An Iowa man criminally charged with running an unlicensed hospital in a rural area of Appanoose County is alleging in court that as “a living man” he is not under the jurisdiction of the state’s licensing boards.
In August 2026, Centerville’s Old Cabin Retreat, which had allegedly been operating as a hospital or medical clinic for six years without the required licensure, was temporarily shut down by a court order.
District Court Judge Crystal S. Cronk issued the temporary injunction barring the owners and affiliates of Old Cabin Retreat from continuing to engage in the unlicensed practice of medicine, dentistry and dietetics, ruling that they were “a danger to the public.”
The order was issued in response to a lawsuit initiated by three of Iowa’s health-related licensing boards. At the time, the owner of the Old Cabin Retreat, 36-year-old Eddie Gingerich of Moravia, was facing criminal charges of ongoing criminal conduct; money laundering; engaging in the practice of medicine, dietetics or dentistry without a license, and violating medical licensure laws and state laws regulating hospitals…