diff --git a/cpp/include/raft/sparse/distance/l2_distance.cuh b/cpp/include/raft/sparse/distance/l2_distance.cuh
index 2432a9cc1c..e77ab36dc6 100644
--- a/cpp/include/raft/sparse/distance/l2_distance.cuh
+++ b/cpp/include/raft/sparse/distance/l2_distance.cuh
@@ -270,7 +270,11 @@ class hellinger_expanded_distances_t : public distances_t<value_t> {
 
     raft::linalg::unaryOp<value_t>(
       out_dists, out_dists, config_->a_nrows * config_->b_nrows,
-      [=] __device__(value_t input) { return sqrt(1 - input); },
+      [=] __device__(value_t input) {
+        // Adjust to replace NaN in sqrt with 0 if input to sqrt is negative
+        bool rectifier = abs(1 - input) > 1e-8;
+        return rectifier * sqrt(1 - input);
+      },
       config_->stream);
   }