The parents of a 13-year-old girl from Oregon have filed a $17 million lawsuit against Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). They claim surgeons at the Portland hospital implanted their daughter’s heart valve “upside down” during an operation on August 14, 2025. That led to cardiac arrest and nearly cost the teenager her life. After the surgery the girl’s heart would not start, and she was placed on ECMO machines that kept her alive for nearly three weeks. During that time OHSU staff insisted to the parents that the heart was failing because of “shock” from the surgery, and then referred them to a palliative care team that began discussing “end-of-life decisions” and asking whether they wanted to donate their daughter’s organs.
Desperate, the parents decided to transfer the girl to Seattle Children’s Hospital. That choice was deliberate: Seattle Children’s Hospital is one of the nation’s leading pediatric centers, ranked in the U.S. News & World Report top 10. It is considered tertiary care and is the main referral center for the entire Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. Seattle doctors immediately identified the cause of the catastrophe. It turned out the valve had been installed incorrectly during the Oregon operation. The successful diagnosis was aided by the hospital’s advanced equipment, including high-field MRIs, multidisciplinary specialist teams, and an established “rapid response” protocol for unclear cases that allows experts from different departments to be mobilized within hours. Unlike in Seattle, where physicians hold regular joint consultations, diagnosis in Oregon was likely more isolated, which led to the 18-day delay.
On September 2, 2025, surgeons in Seattle replaced the inverted valve with a new one, and the teenager’s heart began functioning normally. “She was promptly taken off ECMO,” the lawsuit says. The family’s attorney called the incident “a complete and egregious failure.” He also said the girl’s health is “miraculously recovering” after the error was corrected.
The parents seek about $4 million to cover medical bills, with the remainder for the girl’s and her family’s physical and emotional suffering. However, Oregon law limits OHSU’s liability as a quasi-public institution to a maximum of $5.275 million. That cap, set in 1989, has withstood legal challenges, so the payout could be substantially reduced. An OHSU spokesperson declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation. The lawsuit was filed May 29 in Multnomah County District Court (Portland).
Based on: Teen OK after Seattle doctors find, fix near-fatal error family blames on OHSU