An Indian-origin doctor is at the center of a $17 million lawsuit accused of performing a heart surgery gone wrong in Oregon.
The $17 million lawsuit against Oregon Health & Science University over a heart surgery gone wrong on a 13-year-old girl has fueled the anti-India narrative on social media, as the doctor who performed the surgery is Dr. Ashok Muraleedharan, a pediatric heart surgeon of Indian origin.Stephen and Lori Stokes filed a $17 million lawsuit against Ohio University and Dr. Ashok Muraleedharan, who performed the surgery, in Multnomah County Circuit Court, alleging negligence in medical care. On August 15, 2025, an OHSU surgical team led by Dr. Muralidharan performed open heart surgery on a 13-year-old girl to implant a heart valve. The procedure required surgeons to stop her heart while performing cardiac bypass, but after surgery, doctors were unable to restart her heart, the lawsuit claimed.
She was put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, a system that mechanically pumps blood through a heart-lung machine, which re-oxygenates it and circulates it back into the body.The parents claimed that doctors told them that the surgery went very well and that her heart was most likely not working properly due to the trauma of the surgery. They said ECMO would gradually restart her heart but that didn’t happen.
The next day, the girl remained in intensive care and was then transferred to the operating room to undergo exploratory surgery to find out what happened. The parents said the girl remained in the intensive care unit with an open chest incision for three days but doctors were unable to determine any cause. They began discussing end-of-life decisions, including organ donation, with the parents, the lawsuit said.The parents risked taking her to Seattle Children’s Hospital, where doctors said the valve was not positioned correctly and was implanted upside down.
After the operation, her condition stabilized, and after more than a month she was able to return to her home.OHSU did not comment on the lawsuit, citing pending litigation.
“India gives fake degrees”
India haters on social media criticized this development and held Indian medical education responsible, even though Dr. Muraleedharan conducted his advanced medical studies in the United States. “Indian doctors are approved with a standard pass score of 50% (minimum requirement) in Indian medical colleges for MBBS and similar programmes, as regulated by the National Medical Commission (NMC).
That’s the ‘F’ in the US!!!” one wrote.“They still have to take the medical board exam here. No matter where they went to medical school. They can’t move here and start practicing,” another responded to the controversy that “India is giving out fake medical degrees.”Another added: “This guy did his fellowship at Yale. He keeps 1,000-1,500 surgical pieces every year in the US. Tens of thousands die from error. None of them trace back to where you think the problem is. I’m happy to discuss immigration. But that’s not the case.”
