Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller has sued her team of doctors and Cedars-Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital in Los Angeles for malpractice.
Miller, who rose to fame through her tough-love approach to being a dance teacher on the Lifetime reality show, alleged that after doctors performed a spinal surgery on her in 2020, they left a catheter in her body.
According to the lawsuit obtained by People, Miller informed her doctors shortly after the surgery that she was experiencing abdominal pain, but nothing had been done. Then, in June 2024, a doctor gave her a CT scan, where a retained catheter was allegedly discovered. The same day, doctors performed an emergency procedure to remove it.
Miller filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court for medical negligence, professional negligence, and medical battery. She is asking for $1.4 million in damages.
“Cedars-Sinai cannot comment on pending legal matters,” the hospital told The Independent in a statement.
“Also, due to federal and state privacy laws, Cedars-Sinai cannot discuss any patient’s medical treatment. However, the care and safety of our patients, staff, and visitors are always Cedars-Sinai’s top priorities. We are dedicated to ensuring that we meet the highest standards of care for all those we serve.”
Miller’s attorney, Nadine Lewis, echoed the claims made in the lawsuit in a statement given to The Independent, saying: “Abby Lee Miller suffered for years from an object left inside of her during spinal surgery; despite complaints to various physicians, not one ordered imaging of any kind to diagnose the source of her pain.
“Rather, they systemically dismissed her chronic pain and let her suffer for years.”
She continued: “As a paraplegic woman with a life sentence in a wheelchair, Abby lives with daily pain in the aftermath of her Burkitt Lymphoma diagnosis. For years, Abby complained of abdominal pain, only to be ignored by her most trusted physicians. Four years post-surgery Abby discovered that her surgeons had left a bright blue catheter inside of her abdomen.”
Miller shot to fame on Dance Moms, in which she trained children to go into dance and show business under her exacting tutelage; however, ex-students left the program to complain about the difficult treatment they endured. The show debuted in 2011 and ended in 2019.
Miller has since admitted during a May 2024 interview with ABC that she was possibly too harsh on her students, but added that she was only remorseful because “they just didn’t have the talent.”
Several cast members have skyrocketed to fame as a result of the show, including Maddie Ziegler and JoJo Siwa.
