Memorial charity sued over colorectal surgery

A Memorial-area charity is being sued over claims that it refuses to hand over $34,576 it helped raise to provide life-saving surgery for a Pakistani child.

Saima Qureshi, individually and on behalf of her minor child, filed a lawsuit on March 30 in the Harris County District Court against Memorial’s House of Charity Inc. and others, alleging breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, civil theft and conversion.

Qureshi, a native of Pakistan, says that the defendant generously helped to bring her and her son to the States so that he could undergo surgery at Memorial Hermann Medical Center for his rare and life-threatening anorectal malformation, otherwise known as congenital pouch colon. According to the brief, the plaintiff’s family and the defendant worked together to raise over $34,000 to help offset the costs of the surgery, but when Qureshi decided to seek treatment for her son in Cincinnati, the charity reacted ambiguously and defensively.

Qureshi claims that even though Cincinnati Children’s Hospital had the best surgeon for her son’s condition, House of Charity refused to release the funds to pay for his treatment.

Qureshi is seeking compensatory and exemplary damages, as well as attorney’s fees and court costs. She is being represented in the case by Houston attorney Casey Wallace.

Harris County District Court Case No. 2011-19784.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed at the Harris County Courthouse. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.