Discrimination, neglect at Seattle Children's Hospital led to teen's death, family claims in lawsuit

A 16-year-old girl from Bothell, Washington, suffered a severe allergic reaction to medications for months before collapsing and dying in front of her parents. His family alleges that discrimination and neglect contributed to his death.

Sahana Ramesh's family filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court in Washington against Seattle Children's Hospital, Children's University Medical Group and several unnamed medical professionals.

Sahana died of eosinophilic myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, in February 2021, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit was first filed in 2022 by Sahana's parents, Nalini and Anapathur Ramesh, and their son, Karthik, and alleged negligence, but was amended to include allegations of racial discrimination, according to court documents.

Last week, King County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Berns denied a motion filed by the hospital to dismiss the discrimination complaint, according to court documents.

In his order, Berns wrote that the family had “plausibly alleged harm, including harm to a dignitary, resulting from unlawful discrimination – not health care.”

In August 2020, the family of South Asian descent sought medical treatment at Seattle Children's because Sahana was having recurrent seizures, leading a neurologist at the hospital to prescribe lamotrigine, a medication used to prevent or control seizures, according to the suit.

Sahana's dose was doubled shortly after she started taking it and increased by 50 percent in November.

She then developed a rash on several parts of her body, including her hands, stomach, feet and face, the suit states. Within days, the rash worsened and she was taken to the emergency room at Seattle Children's, where she was diagnosed with a syndrome known as drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms, or DRESS, according to the lawsuit.

DRESS is a drug allergy that causes fever, rash, facial swelling, enlarged lymph nodes, kidney or liver damage, and in some cases organ inflammation, according to the American Academy of Allergy , Asthma & Immunology.

Sahana was released after the diagnosis, but her symptoms did not improve, her family claims in the suit. Over the course of nearly three months, the family sought medical attention from the defendants more than a dozen times. During this time, his lab results also showed problems with the functioning of his liver and organs, according to the lawsuit.

But the “defendants assured plaintiffs that Sahana could be treated safely at home,” according to the lawsuit.

A spokesperson for Seattle Children's told CNN: “Our hearts go out to any family grieving the loss of a child and we take our responsibility to provide equitable, high-quality care seriously, but we cannot comment this specific case due to ongoing litigation. »

CNN has contacted Children's University Medical Group for comment.

Steve Berman, attorney for the Ramesh family, described Sahana's death as his family's “ultimate loss” that could have been avoided.

“We believe this is a preventable tragedy that the evidence shows was directly caused by negligence and lack of informed consent, rooted in widespread racism at the hospital,” Berman said in a statement.

The lawsuit highlights several allegations of racial discrimination made against the hospital, including allegations that led to a 2021 independent review of equity, diversity and inclusion policies and practices.

The review concluded that allegations that a doctor had called another doctor a racist epithet in 2009 had not been adequately investigated by the hospital and that there had been a lack of action to minimize racial disparities in safety calls, among other findings, according to a publicly released summary. by the hospital.

In the lawsuit, the family's attorneys said their clients felt ignored and rejected during their interactions with medical staff and felt “that they were not welcome, accepted, wanted or wanted at SCH.”

The family also alleges in the lawsuit that hospital staff failed to monitor Sahana's heart and inform him of the risk of heart failure related to DRESS.

The Ramesh family is seeking an unspecified amount of damages.

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