After a nearly four-year-old legal battle, a company that employs acute care physicians, along with one of its doctors, has been denied their appeal of a $7 million judgment for medical negligence awarded to the estate of a businessman and former youth baseball coach from Columbiana County, who passed away at the age of 53.

The three judges who sit on the Seventh District Court of Appeals have upheld the October 2023 unanimous verdict by a Mahoning County Jury against Alteon Health LLC and Dr. Patrick Bovino, an osteopath.

Brian Patrick passed away on May 23, 2020, at Salem Regional Hospital due to cardiac arrest resulting from an acute gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

According to a civil complaint alleging medical negligence and wrongful death, two days before his passing, Patrick was taken to the Mercy Hospital Emergency Room in Youngstown after experiencing symptoms of nausea and vomiting blood.

The lawsuit asserts that the attending doctors ordered chest X-rays, bloodwork, and an IV but did not pursue further testing or consult a gastroenterologist, even though Patrick had a documented history of gastrointestinal disease and lupus.

The complaint says Patrick was sent home about an hour and a half after arriving at the hospital with instructions to switch from Advil to Tylenol to manage his back pain.

Two days later, Patrick started vomiting blood again and was subsequently taken to a hospital where he passed away.

The complaint against Mercy Health and one of its doctors was dismissed following a settlement with Patrick's estate.

The appeals court denied an appeal by Dr. Bovino and Alteon Health, ruling that their claim of errors in the case lacked merit.

Patrick, who had owned and operated several businesses during his lifetime, also served as a youth baseball coach. In 2021, the Columbiana youth baseball community paid tribute to his memory by dedicating a plaque and naming a field at the Columbiana Youth Baseball facility in his honor.