Right-wing talk show host Dennis Prager sues hospitals over medical malpractice

LOS ANGELES (CN) — Conservative talk show host Dennis Prager is suing Cedars Sinai Medical Center, another hospital and a rehab clinic over medical malpractice and elder abuse, accusing them of failing to properly treat his severe spinal injury and causing “costly complications.”

The 77-year-old Prager, a best-selling author who has hosted a syndicated right-wing talk show for more than four decades, was stepping out of his shower in November 2024 when he slipped and fell backwards, striking the back of his head on the side of a bathtub and suffering a severe spinal cord injury. In his civil complaint, filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, he says he “still had some feeling and ability to move his toes” but was “otherwise unable to move his limbs and/or breathe on his own” when he was admitted to Cedars-Sinai.

Earlier this year, Prager expressed a degree of gratitude about his condition, telling the Christian Broadcasting Network: “A number of doctors, independently of one another, have described the fact that I am talking as ‘a miracle.’ And these are not religious people. I am cognizant of how lucky I am to be able to speak.” He has a new book out — “If There Is No God: The Battle Over Who Defines Good and Evil” — and has been giving interviews to promote it, including one to the Free Press, in which he spoke slowly but clearly. But the lawsuit paints a more dire picture of his condition.

“Because of the critical errors and negligence falling below the standard of care, Prager has been unable to return to the Dennis Prager Show,” Prager writes in his complaint. “He has been unable to return to work, he has been unable to get off of the ventilator for long enough to have even one three-hour conversation, and his ability to communicate and work in general has been grossly hindered.”

Prager claims the West LA hospital “failed to implement basic, mandatory measures” — namely, routinely turning Prager, causing him to develop “pressure ulcers,” commonly known as bed sores, which are caused by constant pressure on parts of the skin, and can be “life-threatening” when severe. He says once the hospital staff noticed the bed sores nearly a month after his accident, they were already advanced, deemed to be Stage IV — “reflecting extremely delayed recognition and prolonged unrelieved pressure.”

“The catastrophic wounds Prager suffered required multiple surgical interventions,” Prager writes in the complaint, “and rendered Prager ineligible for treatment at the overwhelming majority of rehabilitation and post-acute facilities nationwide, transforming what should have an intensive recovery phase to extended medical management.” More than a year later, he says, he’s still dealing with the consequences, including sudden spikes in blood pressure and intermittent dependency on a ventilator to breathe.

Prager is also suing Barlow Respiratory Hospital, which specializes in weaning patients off of ventilators, and Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Center. Both facilities, he says, failed to take steps to adequately treat the pressure wounds. He claims his wife Susan begged Rancho Los Amigos staff to perform ostomy surgery so that Prager would not be in constant danger of sepsis, but Rancho Los Amigos refused.

“Thus, Prager did not heal, and he continued to be exposed on a daily basis to fecal bacteria pouring into his very deep open wounds,” he writes in the complaint.

Prager does not specify the amount of damages he’s seeking from the three medical centers, but notes that his medical costs have exceeded $5 million over the last 13 months, a bill that “continues to grow at a staggering pace with each and every day.” Prager claims he used to make around $2 million a year, but has been unable to host his radio show or make public appearances since the injury.

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