The parents of a teenager have filed a $17 million lawsuit against Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) and Dr Ashok Muralidaran, after they allegedly told them their daughter was ‘dying’. She was later saved by another hospital. At the second hospital, doctors found that the 13-year-old’s new heart valve had been installed upside down by OHSU doctors.Parents Steven and Lori Stokes have filed a lawsuit for medical negligence against OHSU and Dr Ashok Muralidaran, who performed the surgery, in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

Doctors told the parents their child was ‘gravely ill’

The teenager underwent open-heart surgery led by Dr Muralidaran on 15 August 2025 at OHSU. The doctors implanted a heart valve. While her parents expected a safe procedure to replace their child’s faulty heart valve, what followed was a nightmare that would push their daughter to the brink of death. The procedure required the doctors to stop her heart while she was on cardiac bypass, according to the complaint, as reported by KGW8. Following the surgery, the doctors were unable to restart the heart. The girl was placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). The ECMO mechanically pumps blood through a heart–lung machine, reoxygenates it, and circulates it back into the body.The doctor informed her parents that the procedure had gone ‘very well’; however, the teenager’s heart was not working correctly due to the ‘shock’ from the surgery. While they assured them that ECMO would allow her body to rest and resume function, it did not happen. The girl remained in the intensive care unit the following day. As per the court documents, the doctors ordered multiple tests. They eventually moved her back into the operating room for exploratory surgery to understand why her heart was still not functioning properly. They told the parents that there was no explanation other than the ‘shock’. The parents were informed that the teenager could not survive indefinitely on ECMO. The girl remained in the ICU for three days with an open chest incision, kept alive by ECMO. However, her condition began to deteriorate. The doctors ordered more tests, studies, and imaging, unable to find any explanation for her condition. Soon, they began to discuss end-of-life decisions with the family, including organ donation for transplant into other patients.Doctors at OHSU told the parents that she required either a permanent artificial heart or a heart transplant to survive during the third surgery. They said they could not perform either procedure at their facilities. The parents were asked to transfer her to an out-of-state medical centre, with doctors uncertain whether she would survive the trip due to her critical condition. In the lawsuit, the parents claimed that they were told their child would die if she remained at the hospital, and that she was ‘gravely ill’ and would not survive the trip to another hospital, which might save her.

The second opinion turned out to be a saviour

The parents were not ready to give up on their daughter. They took the risk and transported her to Seattle Children’s Hospital the next day. By this time, her condition had deteriorated significantly, and she was ‘very near death’, they said in the lawsuit. At the hospital, the girl underwent multiple surgeries to remove accumulated blood, clots, and fluid from her open chest incision. Doctors in Seattle ordered a scan of her heart and found that the OHSU surgeons had implanted the prosthetic valve incorrectly. The valve had been implanted upside down, which hindered its function, the complaint said. They removed the inverted valve and replaced it with a new one, this time positioned correctly. Her heart responded immediately and began functioning. The girl was taken off cardiac bypass. She no longer needed ECMO support. Her condition stabilised in the following days. A month later, she was able to go home.In the complaint, the family said the medical bills at OHSU from six days of hospitalisation were more than $1 million. They spent $2.35 million on revision surgery and treatment at Seattle Children’s Hospital, where she stayed for about 35 days. This does not include all medical expenses to date.Of the $17 million sought in damages, the lawsuit seeks about $5 million for alleged negligence and $3 million in economic losses.