Star athlete, 17, died avoidable death after being taken to notorious Bay Area hospital after suffering broken neck, lawsuit alleges

A star teen athlete died an avoidable death after he suffered a broken neck and was taken to a scandal-plagued Bay Area hospital, according to a new lawsuit.

Amin Noroozi, 17, was airlifted to the John Muir Medical Center on April 13 after he survived a diving accident that left him paralyzed from the shoulders down. 

The varsity football player’s parents Ofelia and Payman Norooz filed a lawsuit claiming the teen’s condition improved after he had emergency surgery.

‘At that point, I was like, we know we have the best people working on him,’ said Payman Noroozi. ‘At no point was there talk of him dying,’ Ofelia Narooz told the San Francisco Chronicle. 

But, according to the lawsuit, Noroozi became seriously ill over the next two days, as his temperature reached 109 degrees and his heart rate plummeted. 

The teen’s family claims hospital staff failed to manage his critical condition before he died four days after being admitted.

The parents claim that, despite their son’s massive fever, staff only gave him an over-the-counter fever reducer. They also say hospital staff failed to diagnose and treat an infection and signs of sepsis.

‘No parent would let their child run a 109 fever without massive intervention, why did John Muir basically sit back and watch?’ the family’s attorney attorney Dan Horowitz told the San Francisco Chronicle. 

The family’s lawsuit says: ‘Despite the successful surgery, the critical post-surgical care was deficient, disorganized, unsupervised and spun out of control, directly and unnecessarily causing Amin Noroozi’s suffering and death.’

The legal complaint names the hospital, its affiliate partner Stanford Medicine Children’s Health and the physician who treated the teen, Dr. Sandeep Walia.

Stanford has a partnership with John Muir to operate a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

The lawsuit accuses John Muir of misrepresenting themselves as a hospital that specialized in critical care for children. 

Noroozi was injured while swimming with his girlfriend Audrey Martin at Stinson Beach in Marin County.

Officials believe his head struck a sandbar when he dove in an area that was too deep.

When he emerged from the water, he could not move and told his friends he could not feel his legs. 

The Daily Mail reached out to the John Muir Medical Center for comment on this story.

The hospital told the San Francisco Chronicle: ‘We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of Mr. Noroozi… John Muir Health is a nationally recognized provider that treats complex, high-acuity cases using evidence-based protocols and multidisciplinary teams, and when appropriate we coordinate transfers through established regional networks.’

The statement added: ‘We stand behind the professionalism and dedication of our physicians, nurses, and staff, and we remain focused on patient safety, quality, and continuous improvement.’ 

Noroozi’s family is the latest of accusing the community hospital on taking cases beyond its expertise by touting the partnership.

In 2022, Tom and Truc-Co Jung, the parents of a two-year-old girl called Ailee, launched legal action against the hospital after their daughter’s heart stopped suddenly during an operation on her liver. 

An investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle found senior staff had allegedly ignored warnings that the hospital was not properly equipped to perform the resection surgery on a child. 

The hospital denied the claims and insisted it had provided ‘extraordinary care’. The California Medical Board later investigated Ailee’s death.