The Ohio Nurses Association says it is preparing formal complaints asking the State Medical Board of Ohio and the Ohio Board of Nursing to investigate two top leaders at OSU Wexner Medical Center, pointing to canceled open-heart surgeries, closed intensive-care beds and limits on patient admissions and transfers that the association links to staffing shortages. The complaints name CEO John J. Warner, MD, and James Cancer Hospital Chief Nursing Officer Corrin Steinhauer, DNP, RN.
According to abc6onyourside.com, the association says the reported staffing deficiencies contributed to canceled open-heart surgeries, closed intensive care beds, and limitations on patient admissions and transfers. The group, which describes itself as calling for state investigations into leadership at the Columbus medical center, says nurses had been documenting short-staffing, notifying hospital executives of the risks, and demanding immediate action well before the complaints were drafted.
The Ohio Nurses Association is asking the boards to examine what each executive knew, how they responded to safety warnings, and whether their decisions complied with professional standards, per the same report. The association has stressed that the complaints are intended to prompt independent investigations rather than presume any findings of wrongdoing — a distinction it has been careful to draw as the filings move forward.
Union President Says Warnings Went Unheeded
Ohio Nurses Association President Rick Lucas said licensed healthcare professionals carry a fundamental responsibility to protect patients, and that an executive title does not excuse anyone from those professional obligations. “They have been warned about dangerous conditions, yet patients continue to face unnecessary risks and disruptions in care,” Lucas said, according to the station's report. Lucas added that the association intends to hold medical center leaders accountable.
Complaints about nurse staffing are not new at Wexner. The Columbus Dispatch reported that violence against nurses had been a pervasive problem repeatedly brought before Wexner leadership over time but rarely met with solutions. That reporting followed a new contract secured in mid-2025 by unionized nurses and health care workers under the Ohio State University Nurses Organization, reached after months of demonstrations and negotiations. The Ohio Nurses Association announced that contract on July 3, 2025, calling it a major milestone in the fight for patient safety, workplace protections, and accountability from hospital leadership. During those talks, nurses had pushed for security staffing and patient screening at the emergency services entrance, metal detectors, more trained security officers, and an end to staffing cuts.
Incentive Pay Dispute Adds to Tensions
Staffing friction resurfaced again this fall. Spectrum News 1 reported that Ohio State nurses rejected a proposed replacement incentive-pay program, with 97% of voting union members voting it down. The prior program had expired on Sept. 30, cutting off extra payments for designated shifts, and Ohio State's replacement offer would have provided an additional $25 an hour for those shifts — well below the $40-an-hour rates the earlier program reached during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ohio State officials said they would need to review data to confirm whether staffing requests had increased or whether fewer nurses were volunteering for extra shifts, Spectrum News 1 reported. A health care economist cited in that report noted that incentive programs are common in health care and vary by employees' roles and an organization's goals. The Ohio State University Nurses Organization represents nearly 4,200 nurses.
Broader Survey Points to Statewide Strain
The complaints land against a backdrop of wider concern documented by the Ohio Nurses Association, which gathered survey data from more than 7,800 nurses between June and July 2024 on workplace violence and inadequate staffing. That survey found 63% of direct-care nurses were considering leaving bedside nursing due to current conditions, while 91% said they would support or strongly support a bill establishing minimum staffing standards for hospitals. The same survey found 65% of Ohio's direct-care nurses had experienced workplace violence in the prior 12 months.
As for where complaints about nurses are supposed to go, the State Medical Board of Ohio's own complaint guidance notes that the board does not license or regulate nurses and directs people with complaints involving nurses to the Ohio Board of Nursing instead — a distinction relevant given the complaints target both a physician-CEO and a nurse executive. No response from OSU Wexner Medical Center or either named executive has been included in reporting on the planned complaints so far.
