Emily Willis’ family has taken legal action against a Malibu rehab center after the adult star was left “permanently disabled” after seeking treatment.
The 25-year-old, who joined the industry in 2018, remains in a semi-conscious state following a cardiac arrest at the facility in early 2024.
Her family has filed a lawsuit against Summit Malibu and its parent company, Malibu Lighthouse Treatment Centers, LLC, as reported by the Daily Mail.
The court filing brings forth serious accusations, including “abuse of a dependent adult, professional negligence, negligence, and fraudulent business practices”.
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Willis’ journey to recovery took a devastating turn after she checked into the rehab center on January 27, 2024, seeking help for a severe ketamine addiction.
For a year, she had reportedly been consuming “five to six grams daily” of the dangerous drug, leading to debilitating side effects such as urinary incontinence and night terrors.
Court documents cited by the Daily Star revealed that Willis had previously been diagnosed with major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and PTSD, and was already on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication.
Surprisingly, drug tests upon her admission showed no ketamine or other substances in her system, and she continued to test clean in the following days, despite her “rapidly failing health,” which raised further questions about the circumstances surrounding her cardiac arrest.
The lawsuit paints a disturbing picture of Willis’s decline within the facility.
It claims she soon became “disheveled, frail, and disoriented” and struggled to walk. She was also reportedly “barely eating, not showering or getting dressed” and “suffered from aches, tremors, spasms, weakness, appeared to be in pain, and experienced vaginal pain”.
James A. Morris Jr. from Morris Law Firm, representing Emily and her guardian Yesenia Lara Cooper, stated: “Eventually she grew so dehydrated that a nurse could not measure her blood pressure.
“By this time her acute medical distress had been recorded and yet they left the decision to go to an urgent care up to a patient who was suffering incredible pain and could not care for her own well-being. There is no excuse for their failure to obtain medical and psychological care,” he added.
According to the filing, Willis was discovered unconscious by a nurse practitioner on February 4, 2024. Paramedics performed CPR on her for 30 to 40 minutes, finally restoring a heartbeat. However, the prolonged lack of oxygen to her brain left her comatose.
While Willis has since regained consciousness and can track objects with her eyes, she remains unable to move or speak and is currently in a care home in Utah.
“Had the staff followed standard medical protocols, Emily would have had the opportunity to regain control of her life,” Morris said. “No patient should ever be subjected to such a horrendous breakdown in clinical care. Her health was ignored until it was too late, and now her life is forever changed.”
