Commissioner Shipley told the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners at a May 2025 recessed meeting that his grandson was treated at Erlanger after an on‑the‑job injury and described extended waits and crowded conditions at the hospital.

Shipley said his grandson was placed in a curtained area without a bed and sat in a broken recliner. “They brought him back, left him in a wheelchair, and that's where he sat till 11:00,” Shipley said, and later said the patient was moved to a lobby and remained there “from 11:00 till 08:30 in the morning.” Shipley also said staff instructed patients to use public restrooms for IV disposal and described those conditions as “not real sanitary these days in 2025.”

After Shipley described the treatment, Chairman Eversall asked County Attorney Taylor whether the commission had authority to act. Taylor replied, “They're autonomous from you all,” and said he did not know “what we can do” as a commission because governance over Erlanger had been changed earlier. Commissioner Beck, speaking from hospital experience, described Erlanger as a level‑1 trauma center under heavy patient volume and recommended Shipley take the complaint to the hospital CEO so leadership could address it.

The discussion in the meeting record recorded personal testimony from Shipley and responses from county officials and did not include a motion, vote or formal direction to staff. The transcript shows commissioners acknowledged the complaint and suggested channels for follow‑up but did not record any formal county action.

The exchange underscores a commissioner’s public concern about emergency‑room conditions and the limits of county authority over the independent hospital named in the testimony.