With three big name porn star deaths in 2024 – Jesse Jane, Kagney Linn Karter and Sophia Leone – we all feared the worst when Emily Willis went into a coma following her cardiac arrest last year.

The 25-year-old adult film star eventually woke up from her coma, but sadly remains in a vegetative state, where she’s at least able to track things with her eyes, smile, and even become emotional during conversations.

Unfortunately, doctors aren’t anticipating any further improvement beyond that, and aren’t even too sure how Emily Willis ended up with ‘locked-in syndrome’ in the first place.

Doctors have been unable to determine the root cause of what led to Emily’s cardiac arrest, especially since toxicology reports determined there were no drugs in her system. In fact, she was in rehab for ketamine addiction at the time, where she weighed just 100lbs (45kg!) when checking herself in. Even at 5’5, that is obviously a dangerously low weight and could suggest organ failure/cardiac arrest from malnourishment.

Emilly Willis’ lawyers have now issued a statement saying that the ex-adult star is “permanently disabled” following her treatment at the Malibu rehab centre, and are suing Summit Malibu and its parent company Malibu Lighthouse Treatment Centers, LLC, for “abuse of a dependent adult, professional negligence, negligence and fraudulent business practices”.

According to the lawsuit, instead of closely monitoring Willis, as they promised to do in their intake documents, staff watched her health rapidly deteriorate over several days but did not send her to a hospital for advanced medical care.

The lawsuit states she became “dishevelled, frail, disoriented” with a “nervous” mood and “poor” insight and behaviour, and even had difficulty walking. Emily was barely eating, not showering or getting dressed and was experiencing aches, tremors, spasms and weakness; and was very clearly in physical pain.

James A. Morris Jr. who is representing Emily and her mum, Yesenia Lara Cooper, says:

“Eventually she grew so dehydrated that a nurse could not measure her blood pressure. By this time her acute medical distress had been recorded and yet they left the decision to go to an urgent care up to a patient who was suffering incredible pain and could not care for her own well-being. There is no excuse for their failure to obtain medical and psychological care.”

“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.”

Absolutely tragic. I can’t think of many things more horrifying than being awake and conscious in a body without the ability to move or speak. Unless there’s a miracle on the cards, it really does sound like Emily Willis will be confined to a vegetative state for the rest of her life, albeit aware of her surroundings and able to emote with her expressions. It will be interesting to see whether the courts find the rehab clinic culpable, or if they scramble for an out-of-court settlement (which you’d think would have to be absolutely huge).