Latest news with #Cedars-Sinai
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller sues hospital claiming doctors left catheter in her abdomen for years
Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller has sued her team of doctors and Cedars-Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital in Los Angeles for malpractice. Miller, who rose to fame through her tough-love approach to being a dance teacher on the Lifetime reality show, alleged that after doctors performed a spinal surgery on her in 2020, they left a catheter in her body. According to the lawsuit obtained by People, Miller informed her doctors shortly after the surgery that she was experiencing abdominal pain, but nothing had been done. Then, in June 2024, a doctor gave her a CT scan, where a retained catheter was allegedly discovered. The same day, doctors performed an emergency procedure to remove it. Miller filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court for medical negligence, professional negligence, and medical battery. She is asking for $1.4 million in damages. 'Cedars-Sinai cannot comment on pending legal matters,' the hospital told The Independent in a statement. 'Also, due to federal and state privacy laws, Cedars-Sinai cannot discuss any patient's medical treatment. However, the care and safety of our patients, staff, and visitors are always Cedars-Sinai's top priorities. We are dedicated to ensuring that we meet the highest standards of care for all those we serve.' Miller's attorney, Nadine Lewis, echoed the claims made in the lawsuit in a statement given to The Independent, saying: 'Abby Lee Miller suffered for years from an object left inside of her during spinal surgery; despite complaints to various physicians, not one ordered imaging of any kind to diagnose the source of her pain. 'Rather, they systemically dismissed her chronic pain and let her suffer for years.' She continued: 'As a paraplegic woman with a life sentence in a wheelchair, Abby lives with daily pain in the aftermath of her Burkitt Lymphoma diagnosis. For years, Abby complained of abdominal pain, only to be ignored by her most trusted physicians. Four years post-surgery Abby discovered that her surgeons had left a bright blue catheter inside of her abdomen.' Miller shot to fame on Dance Moms, in which she trained children to go into dance and show business under her exacting tutelage; however, ex-students left the program to complain about the difficult treatment they endured. The show debuted in 2011 and ended in 2019. Miller has since admitted during a May 2024 interview with ABC that she was possibly too harsh on her students, but added that she was only remorseful because 'they just didn't have the talent.' Several cast members have skyrocketed to fame as a result of the show, including Maddie Ziegler and JoJo Siwa.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Abby Lee Miller Sues Cedars-Sinai Hospital for Allegedly Leaving a Catheter Inside Her Body for Years
Abby Lee Miller is suing Cedars Sinai Marina Del Rey for alleged medical malpractice The Dance Moms star claims the hospital left a catheter in her body after performing a spinal surgery in 2020 Miller was previously diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma in 2018Abby Lee Miller is suing Cedars-Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital for alleged medical malpractice. Miller, 59, alleges that the hospital left a catheter in her body for years after performing life-saving spinal surgery in 2020. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, June 3, was first reported by TMZ. According to the legal documents obtained by PEOPLE, the Dance Moms alum allegedly began suffering from abdominal pain and discomfort following the otherwise successful surgery. She claimed she told her medical team about the pain, including the two doctors who performed her surgery. Miller alleged her complaints were largely ignored until a doctor performed a CT scan, which allegedly revealed a retained catheter inside her body, in June 2024. The scan "confirmed the presence of the foreign object," per the lawsuit. That same day, doctors "performed an emergency procedure to remove the item, which was identified as a retained catheter left inside Plaintiff's body from the prior surgeries," the lawsuit reads. The documents define a "retained surgical object" as "foreign material accidentally left inside a patient's body during surgery." The introduction to the complaint continued, "It's estimated that 1 in 5,500 surgeries will result in a patient with a retained surgical object." She is now suing the hospital for medical negligence, professional negligence, medical battery and more. She is seeking $1.4 million in damages. "Abby Lee Miller suffered for years from an object left inside of her during spinal surgery; despite complaints to various physicians, not one ordered imaging of any kind to diagnose the source of her pain," Miller's attorney, Nadine Lewis, said in a statement to PEOPLE, echoing claims made in the complaint. "Rather, they systemically dismissed her chronic pain and let her suffer for years." "As a paraplegic woman with a life sentence in a wheelchair, Abby lives with daily pain in the aftermath of her Burkitt Lymphoma diagnosis," Lewis went on to say, reiterating allegations in the complaint. "For years, Abby complained of abdominal pain, only to be ignored by her most trusted physicians. Four years post-surgery Abby discovered that her surgeons had left a bright blue catheter inside of her abdomen." "Cedars-Sinai cannot comment on pending legal matters," the hospital said in a statement to PEOPLE. "Also, due to federal and state privacy laws, Cedars-Sinai cannot discuss any patient's medical treatment." "However, the care and safety of our patients, staff and visitors are always Cedars-Sinai's top priorities," the statement continued. "We are dedicated to ensuring that we meet the highest standards of care for all those we serve." The reality star has been battling health issues since 2018, when she was initially thought to have a severe spinal infection. Doctors later diagnosed Miller with Burkitt lymphoma, a form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that develops in the lymphatic system. One of Miller's doctors, Dr, Hooman M. Melamed, previously told PEOPLE in 2018, 'It was not an infection, it was a type of a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma – it's a type of a cancer." Melamed, an orthopedic spine surgeon at Cedar Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital who once treated Miller, said, 'We're getting an oncologist involved and we have to figure out what the next steps are as far as chemotherapy or radiation or more spine surgery. Depending on the tumor type, depending on the sensitivity of the tumor – it just depends the type but I feel more than yes, she will undergo chemotherapy or radiation.' Melamed is named as one of the defendants in the new lawsuit. When reached for comment on Wednesday, June 4, a representative for Melamed said, "No comment." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The diagnosis came a year after Miller received a sentence of one year and one day in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release for bankruptcy fraud. She was additionally fined $40,000 and ordered to pay the $120,000 judgment, as well as give a DNA sample relating to her felony charge. She was sentenced in 2017. Miller starred on Lifetime's Dance Moms from 2011 to 2019. At the time, she served as the director of Reign Dance Productions in Pittsburgh. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Abby Lee Miller Suing Hospital for Allegedly Leaving Catheter in Her Body
This new lawsuit that Abby Lee Miller filed against a Los Angeles hospital is like something straight out of a nightmare. New court documents show that Abby has accused two surgeons of leaving a catheter inside her body, and now she wants them to pay for their alleged malpractice. Keep on reading for all of the details of this disturbing update from the Dance Moms star. According to a report from TMZ, the Dance Moms star is suing Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital in Los Angeles, along with two doctors, for a spinal surgery performed in 2020. The surgery went smoothly, but then she started experiencing 'abdominal pain and discomfort.' She went back to the doctors who performed her surgery to alert them of a potential complication. Abby said that the doctors ignored her complaints but eventually performed a CT scan. That's when they discovered a 'retained catheter' inside her body. It's like the doctors left a souvenir from the spinal surgery. Naturally, TMZ reached out to the hospital to try to get a comment on this fiasco. They couldn't say much on the pending litigation, but they wanted to reiterate that patient safety is important to them. Keep that in mind if you have an upcoming procedure there. 'Cedars-Sinai cannot comment on pending legal matters. Also, due to federal and state privacy laws, Cedars-Sinai cannot discuss any patient's medical treatment,' the statement read. 'However, the care and safety of our patients, staff, and visitors are always Cedars-Sinai's top priorities. We are dedicated to ensuring that we meet the highest standards of care for all those we serve,' they concluded. Meanwhile, Abby is demanding the hospital fork over $1.4 million. She's suing for medical negligence, professional negligence, and medical battery. Stay tuned for updates as this plays out in court. TELL US – DO YOU HAVE ANY WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR ABBY AS SHE BEGINS THIS LEGAL FIGHT? The post Abby Lee Miller Suing Hospital for Allegedly Leaving Catheter in Her Body appeared first on Reality Tea.
NBC News
2 days ago
- Health
- NBC News
'Dance Moms' star Abby Lee Miller says catheter was left in her abdomen for years, sues hospital
" Dance Moms" star Abby Lee Miller sued a prominent Los Angeles hospital on Tuesday, alleging that doctors left a foreign object in her body after performing surgery. Miller, known for her starring role on the hit reality TV show, is suing Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and two doctors for medical malpractice, professional negligence and medical battery. The 59-year-old former reality star alleges that the physicians left a catheter inside of her abdomen after she had spinal surgery in 2020. She is seeking nearly $1.5 million in damages. "Abby Lee Miller suffered for years from an object left inside of her during spinal surgery; despite complaints to various physicians, not one ordered imaging of any kind to diagnose the source of her pain," Nadine Lewis, Miller's attorney, said in a statement. Since the surgery in 2020, Miller — who is paraplegic — said she repeatedly reported the discomfort to physicians who "systemically dismissed her chronic pain and let her suffer for years with a catheter inside of her abdomen," the suit reads. Miller's abdominal discomfort "had escalated into persistent and debilitating pain, impacting her quality of life on a daily basis" by March 2024, according to the suit. Later that year, while she was seeking care for an unrelated issue at a different hospital, she was referred to an emergency room for the pain. Two days later, in June 2024, a CT scan revealed that a foreign object was inside her abdomen, the suit says, and she had the bright blue catheter surgically removed. "This is not just medical battery, it reflects a larger, devastating truth: women's pain is too often ignored or dismissed by the very professionals sworn to care for them," Lewis said. "Abby's case is a chilling reminder: even when women are vocal and visibly in distress, their pain is still not believed." A spokesperson for Cedars-Sinai said in a statement that the hospital can't comment pending legal matters nor discuss any patient's medical treatment due to federal and state privacy laws. "However, the care and safety of our patients, staff and visitors are always Cedars-Sinai's top priorities," the hospital said. "We are dedicated to ensuring that we meet the highest standards of care for all those we serve." A receptionist for Dr. Hooman Melamed, one of the physicians Miller is suing, hung up the phone when asked if the doctor would like to comment. Dr. Paul Dwan, the other physician cited in the suit, declined to comment.
New York Post
2 days ago
- Health
- New York Post
‘Dance Moms' star Abby Lee Miller sues Cedars-Sinai, claims doctors left catheter in her abdomen
Abby Lee Miller has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Marina Hospital in Los Angeles and two doctors over shocking allegations related to her 2020 spinal surgery. According to TMZ, the 'Dance Moms' star, 59, claimed that doctors left a catheter component in her abdomen during the procedure over four years ago. 7 Abby Lee Miller at Netflix's 'A Man in Full' screening in Los Angeles in April 2024. Variety via Getty Images Miller alleged that after the seemingly successful surgery, she 'began suffering from abdominal pain and discomfort.' She said she shared her distress with multiple medical professionals, including the two doctors who performed her surgery, but they 'largely ignored' her complaints. Her attorney, Nadine Lewis, told Page Six that doctors 'systemically dismissed her chronic pain and let her suffer for years.' 7 Abby Lee Miller visits the New York Post in March 2025. Paige Kahn for Page Six 7 Abby Lee Miller attends the 11th annual Reality TV Awards in Nov. 2024. Getty Images After a doctor performed a CT scan on Miller, it was allegedly discovered that a 'retained catheter' was inside her body from the surgery, her lawsuit claimed. To prove her allegations, Miller in her lawsuit included a photo of the catheter after it was removed. She also shared a photo of what she claimed is 'the outline of a foreign blue object embedded beneath her skin, surrounded by scar tissue.' 7 A photo of the catheter that was allegedly in Abby Lee Miller's abdomen. Abby Lee Miller Miller is suing Cedars-Sinai, as well as Dr. Hooman Melamed and Dr. Paul Dwan, who performed her spinal surgery, for medical malpractice, professional negligence and medical battery, according to TMZ. She is reportedly asking for at least $1.4 million in damages. The Post has reached out to Miller and Cedars-Sinai for comment. 7 Abby Lee Miller in 'Dance Moms' in 2013. Cedars-Sinai told The Post in a statement, 'Cedars-Sinai cannot comment on pending legal matters. Also, due to federal and state privacy laws, Cedars-Sinai cannot discuss any patient's medical treatment. However, the care and safety of our patients, staff and visitors are always Cedars-Sinai's top priorities. We are dedicated to ensuring that we meet the highest standards of care for all those we serve.' 7 Abby Lee Miller attends Us Weekly And Pluto TV's: Reality TV Stars Of The Year in Oct. 2024. Getty Images Miller's attorney told Page Six, 'In California, the law requires a patient to send a 90-Day Notice to healthcare providers prior to filing a lawsuit. The doctors and hospital had 90 days to settle this matter without it being made public. The doctors didn't respond in any manner. The hospital only acknowledged receipt of the letter.' Lewis added: 'With 1 in 5,500 patients having foreign objects left in them during surgery annually, Abby intends to use her wide-reaching platform to bring attention to this matter.' 7 Abby Lee Miller at The New York Post in NYC on March 4. Paige Kahn for Page Six In 2018, Miller underwent emergency spinal surgery for an infection, which led to her being diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, a rare and aggressive form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. After undergoing chemotherapy, she had a second surgery on her spine in November 2020. Miller has been bound to a wheelchair since her cancer diagnosis.
