Who to Call
If you have found this website, it is likely you have already been harmed by Sunrise Hospital. We assume you have already tried to get help from your doctor and Sunrise Hospital, with no success.
We are providing the following list of people and organizations you can contact. However, the doctors, hospitals and corporate owners have been playing these games for decades, so the system is designed to protect them.
First step, if you are in serious condition, seek medical help at a different hospital. Do not wait, because Sunrise Hospital will not help you. Remember, they have very low ratings (rated only ONE STAR by Medicare) and hundreds of negative reviews.
Keep in mind that UMC is owned by the state of Nevada, and all other hospitals in Las Vegas are owned by corporations and billionaires. That means UMC is focused on providing medical care instead of being focused on making money for the billionaire owners.
Second step, tell your story to everyone, and post it on social media. Corporations do not like to have their bad deeds exposed.
Third step, search for people who have experiences like yours, share your stories and ask what they did to find help.
The key is to spread your story far and wide.
PUT IT IN WRITING. When you contact the following individuals and organizations, put it in writing. Search their websites for email addresses and send emails. If you do not put it in writing, they will claim you never contacted them. You will also need it in writing if your situation requires a lawsuit.
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
Email the DOJ Civil Rights Division
Email the DOJ Criminal Division
Elected Officials
The elected officials will only tell you to file a complaint with the Nevada Medical Board. The list of elected officials includes Nevada representatives in the U.S. Congress, Nevada legislature, Nevada Governor, Nevada Attorney General, Clark County District Attorney, Las Vegas Mayor, Henderson Mayor, etc.
U.S. House of Representatives
https://www.house.gov/representatives
U.S. Senators
https://www.senate.gov/senators/
Nevada State Assembly
https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Legislator/A/Assembly/Current
Nevada State Senate
https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Legislator/A/Senate/Current
Nevada Attorney General
Clark County Attorney
Las Vegas Mayor
officeofthemayor@lasvegasnevada.gov
Even if they do not respond or only tell you to contact the Nevada Medical Board, it is important to contact each of these entities so they know you were harmed and who was responsible. If they receive enough complaints, maybe they will take action.
Media
The media will not help you unless you have an attorney and have filed a lawsuit. Learn about “corporate capture” (corporate control of the media).
ABC News
Send a news tip to ABC:
Associated Press
AP is a not-for-profit organization with no corporate parent, no shareholders and no government influence. Our mission is journalism, not profit margins.
Contact the Associated Press newsroom:
https://www.ap.org/contact-us/contact-the-newsroom/
CBS News (owned by Paramount)
Send a message to Melissa Zuckerman at Paramount:
Send a message to Laura Watson at Paramount:
CNN
Send a message to CNN:
NBC News
Send a message to NBC Newsroom:
ProPublica
Reuters
Las Vegas newspapers:
Las Vegas Sun
Send a message to Las Vegas Sun:
Review Journal
https://www.reviewjournal.com/
Send a news tip to Review Journal:
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news-tips-and-press-releases/
Las Vegas news stations:
8NewsNow
List of reporters and contact info for 8NewsNow:
https://www.8newsnow.com/meet-the-team/
Fox5Vegas
List of reporters and contact info for Fox5Vegas:
https://www.fox5vegas.com/about-us/meet-the-team/
KTNV
List of reporters and contact info for KTNV:
https://www.ktnv.com/about-us/staff
News3LV
List of reporters and contact info for News3LV:
https://news3lv.com/station/people
Federal government agencies
U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Because of EMTALA, you can't be denied a medical screening exam or treatment for an emergency medical condition based on:
- If you have health insurance or not
- If you can pay for treatment
- Your race, color, national origin, sex, religion, disability, or age
- If you aren't a U.S. citizen
The law that gives everyone in the U.S. these protections is the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, also known as "EMTALA." This law helps prevent any hospital emergency department that receives Medicare funds (which includes most U.S. hospitals) from refusing to treat patients.
This means that a hospital emergency department must:
1. Give you an appropriate medical screening exam
2. Treat you until your condition is stable
3. Transfer you if necessary
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Office for Civil Rights
https://www.hhs.gov/ocr/index.html
Civil Rights Complaint. If you believe that you have been discriminated against because of your race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex, or religion in programs or activities that HHS directly operates or to which HHS provides federal financial assistance, you may file a complaint with OCR. You may file a complaint for yourself or for someone else.
HIPAA violation. If you believe that a HIPAA-covered entity or its business associate violated your (or someone else’s) health information privacy rights or committed another violation of the Privacy, Security, or Breach Notification Rules, you may file a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). OCR can investigate complaints against covered entities (health plans, health care clearinghouses, or health care providers that conduct certain transactions electronically) and their business associates.
Unexpected medical bills. The No Surprises Act protects people against unexpected medical bills.
It applies to most types of health insurance, and protects you from unexpected out-of-network medical bills from:
- Emergency room visits
- Non-emergency care related to a visit to an in-network hospital, hospital outpatient department, or ambulatory surgical center
- Air ambulance services
Usually, if you don't have or use health insurance, providers must give you a good faith estimate of what your care will cost. You get the estimate when you schedule care in advance or if you ask for one. You may be able to dispute your bill if it’s at least $400 more than the estimate.
Nevada government agencies
Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health (file a complaint)
Nevada Medical Board (file a complaint)
Nevada Health Link (file a complaint)
LVMPD (police station)
To file a criminal complaint against your doctor, contact your local police station (LVMPD). They can accept your complaint and investigate. You can read the case of Dr. Dipak Desai to learn about criminal charges against a doctor in Nevada.
- Dr. Desai was convicted of criminal charges including nine counts of insurance fraud, seven counts of performance of an act in reckless disregard of persons or property resulting in substantial bodily harm, theft, two counts of obtaining money under false pretenses, and second-degree murder.
Medical Organizations
You can file a complaint or share your story with medical organizations. It is important to share your story, so they are aware you were harmed and who was involved. If they investigate your complaint, they can revoke your doctor’s medical license, membership or professional certification, and they can take action against the hospital.
Check your doctor’s website to see which organizations he belongs to and where he has memberships or certifications.
Here are a few medical organizations that you can contact:
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)
American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS)
American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS)
American Board of Surgery (ABS)
American College of Surgeons (ACS)
American Heart Association (AHA)
American Medical Association (AMA)
American Surgical Association (ASA)
Beckers Hospital Review (not a medical organization; only a media platform for the healthcare industry)
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/
Clark County Medical Society (CCMS)
https://clarkcountymedical.org/
Joint Commission
https://www.jointcommission.org/en-us
Similar to the media, the Joint Commission is also controlled by the billionaires and corporations and will NOT investigate complaints. So, what do they do?
Nevada Health Authority
(formerly known as Bureau of Health Care Quality and Compliance, HCQC)
You can file a complaint with HCQC by sending your information to:
Nevada Hospital Association (NHA)
The President and CEO of NHA is Patrick Kelly. His email address is:
The names of the NHA Board of Directors and their contact information can be found at:
https://members.nvha.net/20242025boardofdirectors
Learn about the Nevada Hospital Association and their connection to the story of Patient-1 and see photos of their 2025 annual conference.
Nevada Orthopaedic Society (NVOS)
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
Las Vegas hospitals and who owns them
You can contact the owners or patient advocates. However, the corporate owners are focused on making money for their billionaire owners, and the job of patient advocates is mainly focused on protecting the hospital.
University Medical Center (UMC)
University Medical Center (UMC) is owned by the state of Nevada. This is a huge benefit because they are focused on providing medical care instead of being focused on making money for their billionaire owners.
The other hospitals in Las Vegas are owned by corporations/billionaires.
Dignity Health
https://www.dignityhealth.org/
Dignity Health owns 2 hospitals in Las Vegas and Henderson:
St. Rose Dominican Hospital, San Martin Hospital
St. Rose Dominican Hospital, Sierra Hospital
HCA Healthcare
https://www.hcahealthcare.com/
HCA Healthcare owns 4 hospitals in Las Vegas:
MountainView Hospital
Southern Hills Hospital & Medical Center
Sunrise Children’s Hospital
Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center
Prime Healthcare
https://www.primehealthcare.com/
Prime Healthcare owns 1 hospital in Las Vegas:
North Vista Hospital
Valley Health System
https://www.valleyhealthsystemlv.com/
Valley Health System owns 6 hospitals in Las Vegas and Henderson:
Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center
Henderson Hospital
Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center
Summerlin Hospital Medical Center
Valley Hospital Medical Center
West Henderson Hospital
We are providing this list of individuals and organizations you can contact. However, be aware that doctors, hospitals and corporate owners have been playing these games for decades, so the system is designed to protect them.
Additional websites where you can post a comment or complaint
Trust your instincts when posting comments on websites. If there are too many positive reviews and especially if there are a lot of positive reviews that are close together, keep in mind that up to 42% of positive reviews are fake.
On the flip side, if there are only a small number of comments but the doctor or hospital has been in business for many years, they might have deleted their previous review pages and started over.
- For example, Dr. Michael Bradford has been practicing medicine for 39 years, but he has only 4 reviews on Yelp.
In addition, many of the review websites are tightly controlled and “scrubbed” to protect doctors and hospitals. They have strict limits on what can be posted. They scan every comment for keywords before they allow it to be posted. For example, some websites will not allow you to post any comment if it says anything “unpleasant” about the doctor.
What is the point of having a review website if they cherry-pick what they allow? And some websites allow the doctors and hospitals to remove negative reviews.
As a reminder, read the information we posted about Fake Reviews and this message in our discussion of online Reviews:
- Companies are paying "paid-review farms" and "fake review networks" and offering incentives to customers and others to post fake reviews in order to create a false sense of consumer confidence in their businesses.
Here are a few websites that you might consider:
Better Business Bureau (file a complaint) – Usually a waste of time. They often “close” the complaints but do not get any resolution for the customer.
Complaints Board (post a comment).
- The owners of Complaints Board posted a warning about Sunrise Hospital, stating: "We ask reviewers to be cautious when dealing with Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and using their services, and to carefully read the experiences of other customers on Complaints Board, because who is warned is armed, you know."
Google Maps (post a comment). It appears that Google Maps may contain a lot of fake reviews due to the high number of positive reviews for certain doctors and hospitals, especially because there are batches of positive reviews that are posted close together on the timeline (with many positive reviews being posted on the same day). It has been reported by commenters that they posted negative reviews which were quickly buried by a bunch of positive reviews.
RateMDs (post a comment)
Yelp (post a comment)
Please
contact us if you want to share your story or ask questions.
Photos of HCA Healthcare and Sunrise Hospital leadership
and Dr. Michael S. Bradford
(these pictures were found in the public domain)
Thomas Frist, Jr, born in 1938, one of the billionaire owners of HCA Healthcare
Sam Hazen, born 1960, CEO of HCA Healthcare
Todd Sklamberg, born 1964, CEO of Sunrise Hospital
Sherrie Somers, born 1966, Chief Medical Officer at Sunrise Hospital
Pamela Marie Weber, born 1971, Vice President at Sunrise Hospital
Harlow Sumerford, on the left, Director of Media Relations at HCA Healthcare
Halle Ellyce Resch, Director of Ethics and Compliance at Sunrise Hospital
Michael S. Bradford, Orthopedic Surgeon with Nevada Orthopedic & Spine
Information about HCA Healthcare CEO and Owners and Sunrise Hospital CEO and Leadership
Billionaire owners of HCA Healthcare:
Thomas F. Frist, Jr. and his wife owned 20% of HCA Healthcare in 2020.
Remember that Frist and his immediate family more than doubled their net worth to almost $16 billion during 2020, during the first year of COVID. Read this article to learn about Pandemic Profiteering which made the owners of healthcare companies much richer due to squeezing workers and cutting costs.
A reminder in that same article, HCA's staffing levels in 2019 were 29% below the national average and have been linked to poor patient outcomes.
Frist (age 87 in 2025) sold his mansion in Tennessee for $32 million in December 2024.
The extended Frist family has a combined net worth of $22.37 billion. The list of the "extended family" includes: Thomas Frist Jr, his brother William Harrison Frist, his daughter Patricia Frist Elcan, his son Thomas F. Frist III, and his other son William Robert Frist.
Email addresses for leadership at HCA Healthcare and Sunrise Hospital:
Sam Hazen, CEO of HCA Healthcare (photo of Sam Hazen)
Todd Sklamberg, CEO of Sunrise Hospital (photo of Todd Sklamberg)
Here is another photo of Todd Sklamberg.
todd.sklamberg@hcahealthcare.com
Sherrie Somers, Chief Medical Officer at Sunrise Hospital (photo of Sherrie Somers)
sherrie.somers@hcahealthcare.com
Pamela Weber, Vice President of Quality Management at Sunrise Hospital
pamela.weber@hcahealthcare.com
Harlow Sumerford, Media Relations at HCA Healthcare (photo of Harlow Sumerford)
Harlow.Sumerford@HCAHealthcare.com
Phone: 615-344-1851
Halle Ellyce Resch, Director of Ethics and Compliance at Sunrise Hospital (photo of Halle Ellyce Resch)
Phone: 702-961-9010