Ava Wilson, an 11-year-old girl who had bravely fought and beaten leukemia, tragically died just days after being discharged from a clinic in Illinois. Now, her family has been awarded $20.5 million in a wrongful death lawsuit after a jury found that her death was caused by a fatal combination of prescribed medications.

Ava had survived B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia and was in remission with no signs of cancer left in her blood. But just 36 hours after leaving the clinic in 2020, she passed away in her sleep from acute drug toxicity involving morphine, gabapentin, and hydroxyzine.

According to the family’s legal team at Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, Ava had been crying in pain, unable to walk properly, and showing signs of serious medical distress—including low blood pressure, low platelet and red blood cell counts, and elevated liver enzymes. Yet, she was still sent home.

Lead attorney Matthew L. Williams stated, “Ava’s body was screaming at these doctors, ‘Help me!’ And they just ignored it.”

The clinic prescribed her unusually high doses of medication: 15 mg of morphine every four hours—three times stronger than her previous prescriptions—and 100 mg of gabapentin three times a day. Her oncologist didn’t evaluate her in person but approved the nurse practitioner’s recommendations. The two drugs, when taken together, can dangerously enhance each other’s effects.

In a statement, Advocate Health and Hospitals Corporation, the defendant in the case, offered condolences to the family but said they could not comment further due to patient privacy laws.

Ava’s family hopes the outcome of this case will prevent similar tragedies and raise awareness about the risks of overprescribing powerful medications—especially to children recovering from serious illness.