Surgeon retaliated against after voicing concerns over baby’s death, MI suit says
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A Michigan surgeon is suing after he says the hospital he was working at “lost track” of a 12-month-old baby before the infant died and then retaliated against him for voicing concerts over patient safety.
Dr. Sudesh Ebenezer, a Michigan neurosurgeon, filed the lawsuit against Hurley Medical Center in federal court on Oct. 6.
McClatchy News reached out to Hurley Medical Center for comment Oct. 13 but did not immediately hear back.
On Dec. 9, 2022, Ebenezer was called in to Hurley Medical Center in Flint, where he was contracted to provide services, to treat a 12-month-old baby who had been admitted with a traumatic head injury, according to a civil complaint.
When Ebenezer arrived, according to the complaint, he became alarmed to learn the baby had not been given a CT scan and hospital staff “failed to obtain coagulation labs to assess whether the child’s blood was properly clotting, failed to correct gross coagulation abnormalities, failed to correct ongoing high pCO2 levels, and failed to obtain chest imaging in a timely fashion.”
As Ebenezer prepared for surgery, he was then notified by hospital staff that the surgery had been canceled because the baby was transferred to another hospital, according to the complaint.
However, that wasn’t the case, the lawsuit said. The baby was still at the hospital because staff “lost track” of the infant, the complaint said.
The baby died the next day, according to the lawsuit.
Throughout the ordeal, Ebenezer expressed “grave concerns” over patient safety to hospital staff, the lawsuit said.
Then, on Dec. 15, 2022, the trauma medical director retaliated against Ebenezer by changing his membership in the Medical Center Neurosurgery Trauma Panel, according to the complaint.
A “retaliation letter” questioned the “timeliness” of Ebenezer’s response and his “engagement of care,” the lawsuit said.
However, the lawsuit said the letter and change in his panel status was designed to shift blame from the hospital to Ebenezer following the infant’s death.
“At no time prior to the night of Dec. 9, 2022, did Hurley ever raise questions or concerns regarding the timeliness of any response to calls to Dr. Ebenezer,” the complaint said.
After the letter was distributed, no other investigation or disciplinary action was taken against Ebenezer, other than removing him from the Medical Center Neurosurgery Trauma Panel, which led to a pay cut of more than 16 times, the lawsuit said.
“Hurley blamed Plaintiff, an independent contractor, for the patient care incident at issue to silence his complaints and pass the blame onto him, as opposed to implicating its direct employees of its prestigious Level I Trauma Center,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit is asking for an undetermined amount in damages.
This story was originally published October 13, 2025 at 2:03 PM with the headline "Surgeon retaliated against after voicing concerns over baby’s death, MI suit says."
