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YOUNGSTOWN -- Officials say the $20 million judgment awarded by a Mahoning County jury on behalf of the estate of a Youngstown man who died in 2021 after receiving treatment at the Hope Center for Cancer Care and St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital is among the highest in county history.
The jury awarded a $25 million judgment June 30 to the estate of Ronald S. Dunn of Youngstown following a trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Magistrate Ross Smith issued an order in the case July 21, stating that certified nurse practitioner Kimberly Hildebrand was 80% liable for the judgment and Dr. Eunice Wong was 20% liable.
But Wong was not a party to the lawsuit, and Smith's order did not order any financial judgment against Wong. Smith ordered the $20 million judgment against Hildebrand only. The suit was filed by Dunn's wife, Kristine Dunn, executor of Ronald Dunn's estate.
Hildebrand was named as a defendant in the suit, along with several doctors and other medical professionals. But the jury only returned monetary verdicts against Hildebrand and Wong. Some parties named in the lawsuit were dismissed from the suit earlier.
An "interrogatory" the jury completed with its verdicts stated that the jury found that Hildebrand "breached the standard of care during her care and treatment of Ronald Dunn."
Another interrogatory stated that the jurors found that Hildebrand's "documentation was less than adequate" and that a "lack of followup on lab/test results did not reach the standard of care." A third interrogatory stated that the jury found that Hildebrand's breach of the standard of care was a proximate cause of Ronald Dunn's death.
Another interrogatory stated that the jury found that Wong breached the standard of care, and that breach was "a proximate cause of Ronald Dunn's death."
When attorney Stacy Starcher, who represents Hildebrand, the Hope Center and Mahoning Valley Hematology Oncology Associates was asked for a comment on the judgment, she stated: "While we respect the jury system, we strongly disagree with the jury's decision in this case and are exploring our options."
Attorney Norman Moses filed the lawsuit May 19, 2025, as a medical malpractice and wrongful death complaint.
The trial brief filed on behalf of the estate of Ronald Dunn in November 2025 states that Dunn, 58, died Oct. 11, 2021, at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital from a "brain hemorrhage caused by septic emboli from an untreated blood infection and bacterial endocarditis."
Dunn, who worked for Baird Brothers, went to the Hope Center "for an elective iron infusion for chronic anemia," the document states. He had a high heart rate and low blood pressure, and Hildebrand ordered "a complete blood count (CBC)." But "rather than obtain the results of the CBC prior to starting the iron infusion, Ms. Hildebrand permitted the infusion go forward as scheduled," it states. After the infusion, a nurse notified Hildebrand that Dunn's temperature had risen to 103.2 degrees.
Hildebrand ordered more tests, but Hildebrand told the nurse that Dunn was "OK to leave" and that he should follow up with his family physician. However, Hildebrand testified at deposition that she advised Mr. Dunn to go to the emergency room, but he refused against medical advice. This was not reflected in any of the Hope Center records, the document states.
After Dunn left the Hope Center, he went to his dentist for a routine cleaning and talked several times on the phone with his wife, who was in Florida visiting her mother. Dunn told his wife he was trying to schedule a visit with his family doctor. He told her he was tired but felt fine, the Dunn filing states.
The next morning, Oct. 5, 2021, Dunn did not show up for work, so an employee called his wife, and she called a neighbor, who checked on him and found him on his front porch in a state of confusion and disorientation. He was taken to the hospital, the plaintiff trial brief states.
His wife called the Hope Center to ask what happened the previous day, and a nurse looked up information on Dunn and discovered the lab results showing possible kidney dysfunction and a blood-borne infection, which medical experts consider a medical emergency, the document states.
The information was relayed to Hildebrand, who called the emergency room at the hospital and spoke with a doctor named in the lawsuit to relay the lab results. The doctor was not assigned to Dunn and did not make any entries in Dunn's chart, but electronic medical records indicated that the doctor did access Dunn's record about the time Hildebrand indicated that she called, the document states.
Hildebrand apparently instructed a nurse at the Hope Center to fax the lab results to the hospital, and there is a fax confirmation sheeting indicating that results "were indeed faxed to the correct number." But the document adds that there is "no evidence ... in the St. E's records of those results, and no one present in the ED has any recollection of being aware of them," the document states.
Medical witnesses deposed in the case "testified those results would have immediately prompted repeat blood cultures followed by the administration of" antibiotics. The plaintiff trial brief adds that Dunn had signs and symptoms that "should have led to the diagnosis of sepsis," but his treatment team "failed to arrive at the diagnosis of sepsis." Dunn was admitted to the hospital.
On Oct. 6, Hildebrand received "the final blood culture results" for Dunn but did not relay that information to the hospital "because she assumed they were 'doing their job,'" but the plaintiff trial brief states that she "knew or should have known that none of Mr. Dunn's health care team at St. E's were treating him in accordance with the information she said she provided the previous day," the document states.
The medical team at the hospital "never considered bacterial endocarditis until it was too late," the document states, blaming that partly on the Hope Center and partly on a decision by a doctor at the hospital. Another doctor suspected bacterial endocarditis Oct. 9 and ordered a test that was performed Oct. 10. But Dunn was found unresponsive early Oct. 11 and he died later that day. His cause of death was listed as bacterial endocarditis, the filing states.
HILDEBRAND FILING
The trial brief filed Nov. 15 by Hildebrand, the Hope Center for Cancer Care and Mahoning Valley Hematology Oncology Associates, states that Hildebrand worked at the time of Dunn's care as an employee of the Hope Center "under a Standard Care Agreement" for a doctor who was "not involved" in the infusion for Dunn at the Hope Center.
After the infusion, Dunn "spiked a fever," so Hildebrand ordered a series of blood tests, the results of which were not known until the next day. "Ms. Hildebrand has testified that she instructed Dunn to go to the Emergency Department for further evaluation, but he declined," and Hildebrand "called Mr. Dunn's primary care physician."
When Hildebrand spoke with Dunn's wife, Hildebrand learned that Dunn had experienced increased urination and leg swelling Oct. 2, but Dunn "did not advise the staff of these symptoms on Oct. 4, 2021."
Hildenbrand called the St. Elizabeth's Emergency Department on Oct. 5 and advised a doctor of the lab results showing Dunn having a positive blood culture (gram positive cocci), and the lab results were faxed to the hospital.
"However, for some unexplained reason the positive blood culture was not passed along to anyone in the Emergency Department or hospital after Mr. Dunn was admitted for treatment of a urinary infection and ... cardiac issue," the Hildebrand filing states.
A blood culture done at the hospital Oct. 6 came back negative after antibiotics were administered. "On the same date, the final results of blood cultures taken at The Hope Center "returned positive for staph aureus."
The Hildebrand filing states that Hildebrand denies the allegations that she was negligent for the infusion at the Hope Center Oct. 4, her communications with the hospital Oct. 5, and her handling of the final results of the final blood work ordered Oct. 4. She also denied that her alleged negligence "directly caused Mr. Dunn's death."
The filing states that the Hildebrand defendants joined with several medical professionals named in the lawsuit who also filed a trial brief that argued that Wong, "an infectious-disease physician, evaluated Mr. Dunn Oct. 8, 2021," but did not diagnose sepsis and stopped all antibiotics that Dunn was prescribed in the hospital emergency department.
There were no filings in the case from Wong or from an attorney for her to represent her positions on the allegations. The Vindicator called a Youngstown-area phone number for her to seek comment on the judgment. A representative said Wong moved and is no longer affiliated with that organization.
On Oct. 10, 2025, the estate filed a notice of dismissal from the lawsuit of two doctors who were working at the hospital.