Inset: Brandon Harris (U.S. Will Registry). Background: Providence Urgent Care in Sherwood, Ore., where Brandon Harris allegedly showed up with a headache before being sent home and dying (Google Maps).
A 26-year-old Oregon man walked into an urgent care suffering from an "unprecedented" headache and was sent home without any tests or further treatment, a lawsuit says. Three days later, he was dead.
The family of Brandon Harris is demanding $23 million from Providence Health & Services, alleging that the medical provider failed to recognize warning signs of a catastrophic brain aneurysm and instead diagnosed him with "a tension headache from panic attacks and anxiety," according to a legal complaint obtained by Law&Crime.
"He was a healthy young man with a bright future, and his life was tragically cut short by the negligence of defendants," the complaint says.
Harris' family has accused a physician associate at Providence Urgent Care in Sherwood of brushing aside a series of alarming symptoms Harris allegedly displayed during a March 23 visit. According to their complaint, Harris reported memory loss, dizziness, neck pain and vomiting in addition to his sudden headache.
"Brandon demonstrated signs and symptoms of bleeding inside his skull into the area between the brain and the tissues covering the brain, known as the subarachnoid space," the complaint says. "He had a severe headache that was sudden in onset. He had memory loss, vertigo, dizziness, neck pain, and vomiting. Brandon never had these symptoms before. He did not have a history of headaches. In fact, he told [the physician associate] that this headache was 'unprecedented.'"
According to Harris' family, the young man's presentation was "classic for a bleeding cerebral aneurysm," but the physician associate failed to act on it.
Rather than sending him to an emergency room or consulting a doctor or neurologist, the physician associate diagnosed Harris with a "minor tension headache," per the complaint.
"Bleeding cerebral aneurysm is a severe, life-threatening emergency that requires timely diagnosis and treatment to save lives and protect patients from harm," the complaint explains. "[The physician associate] did not do anything to exclude or rule out bleeding aneurysm. She did not order or arrange for any diagnostic testing, labs, or imaging studies. She did not refer Brandon to a hospital where he would have received a higher level of care. She did not even counsel Brandon on the critical warning signs or symptoms that would require him to go to an emergency department. She did not tell him to seek immediate medical attention if his symptoms did not get better or got worse."
According to Harris' family, the physician associate simply asked him, "Why are you here?" and then told Harris his headaches "were due to anxiety and panic attacks." She then allegedly sent Harris home without further care.
"After that visit, Brandon's symptoms persisted as the bleeding inside his skull developed into a devastating subarachnoid hemorrhage that crushed the base of his brain," the complaint says.
On the evening of March 26, Harris was found unresponsive on the ground by his fiancee. She called 911 and he was taken to Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center, where staff failed to resuscitate him. He was pronounced dead that night, according to the complaint.
"The cause of Brandon's death was a subarachnoid hemorrhage due to ruptured saccular (berry) aneurysm," the complaint concludes. "Brandon's death was preventable. Had the standard of care been met, the subarachnoid hemorrhage would have been diagnosed and treated in time to save his life."
Harris' family says he and his fiancee were scheduled to get married on Aug. 15. His parents' attorney, Jeffrey Young, told The Oregonian this week that they are "heartbroken" over what happened.
"They're upset that more wasn't done for their son," Young said. "It's the provider's job to know when that everyday complaint could be a warning sign of something more serious and potentially life-threatening."
A Providence spokesperson declined to comment when reached by The Oregonian, citing the pending litigation.
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