Legal & Disputes
Parents Sue Mission Hospital, Alleging Delayed Kawasaki Diagnosis Left Child With Aneurysms
By News Desk ·
Key takeaways
- Juan and Sarah Alvarado filed suit against Mission Hospital in Buncombe County Superior Court on November 5, alleging a delayed Kawasaki disease diagnosis.
- The lawsuit states Silas Alvarado was not diagnosed until November 27, 2023, and later developed giant coronary artery aneurysms.
- The suit says Silas's coronary involvement is Kawasaki Disease risk level 5.4, a category found in approximately 1% of patients.
Juan and Sarah Alvarado sued Mission Hospital, alleging a doctor failed to diagnose their 2-year-old son's Kawasaki disease and that the delay left him with coronary artery aneurysms. The suit, seeking unspecified damages, was filed November 5 in Buncombe County Superior Court, Yahoo reported.
Inside the Alvarados' Negligence Allegations
The lawsuit states the couple brought Silas to Mission Health on November 3, 2023, after two days of vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, decreased appetite, neck pain and a one-day rash. He was admitted under Dr. Jessica Saricicek, a staff pediatrician also named as a defendant, who treated him with broad-spectrum antibiotics and discharged him the next day, according to the suit.
At home, the lawsuit says, Silas's eyes and lips reddened and his hands and feet swelled. Staff told the family a cerebrospinal fluid culture had returned positive for possible bacterial infection but described the result as inconclusive, and said he need not return; the Alvarados insisted, and Silas was readmitted November 7 with a fever of 101.1°F, the suit states.
The lawsuit alleges a doctor dismissed the family's question about Kawasaki disease and refused testing, discharging Silas on November 9 with a working diagnosis of torticollis secondary to viral cervical lymphadenopathy. His pediatrician, Dr. Winifred Morehouse, diagnosed Kawasaki disease on November 27, and Silas began treatment at Mission in early December, by which point he had bilateral coronary artery aneurysms, according to the suit.
On December 10, Silas was transferred to Boston Children's Hospital under Dr. Jane Newberger, where tests confirmed a giant left coronary aneurysm, the lawsuit states. Boston Children's drew a family from North Carolina who drove more than 10 hours for care after their premature son was told hospice was the only option, the Boston Globe reported on October 22.
The suit says Silas's involvement is Kawasaki Disease risk level 5.4, a category found in approximately 1% of patients, and that he will need cardiac monitoring for the rest of his life. HCA Healthcare did not provide a statement to the Citizen Times by press time.
Mission Health's Six-Hospital Network
Mission Health operates six acute care hospitals and numerous outpatient sites across Western North Carolina as a wholly-owned subsidiary of HCA Healthcare, according to akta.pro company records. The same records list 1.9 million patient encounters in 2023 and a $68 million community tax contribution.
Other Health Litigation Settlements
Ovadia Law Group resolved four federal clawback lawsuits against five Florida medical directors, securing settlements without admission of wrongdoing, EIN Presswire reported on October 27. CNJ data cited by InfoMoney on October 23 showed new health insurance lawsuits in Brazil fell 39% in September, to about 11,500 monthly cases.