NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — If you were a patient of HRC Medical, you could be getting some money soon.
The Nashville-based hormone replacement clinic shut down more than a dozen years ago after it was sued by the Tennessee Attorney General's Office on behalf of consumers.
Now, all of these years later, the AG's Office has collected money from the former owners that now will go to former patients.
Of course, this all started after NewsChannel 5 Investigates exposed how patients were getting way more hormones than they were supposed to.
If you've been in Nashville a while, you probably remember the commercials for HRC Medical and how they promised their hormone replacement therapies, which involved implanting a series of hormone filled pellets, could fix a whole host of health problems, regardless of whether you were a man or a woman.
But back in 2011, patients told us how they were experiencing all sorts of health issues because of HRC's therapies.
"I was losing hair like there was no tomorrow," Roger Wyatt said.
And a woman who we identified only as T.W. described how, "My voice is deeper and now I have hair, stubble on my chin, my upper lip and sides of my face."
It turned out, many patients were not just getting hormone therapy, they were getting too much of it.
"'Even by their own laboratory standards, you've been severely overdosed with testosterone," Wyatt said he'd been told.
"The doctors made a significant amount of money. The company made a significant amount of money. What consumers are getting is a piece of that," Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti told NewsChannel 5 Investigates, explaining how former patients are now eligible for compensation.
After our initial reporting, the Tennessee Attorney General's Office sued HRC Medical, alleging the company and its employees were deceptive in their advertising and claims of what their bio-identical hormone replacement therapy could do. The office added they'd misled consumers about the safety and effectiveness of these treatments.
Five years later, in 2017, the court ordered HRC and its founders, Dr. Dan Hale and his brother, Don, to pay $18 million to consumers who were harmed.
"They (the Hales) fought every step of the way," Skrmetti stated.
Skrmetti who is now the third Tennessee AG to oversee this case said the Hale brothers have had the case tied up in court for the last eight years, even declaring bankruptcy to get the judgment reduced from $18 million to a little under $2 million, which breaks down to just $2,250 for each former patient.
"Given the harms that some of these people encountered as a result of the misleading advertising that they were lured in by, it doesn’t seem like it’s enough. But it was the best that we could do, and we have worked really, really hard to get to this point," Skrmetti said.
Back in 2011, the woman we identified as T.W. Told us, "I never should have been a patient of HRC."
She was an undercover officer with the Metro Police Department at the time.
Fourteen years later, we are now we are able to identify by her full name, Tina Wiggs.
And Wiggs recalled her HRC experience.
"They had basically overdosed me on testosterone," she said.
After getting rather choked up, she apologized.
"I’m sorry that I’m emotional, but it’s been 15 years and I’m still suffering from the consequences of using their products," she said.
By law, the state could only sue HRC for violating consumer protection laws, not medical malpractice. So the money going to patients like Wiggs is only to refund what they paid for treatment.
"It’s disheartening," she remarked.
She said she believes the Hales should be paying more, much more, especially after seeing how two former HRC principals, Don Hale and his wife, Dixie, have been living.
"Football games, traveling, fancy dinners, Hollywood," Wiggs said as she flipped through photos posted on Don Hale's Facebook page.
"For them to basically turn around and say here’s a refund and not acknowledge the pain, the suffering, the chronic pain in the hips and things like that it’s a slap in the face to consumers," Wiggs said.
General Skrmetti was sympathetic.
"It doesn’t seem like enough, but we have eked out every dollar we can from these defendants," he said.
The AG's Office has sent letters to more than 8,000 people who were HRC patients at the Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis locations. The letter explains how you can file a claim for your money.
Of course, people may have moved since then, so if you were a patient and did not get a letter, you can contact KCC Class Action Services, the Restitution Fund Administrator, through the special website that's been set up: www.HRCRestitutionFund.com or you can call them at 833-419-4862.
Keep in mind, claims must be submitted by August 30, 2025.
General Skrmetti also told NewsChannel 5 Investigates that money to pay the fund administrator will not come out of what's supposed to go to former patients. Instead, the AG said his office will cover those costs so the former patients will get the most money possible.
