Dr. Thomas Morgan assessed Sherry in his kitchen that night and determined that she had dangerous brain swelling that could kill her and he wanted her seen immediately.
Khorsand testified about that night in her third day on the witness stand during a hearing to determine whether Khorsand and her husband have the right to visit their granddaughter.
Khorsand and retired pediatrician Dr. Siavash Ghoreishi have taken Naso to Family Court to force him to allow them to visit with Laila, who is now 4. Naso said he stopped allowing his in-laws to visit with Laila because he is concerned for her safety and believes their medical care led to Sherry’s death last year and sickened Laila.
Naso, a Middletown narcotics detective, discovered that Ghoreishi, who was also Laila’s pediatrician, had written dozens of prescriptions for Sherry and Laila. Naso also found text messages between Khorsand and Sherry that he said showed his mother-in-law misdiagnosed her symptoms as related to lymphedema and weaning off Prozac.
That night of the dinner in April 2024 was a pivotal moment for the family, when Sherry suddenly realized that she could die — and Naso began to question the medical advice that his in-laws, both physicians, had been giving his wife.
Sherry had a massive brain tumor and cancer throughout her body. She underwent brain surgery, but did not emerge from a coma and died on April 24, 2024.
It was also a pivotal moment for this contentious grandparents visitation hearing, where Judge Felix Gill will determine whether visits are in Laila’s best interests.
On the witness stand Wednesday, Khorsand said she couldn’t recall whether Sherry called or texted her on the drive home from the dinner. She just knew that her daughter was panicking.
“This is a young mother with a toddler in the back of the car. She was told she had brain swelling, and she is a breast cancer survivor,” Khorsand testified. “I was trying to give her some hope, as a mother.”
Khorsand remembered telling her daughter she’d be fine. Then she paused in her testimony, a pained look on her face. Khorsand was questioned about text messages that she sent to her daughter in those last months — messages she admitted mysteriously disappeared from her phone after Naso filed a complaint against her and Ghoreishi in January at the state Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline.
Naso is accusing his in-laws of Munchausen syndrome by proxy for allegedly prescribing medication and administering “excessive amounts of unjustified prescription medications without appropriate medical documentation.”
Naso saved screenshots of the texts from his wife’s phone, which is now with the Rhode Island State Police.
Under cross-examination by Naso’s lawyer, Veronica Assalone, about her texts telling Sherry that Prozac withdrawal was causing the symptoms, Khorsand insisted that the idea originated from her daughter.
“She insisted it was the pill,” Khorsand said. “I started researching SSRI withdrawal symptoms and many of her symptoms were matching.”
Although her texts showed that Khorsand wrote Sherry not to see a “neuro or psych” and dismissed the concerns of Sherry’s psychiatric nurse practitioner, Khorsand testified that she wanted Sherry to see a neurologist. She gave her the name of one at Mass General Hospital; the appointment date occurred weeks after Sherry died.
While she said that Ghoreishi treated Sherry for “minor” symptoms, Khorsand said her daughter had her own primary care physician, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, and was under the care of her oncology team at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She said Sherry told her that they found her “completely healthy” except for lymphedema at her last appointment in December 2023.
Khorsand and Ghoreishi let their state medical licenses expire last year. Their lawyer, Michael Ahn, is trying to prevent evidence and testimony about their alleged medical care from being heard in Family Court.
So far, though, the judge has heard pieces of testimony, question by question. Assalone argued that the information about their medical care is central to Naso’s decision not to allow his in-laws to have visits.
Assalone went after Khorsand’s credibility, confronting her with the messages she sent her daughter and the testimony she gave in depositions and in court. Khorsand elaborated on the texts. When she texted her daughter, “it’s very unlikely but out of respect we did not disagree” about Dr. Morgan’s call, that didn’t mean she disagreed with him, Khorsand testified.
When Naso spent 11 days at the hospital with Sherry as she was dying, Khorsand and Naso texted loving messages of support to each other.
But, Khorsand testified, she was angry about a video that Sherry had shown her and Ghoreishi of Naso screaming obscenities at Sherry in their home, days before she was hospitalized. Khorsand testified that she spoke to Dr. Morgan’s daughter-in-law, Mary Jane, who was watching Laila, about the video.
After Sherry died, Khorsand didn’t attend the funeral. Assalone asked Khorsand whether she recalled saying disparaging things about Naso to others.
Did she tell her close friends that if Naso wants to go to court, she can drag this out until he’s bankrupt? Did she say Naso is a control freak and a narcissist? Did she say the funeral was a joke? Did she recall saying, do you think a detective will be able to afford that house when I am done with him?
To each, Khorsand said, I don’t recall.
Grandmother testifies she fought to get dying daughter help
