Doctors Said Their Daughter Was Dying. Another Hospital Found The Jaw-Dropping Mistake, Lawsuit Says

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A surgical team allegedly installed a teenager’s new heart valve upside down, then told her family she was dying without ever finding the error that nearly killed her, according to a lawsuit.

Steven and Lori Stokes have brought a $17 million negligence claim against Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), according to KGW. The suit also names Dr. Ashok Muralidaran, the surgeon who allegedly operated on their 13-year-old daughter. The parents filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

The girl underwent open-heart surgery on Aug. 15, 2025, to receive a replacement valve, a procedure that called for her heart to be stopped while a bypass machine sustained her. Surgeons could not restart it afterward and placed her on ECMO, a device that pumps and reoxygenates blood outside the body, KGW reported. (RELATED: REPORT: Patient Dies During ‘Tummy Tuck’ Surgery, Doctor Sues)

Staff attributed the failure to surgical shock and predicted recovery once she rested, but her heart never responded. She allegedly spent three days in intensive care with her chest left open, her health slipping further while repeated scans and tests turned up nothing. OHSU then raised end-of-life planning and organ donation with the parents, KGW reported.

OHSU told the parents their daughter needed either an artificial heart or a transplant, but it could not provide either, the lawsuit says. The Stokes family agreed to a risky transfer despite warnings she might not survive it, according to KGW. At Seattle Children’s Hospital, a scan exposed the misplaced valve, and a follow-up operation revealed it had allegedly been seated upside down. Surgeons swapped it for a correctly positioned one, her heart recovered, and she returned home after roughly five weeks, the outlet reported.

Her care has cost more than $3.35 million so far. Oregon’s liability cap on public institutions limits OHSU’s potential payout to about $5.275 million, KGW reported.

OHSU declined to comment on the lawsuit to KGW because of pending litigation.