA Journal. Website Tracking Lawsuit Orlando Health Survives Motion to Dismiss
The primary claim was not under HIPAA but under the Florida Security of Communications Act, which prohibits unauthorized interception of electronic communications. In March 2025, Judge Julie S. Sneed denied Orlando Health’s motion to dismiss, finding the search terms qualified as protected communications under the FSCA and that the plaintiff adequately alleged a lack of consent. She did dismiss an accompanying invasion-of-privacy claim, ruling Florida law requires intrusion into a private place rather than a private activity.8HIPAA Journal. Website Tracking Lawsuit Orlando Health Survives Motion to Dismiss
The case did not reach a ruling on the merits. On February 13, 2026, the parties jointly agreed to a voluntary dismissal and the court closed the case. No public explanation was given, and no settlement has been announced.9Berger Singerman. Chatbots and Website Tracking Technologies – Considerations Under Florida’s Security of Communications Act A separate 2023 class action in the Middle District of Florida made parallel allegations about the Facebook Tracking Pixel transmitting medical conditions and prescription histories to Meta.10MM&M. Lawsuits Against Orlando Health, U of L Health Highlight Growing Concerns Over Online Tracking Technologies
The Childress Sexual Assault Examination Case
In February 2026, Kirsten Childress filed a medical negligence lawsuit in the Middle District of Florida against Orlando Health, the Victim Service Center of Central Florida, and individual providers. Childress alleged that after a sexual assault during a professional conference in Orlando in May 2023, she went to the emergency department at Orlando Health-Dr. P. Phillips Hospital with symptoms consistent with drug-facilitated sexual assault, including severe memory gaps.11Legal Newsline. Sexual Assault Victim Sues Florida Hospital for Negligence
According to the complaint, hospital staff failed to collect or preserve blood and urine samples for toxicology testing during the narrow detection window and did not communicate her drug-facilitation indicators to the Victim Service Center, where she was transferred for a forensic examination.12ABA Journal. Medical Providers Who Allegedly Mishandled Rape Examination at Center of Florida Lawsuit Her attorney, Andrea Hirsch, said the missing toxicology evidence hampered the criminal investigation. The accused, Nicholas Blake Moore, has denied the assault and called the encounter consensual. Childress also filed a separate federal lawsuit against Moore and his employer, eXp Realty, which remained pending as of mid-2026.13Florida Politics. Orlando Health Sued Over Botched Rape Kit in Case That’s Gotten National Attention Orlando Health has declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Employment and Labor Disputes
Dr. Ayman Daouk, an orthopedic surgeon, filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit in early 2020 alleging Orlando Health fired him for refusing to perform surgeries and refer patients exclusively within the Orlando Health network. According to his complaint, administrators pressured him starting in 2014 to stop operating at Florida Hospital, an unaffiliated facility, and terminated him in August 2018 after he refused.14MedPage Today. Dr. Ayman Daouk Sues Orlando Health Daouk claimed the mandatory self-referral requirements violated the federal Stark law and anti-kickback statutes. Federal and state attorneys declined to intervene. He voluntarily dismissed the federal case in June 2020 and refiled in state circuit court that August, seeking $800,000 in damages.15Becker’s Spine Review. Dr. Ayman Daouk Sues Orlando Health for $800K After Dropping Federal Case
On the labor side, the National Labor Relations Board issued a 2014 complaint alleging 14 unfair labor practices, including threatening employees with reprisals for union activity, interrogating them about union sympathies, and creating the appearance of surveillance of union-supporting nurses.16National Nurses United. Orlando Health to Face Federal Labor Board Trial on Charges of Harassment, Violations of RN Rights The proceedings ended with a confidential settlement approved by an administrative law judge in October 2014.17Jones Day. Orlando Health Contests Unfair Labor Practice Charges
Data Breaches
Orlando Health has disclosed several data security incidents over the past decade, none of which have produced publicly reported enforcement actions or lawsuits against the hospital system itself. In 2015, a nursing assistant was found to have improperly accessed the electronic health records of 3,200 patients across three facilities over roughly 16 months. The employee was fired, and Orlando Health said it found no evidence the information was removed or misused.18HealthExec. Orlando Health Breach Impacts 3,200
In 2022, an unauthorized user accessed an employee email account, compromising demographic data, clinical information, and Social Security numbers for 3,662 patients. Patient data was also exposed in vendor-level breaches: a September 2023 ransomware attack on ESO Solutions and a separate breach at Nuance Communications.19MedicalRecords.com. Orlando Health Data Breaches The ESO breach affected about 2.7 million patients across its healthcare clients and was resolved through a $757,500 class action settlement with ESO in January 2026.20ClassAction.org. ESO Solutions Inc. Data Breach Lawsuit