Former adult film star Emily Willis is said to be “permanently disabled,” according to a lawsuit that reveals serious health issues.
Willis started working in the adult industry in 2018 after dating GirlsDoPorn director Andre Garcia. She appeared in over 700 adult films.
After moving to Los Angeles, she became successful and won several AVN Awards, including “Female Performer of the Year” in 2021.
However, the 25-year-old porn star had a sudden cardiac arrest while staying at a rehab center in Malibu in February last year.
Her real name is Litzy Lara Benuelos. She was later taken to a hospital in Thousand Oaks, California. Her recovery has been very difficult, and her family said they were preparing for the worst.
Willis was put on a ventilator and placed in a coma. She came out of the “vegetative” state in May but is now paralyzed and can only move her eyes.
Now, a lawsuit has been filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against Summit Malibu and its parent company, Malibu Lighthouse Treatment Centers, LLC. The lawsuit accuses them of “abuse of a dependent adult, professional negligence, negligence, and fraudulent business practices.”
The lawsuit says Willis checked into the center for “ketamine addiction” after using “five to six grams” of the drug every day for a year.
Although she is now semi-conscious, she is considered “permanently disabled” and is living in a care home in Utah.
The lawsuit claims that the rehab center “failed” to take the right steps as Willis’ health got worse over several days while she was in their care.
Her lawyers say Willis went to Summit Malibu on January 27, 2024, for help with her substance addiction. She was also dealing with bladder inflammation and night terrors.
She had a history of bladder incontinence, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and anorexia nervosa.
In the next few days, her health got worse. She had hot and cold chills, tremors, a fast heartbeat, headaches, felt “disorientated,” had trouble walking, and experienced vaginal pain.
The lawsuit also says she was hardly eating, showering, or getting dressed. In one case, a nurse could not check her blood pressure because of “dehydration.”
On February 3, emergency services were called, but Willis was not taken to the hospital.
Then, 26 hours later, she was “found unconscious,” but it is not known how long she was left alone.
Nurses and paramedics did CPR for 30 to 40 minutes until her heartbeat came back. But the lawsuit says the long time without oxygen caused “irreversible brain damage.”
The lawsuit also claims the rehab center “failed” to give her proper care before the incident. It says this was “neglect, abandonment, recklessness, and negligence” and that staff should have known her health was in danger based on her medical history and check-ups.
The lawsuit says Willis was in an “unsafe environment” and was “left unattended and unassisted for excessively long periods of time.”
James A. Morris, a lawyer from Morris Law Firm who represents Willis and her guardian, said: “Had the staff followed standard medical protocols, Emily would have had the opportunity to regain control of her life.”
“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,” reports The Mirror.
“We hope this lawsuit will spur real change in how treatment centers handle critical cases. Too many patients who should be receiving life-saving interventions are being lost to negligence,” he added.
