Troyce Coles filed a $130 million lawsuit against Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center on August 18, 2026, alleging doctors removed part of her ovary instead of her appendix during a June 2025 procedure. The complaint was filed in D.C. Superior Court and says the error led to a second surgery five months later.
D.C. Superior Court Filing
The suit names Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center, Universal Health Services Inc. and Medical Faculty Associates Inc. as defendants. Coles says the second operation took place at Howard University Hospital after the appendix remained inflamed. D.C. law places no statutory caps on non-economic or total damages in medical malpractice cases, which leaves the size of the claim to be tested through the lawsuit rather than a fixed ceiling.
Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center
Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health opened on April 15, 2025, in Southeast D.C.'s Congress Heights neighborhood. The $434 million hospital was described as the first new full-service hospital built in Washington, D.C., in more than two decades, and United Medical Center closed the same week it opened. The filing lands while the hospital remains under scrutiny after the D.C. Department of Health hit it with an Immediate Jeopardy designation in February 2026 over staffing shortages, care delays and patient safety lapses.
Tony Coleman and Kimberlee Daniels
The lawsuit also adds to the pressure around the hospital's first year. District lawmakers cited the alleged organ-removal error during an April 2026 D.C. Council Committee on Health oversight hearing, after Founding CEO Tony Coleman stepped down in March 2026. Kimberlee Daniels became permanent CEO in June 2026 after serving as interim chief since January.
December 11 Conference
The case is now headed toward an initial conference scheduled for December 11, 2026. For Coles, that keeps the dispute on a public court track while the hospital has denied liability in court filings, setting up a fight over what happened in June 2025 and what evidence will decide whether the surgery went as the complaint describes.
