A 12-month-old child died at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Michigan, after a series of critical medical failures—and now the doctor who tried to raise the alarm says he was punished for speaking up.

Dr. Sudesh Ebenezer, formerly head of neurosurgery at Hurley, was called in to perform emergency surgery on the infant in December 2022. But when he arrived, he says vital imaging hadn’t been done, blood clotting hadn’t been assessed, and the child’s breathing problems hadn’t been corrected. Most shockingly, staff told him the baby had already been transferred to another hospital—but the child was actually still inside Hurley. They had lost track of a critically injured infant.

The child died the next day.

When Dr. Ebenezer voiced his concerns about patient safety and care quality, the hospital responded not with a serious investigation—but by removing him from his trauma panel role, making it harder for his employer to bill for his services and slashing his pay. His request for a formal review of the child’s death was ignored, and when a review was finally held, he says he wasn’t even invited.

This is not just a story about one doctor. It’s about whether hospitals are held accountable when children die under their care—and whether whistleblowers can speak out without retaliation.

We call on the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the Joint Commission, and the Board of Directors at Hurley Medical Center to immediately launch an independent investigation into:

• The medical and administrative handling of the infant’s case
• The hospital’s treatment of internal safety complaints
• The alleged retaliation against Dr. Ebenezer

Families in Flint and across Michigan deserve to know their hospitals are safe, transparent, and accountable. No parent should ever lose a child due to preventable error. And no doctor should be punished for trying to stop it from happening again.

Sign to demand answers—and justice.