By Valor Investigations
Published August 15, 2025
Part 1: Investigating Guardianship Abuse
Part 2: The Guardianship Pipeline
LA GRANDE, Ore. — Grande Ronde Hospital (GRH) projects an image of community-focused care, celebrating its status as a "Top 100 Critical Access Hospital" and its commitment to patient safety. But a deeper look into court dockets and public records reveals a troubling pattern of legal battles, from high-stakes medical malpractice suits to a federal whistleblower case that alleged a shocking scheme of unnecessary surgeries and institutional cover-up.
While the hospital publicly emphasizes its commitment to quality and patient safety, recent and ongoing litigation paints a different picture, raising serious questions about clinical oversight, an alleged institutional cover-up, and the accountability of its medical staff.
In the past year alone, two significant medical malpractice lawsuits have been filed against GRH, both pointing to potential systemic issues in patient care.
The case of Troy Simmons and Michele McKinney v. Grande Ronde Hospital, et al., filed in July 2024, alleges negligence in diagnostic services that led to severe injury. The suit claims that misinterpreted imaging, handled by out-of-state teleradiology contractors, resulted in harm, highlighting the challenges GRH faces in managing external providers and ensuring adequate oversight. The case remains active, with a trial-readiness hearing scheduled for February 14, 2025.
Just a month earlier, in June 2024, Misty Lee Johnson filed a lawsuit alleging she suffered a significant injury due to negligence during a surgical procedure performed by a podiatrist at GRH. The case, Misty Lee Johnson v. Grande Ronde Hospital and Dr. Stacy E. Iles, has already seen significant judicial twists. Two Union County judges, including the presiding judge of the judicial district, recused themselves from the case without public explanation—a move that observers note can signal potential local conflicts of interest when a major entity like GRH is involved.
Johnson is represented by William Keith Dozier, a Portland-area attorney with a history of securing multi-million dollar verdicts in malpractice cases, including a $3 million jury award in a podiatry case involving unnecessary surgery.
Perhaps the most alarming legal challenge to GRH’s reputation was a 2018 federal whistleblower lawsuit that accused a former hospital cardiologist, Dr. Emilia Arden, of implanting over 100 unnecessary pacemakers. The suit, filed by former GRH cardiology nurse practitioner Kathy Onwezen, laid out a series of explosive allegations described by her attorney as "some of the most egregious...that I've seen".
According to the lawsuit, Dr. Arden induced bradycardia (a slow heartbeat) in patients with medication to justify the surgeries, accepted gifts and travel from medical device manufacturers, and falsified patient records.
More critically, the lawsuit claimed that GRH management was not only aware of the misconduct but actively concealed it. Onwezen alleged that after she raised concerns, a hospital manager reviewed the cases and agreed that "she did not find a single instance in which the pacemaker was necessary for the patient". Instead of alerting patients, the hospital allegedly told them Dr. Arden was away for a "family emergency" to avoid damaging the hospital’s reputation and revenue.
The federal government ultimately declined to intervene in the case after GRH took a strategic move: it proactively refunded Medicare for the procedures in question. This maneuver effectively eliminated the financial incentive for the government’s case, leading Onwezen to voluntarily dismiss her lawsuit in October 2019.
While the dismissal meant no court ever ruled on the merits of the horrifying allegations, the hospital’s own spokesperson substantiated "significant elements of the lawsuit," including the Medicare reimbursement. The case leaves a lingering cloud of reputational risk over the hospital, with the serious questions it raised about patient safety and institutional integrity never fully answered in a court of law. Dr. Arden was suspended and later left the hospital; she now practices in Medford, Oregon.
As Grande Ronde Hospital continues to promote its image as a trusted community provider, the allegations detailed in these court filings stand in stark contrast. For the residents of eastern Oregon who depend on it for care, they suggest that the full story of what happens behind its doors has yet to be told.
Do you have an experience with Grande Ronde Hospital you believe should be heard? We invite you to share your story by sending a private message to us on Facebook at Valor Investigations or by emailing us at Info@ValorInvestigates.com.