Originally posted on Oregon Live on on 9/3/26 by Aimee Green: https://www.oregonlive.com/health/2026/08/a-26-year-old-went-to-urgent-care-with-a-headache-and-was-sent-home-3-days-later-he-was-dead-lawsuit-says.html
A lawsuit filed by the family of Brandon Harris says that the 26-year-old Sherwood resident died on March 26 from a undiagnosed brain aneurysm that burst. “He was a healthy young man with a bright future, and his life was tragically cut short,” reads the lawsuit. (Photo courtesy of Brandon Harris’ family)
The family of a 26-year-old Portland-area man that says he showed up at a Providence urgent-care clinic with a terrible headache but was sent home and then found dead three days later has filed a $23 million lawsuit against the health-care organization.
The family of Brandon Harris says a medical provider at Providence Urgent Care in Sherwood brushed aside Harris’ symptoms — including memory loss, dizziness, neck pain and vomiting — and didn’t order diagnostic scans or tests that could have accurately detected that Harris had a life-threatening brain aneurysm.
The lawsuit says a physician associate at the Sherwood urgent care didn’t consult a doctor or neurologist and didn’t tell Harris to go to the emergency room. Instead, she diagnosed him during his March 23 visit with a “minor tension headache” triggered by anxiety and panic attacks, the suit states.
Three days later, on March 26, he died after the aneurysm burst and the bleeding inside his skull “crushed the base of his brain.”
Harris’ fiancee found him unresponsive and called 911, according to the suit. Harris could not be revived. The couple had been set to marry Aug. 15, 2026.
Providence spokesperson Gary Walker declined to comment Friday, citing the pending litigation.
Jeffrey Young, an attorney for Harris’ parents, said emergency surgery on the aneurysm likely would have saved Harris’ life.
