Wesley & Colleen Crawford
Living in the Tennessee jungle
We are pro se litigants fighting for justice against a private equity firm that diverts its hospitals' revenue upstream to service corporate debt.
They share patient consent form data with their lenders in exchange for billions of dollars in debt. Their facilities then have to service this debt as first-priority over the safety of patients.
Their executives, bondholders, board members and lenders are compensated with millions of dollars while the emergency department in one of their hospitals was understaffed. They strapped Wesley to a gurney and deprived him of emergency medical care for more than 7 hours.
They refused to test him for food poisoning, and instead, tested drugs on him without consent.
Wesley had Shiga toxin-producing E. coli food poisoning. They concealed his medical records.
Congress, our Tennessee Governor Lee, and members of the Tennessee General Assembly get PAC money from the firm. They have our complaint and know private equity firms across America are harming patients, yet they do nothing to stop this.
We are two pro se litigants
How long has the hospital withheld Wesley's medical records?
CASES UPDATES
Last docket filed was Doc 59 (Case No. 3:25-cv-00516) We responded to the Magistrate Judge’s R&R.
SITE LAUNCH:
We moved our site to a new host to make this a very fast site, since we are running a membership. We were delayed in our project launch timeline, so we have a new schedule:
All of June, 2026: Free memberships only. This will give us time to test all of the settings. July will be the paid versions of the site, including our pro se diary. If we are able to get the site tested sooner, then we’ll launch sooner. We are excited to have this site up and running!
Case # 25-5868 Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
Pending ruling on our in forma pauperis motion filed in the original case. The district court has not ruled yet.
Case # 26-5171 Writ of Mandamus
The writ has been assigned to a panel of judges. We’re waiting for a response. This is in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court assigned the writ to the original case, and to 00516.
Case # 3:25-cv-00516 District Court, Knoxville, TN
Tennova North has a motion to stay discovery, and we responded in opposition.
Circuit Court applied our writ of mandamus to this case, and to the original case.
Case # 3:24-CV-382 Original Case
Petition for Writ of Mandamus filed
Case # 2-304-25 Knox County Circuit Court
Corporate defendants removed this case to the district court. We are waiting to see if the district court judge grants our motion to remand back to the Circuit Court.
See 3:25-cv-00516 – District Court
Cleland v. Bronson Health Care Grp., Inc.
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals: 25-5868
We are challenging the Cleland case being used to dismiss EMTALA failure to screen claims. The EMTALA text does not require an improper motive. Issues being presented to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals includes:
Whether the District Court erred in dismissing the EMTALA screening claim by requiring proof of an “improper motive” under Cleland v. Bronson Health Care Grp., Inc., 917 F.2d 266 (6th Cir. 1990).
Whether Cleland’s improper-motive requirement for EMTALA screening claims remains viable after the Supreme Court’s holding in Roberts v. Galen of Virginia, Inc., 525 U.S. 249 (1999), which rejected any motive requirement for EMTALA stabilization and transfer claims.
Whether this case presents grounds for en banc review of Cleland’s improper-motive requirement for EMTALA screening claims, which remains binding in the Sixth Circuit but conflicts with EMTALA’s plain text, CMS regulations, and the overwhelming weight of authority in other circuits rejecting any motive requirement.
Information Blocking Complaint
When a Hospital Hides Your Records
Federal law gives every patient the right to access their own medical records. When a hospital knowingly blocks that access, it’s a federal violation called information blocking — punishable by up to $1 million per incident.
Wesley Crawford has been trying to obtain his records from a 2022 emergency admission to Tennova Healthcare North Knoxville Medical Center (“Tennova North”) for more than three years. In September 2023, when he was admitted to another hospital’s ICU with life-threatening kidney failure, Tennova North refused to send his records to the treating physicians — during the emergency. His kidney condition has continued to worsen.
What Tennova North eventually sent to Methodist’s emergency department is a document of journal-like entries made by physicians, nurses, and a pharmacist. What they are refusing to turn over are the records that should exist because journal entries are not medical records, such as diagnostic aids tests, restraint logs, kidney records, etc. Not one record from his 2022 admission has ever been produced — through written requests, mediation, HIPAA authorization, pre-suit notice, or active federal court discovery.
On April 7, 2026, the Crawfords filed a formal information blocking complaint with the HHS Office of Inspector General.
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