ROSEVILLE, Calif. (CN) – A child had to have unnecessary procedures because Kaiser doctors misdiagnosed the source of his nose bleed, his dad claims in Placer County Superior Court.

     Mike Ballesteros sued Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, the Permanente Medical Group, and several doctors on behalf of his son, Rudy, whose age is not specified.

     Ballesteros says he took Rudy to the emergency room twice in two days for excessive nosebleed. Defendant Dr. Michael Babb performed an emergency endoscopic cauterization of Rudy’s nasal passage to stop the bleeding, but Ballesteros claims Babb did not consult with a blood expert before doing the procedure or prescribing Amicar, which did not hold the blood clot.

     Over the next two weeks, Ballesteros had to take his son back to the emergency room several times. Finally, on May 13, defendant Dr. Kent Jolly diagnosed Rudy with a bleeding disorder and discovered that the dose of Amicar was only half of the dose required to staunch the nosebleed, according to the complaint.

      Ballesteros says the doctors’ failure to consult a hematologist before attempting diagnosis “led to a series of unnecessary medical procedures and operations which caused unnecessary physical injury and conscious pain and suffering to plaintiff.”

      He seeks at least $100,000 in general and special damages for medical malpractice and negligence.

      He and Rudy are represented by D. Randall Ensminger of Lincoln.