A Las Vegas doctor is being sued for “failing to treat the heart infection” of a mother who died just weeks after giving birth to her daughter.
Cassie Medina, 30, gave birth on Feb. 7 of last year and was later discharged from Centennial Hills Hospital without treatment for an elevated heart rate, a lawsuit alleges.
The mother of two died on March 1 after undergoing heart valve replacement due to a serious infection.
His heartbroken family has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against local OB-GYN Dr. Steven Harter, an advanced practice registered nurse, and Intermountain Health Care Inc.
The lawsuit claims Harter had previously settled two other medical malpractice claims in the past 10 years that totaled $3 million.
Cassie Medina (left) gave birth on February 7 of last year and was later discharged from Centennial Hills Hospital without treatment for an elevated heart rate.
The mother of two died on March 1 after undergoing heart valve replacement due to a serious infection.
He also faces an ongoing negligence lawsuit in Clark County, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported.
The family’s lawsuit alleges that Intermountain Health breached its duty by hiring Harter after he was involved in settlements worth $3 million.
“Something is wrong here where a doctor has this story and nothing happens,” attorney Robert Murdock, who represents Medina’s family, told the publication.
“It’s like hiring a wolf to guard the chicken coop,” he said.
“We are aware of this lawsuit and will address these claims in the appropriate legal forum,” the Intermountain Health Care spokesperson said, but declined to comment further.
A routine heart test would have recorded what was a treatable infection, Murdock said in the lawsuit.
“You have to treat it and it’s treated with antibiotics,” Murdock said, adding that “she would have been fine” if she had received proper care.
Neither Harter nor the nurse ordered any treatment beyond Tylenol for Medina after an electrocardiogram test showed she had an increased heart rate after the birth of her daughter, according to the lawsuit.
“Anyone who was lucky enough to have met Cassie knows how dark the world is right now,” her sister-in-law said.
Cassie is survived by her husband Joshua and her two daughters Mila and Rosalie.
‘Cassie always put others before herself. “She was the epitome of kindness and grace,” a family GoFundMe page stated.
‘EM. “Medina was not recommended to follow up with a cardiologist or his internal medicine doctor,” Murdock wrote.
“The only medical follow-up recommended was for Cassie to visit her obstetrician, Dr. Harter, within 4 to 6 weeks.”
‘Anyone who was lucky enough to have met Cassie knows how dark the world is right now,’ her sister-in-law he wrote on a GoFundMe page installed in your memory.
“She was such a bright light and a truly beautiful person inside and out,” Radley Medina wrote.
‘Cassie always put others before herself. She was the epitome of kindness and grace.
“My heart is broken for my brother and my nieces,” he added.
Cassie is survived by her husband Joshua and her two daughters, Mila and Rosalie.
Harter faced a previous lawsuit in 2014, after one of his patients suffered a uterine rupture while giving birth, causing brain damage to her baby and leading to cerebral palsy, the Journal reported.
Cassie Medina died just weeks after giving birth to her second daughter.
The heartbroken family of Medina (center) has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against local OB-GYN Dr. Steven Harter.
According to the lawsuit, an emergency cesarean section was delayed for up to 20 minutes after the woman’s uterus ruptured and the baby had moved into her abdominal cavity when the cesarean section was performed.
The case was settled by Harter’s insurance company for $1 million.
In 2016, another lawsuit was filed against the doctor for a “delay in diagnosing fetal distress that led to the delivery of the child in compromised conditions.”
His insurance company paid $2 million in the settlement.
In April 2022, the family of a baby Harter gave birth to in 2012 filed another case.
According to the lawsuit, the baby’s mother was allegedly not notified of the risks of using forceps or a vacuum extraction to assist during delivery.
Despite the mother’s preference for a quicker cesarean section, this was not performed until after forceps and vacuum extraction were used, he said.
Since then, the baby has grown up unable to speak and with cognitive development problems.
He suffers from seizures, growth and development problems and has undergone surgeries to correct his neck and posture, according to the lawsuit, which alleges his health problems are the result of forceps and vacuum extraction.
Robert Murdock, Dr. Steven Harter and Intermountain Health Care Inc. did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s requests for comment.