Abby Lee Miller Sues Cedars-Sinai Over Retained Catheter

Abby Lee Miller, the former Dance Moms instructor, filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital on June 3, 2025, alleging that surgeons left a catheter inside her abdomen during a November 2020 spinal operation and then dismissed her pain complaints for nearly four years. The Abby Lee Miller Cedars-Sinai lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks at least $1.4 million in damages and names the hospital along with two surgeons, Dr. Hooman Melamed and Dr. Paul Dwan.¹²

What the Complaint Alleges

The November 2020 surgery was Miller’s third spinal procedure in roughly two years, performed to repair two vertebrae that had fractured during an earlier operation tied to her cancer treatment. She has used a wheelchair since 2018.³⁴

According to the complaint, the surgical team left a catheter component inside her abdomen during that operation. Miller began experiencing abdominal pain afterward and reported it repeatedly to both surgeons. The suit alleges the doctors “systemically dismissed her chronic pain” instead of investigating. Dr. Melamed allegedly attributed the discomfort to post-surgical scar tissue and never ordered imaging.⁵⁶

By March 2024, the complaint says, the pain had become “persistent and debilitating.” The suit brings three causes of action: medical malpractice, professional negligence, and medical battery.⁷

How the Catheter Was Discovered

The object went undetected for roughly four years. In June 2024, Miller sought care at a different hospital for an unrelated issue and was referred to an emergency room for abdominal pain. A CT scan two days later showed a foreign object lodged in her abdomen, and doctors removed it that same day. What came out was a bright blue catheter, wrapped in scar tissue.¹⁵

In a later interview, Miller said a dermatologist was the first to flag the problem, noticing what looked like a “giant pimple” that turned out to be the outline of something under her skin. The lawsuit includes photographs of the removed catheter and of the blue object visible beneath her skin.⁸²

Who Is Being Sued

Three defendants are named. Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital is a community hospital that operates as part of the broader Cedars-Sinai Health System but is a separate facility from the flagship Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.⁹ Dr. Hooman Melamed is an orthopedic spine surgeon who served as director of scoliosis at the Marina del Rey hospital from 2013 to 2021.¹⁰ Dr. Paul Dwan is a board-certified neurosurgeon affiliated with Cedars-Sinai.¹¹

A hospital spokesperson declined to comment on the pending litigation, saying only that “the care and safety of our patients, staff and visitors are always Cedars-Sinai’s top priorities.”¹² Neither surgeon has commented publicly on the allegations.

Damages Sought and Pre-Suit Notice

The suit seeks at least $1.4 million. The complaint does not publicly break that figure into medical costs, lost income, or pain and suffering. Miller’s attorney, Nadine Lewis, said her team served the mandatory 90-day pre-litigation notice required under California law before filing. Neither doctor responded, according to Lewis, and the hospital only acknowledged receipt.²

Why She Can Still Sue Five Years After the Surgery

California medical malpractice claims generally must be filed within one year of discovering the injury and no more than three years after the injury itself. Retained foreign object cases are the exception. When an object left in a patient serves no medical purpose, the three-year outer limit does not apply, and the one-year clock starts only when the patient actually discovers it. Miller’s catheter was found in June 2024, and the suit was filed in June 2025, placing it inside that window.¹³

Retained object cases also carry a burden-shifting doctrine called res ipsa loquitur. In most malpractice suits, the patient must prove the doctor was negligent. Here, the surgical team must produce evidence that leaving the object behind was not the result of negligence. A defendant can rebut the presumption by showing adherence to standard protocols and that further searching would have created its own risks.¹³

Damages have their own rules. Under AB 35, effective January 2023, California’s cap on noneconomic damages rises each year. For non-fatal cases filed in 2025, the per-provider-category cap is $430,000, and separate caps can apply against different categories of defendants such as physicians and hospitals, which can multiply the total recoverable amount. Economic damages, covering medical bills, rehabilitation, and lost earnings, remain uncapped.¹⁴

What Miller Has Said

In interviews after the filing, Miller described years of “unbearable pain” and said she had “sounded the alarm” repeatedly, only to be “brushed off again and again.” She said the experience of having doctors dismiss her concerns felt uncomfortably similar to what she went through during her cancer diagnosis.⁸ Lewis said the doctors “let her suffer for years.”²

As of mid-2025, the case was in its early stages, with no public response from the defendants beyond the hospital’s general statement.

1
People. Abby Lee Miller Is Suing Cedars-Sinai for Allegedly Leaving a Catheter Inside Her Body
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New York Post. Abby Lee Miller Sues Cedars-Sinai, Says They Left Catheter in Abdomen
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SurvivorNet. Heading Into 3rd Spinal Surgery
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Prevention. Abby Lee Miller Wheelchair Dance Moms
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NBC News. Dance Moms Star Abby Lee Miller Says Catheter Was Left in Abdomen for Years
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MDLinx. Dance Moms Star Sues for $1.4M
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Page Six. Abby Lee Miller Sues Cedars-Sinai Hospital for Malpractice
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TMZ. Abby Lee Miller Doctors Pain Catheter Hospital Surgery
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Cedars-Sinai. About Cedars-Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital
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Brand Surgical. Hooman Melamed, MD
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Cedars-Sinai. Paul Dwan Provider Profile
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Yahoo Entertainment. Abby Lee Miller Sues Cedars-Sinai
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CAP Physicians. Retained Foreign Object: All Is Not Lost
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Stalwart Law. California’s MICRA Cap