The late Bill Paxton’s family has agreed to settle a wrongful death lawsuit against a Los Angeles hospital and a surgeon who performed heart surgery shortly before he died in 2017, according to court documents filed on Friday.
The lawsuit, filed more than four years ago against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, was scheduled to go to trial next month. However, attorneys for Paxton’s wife of 30 years, Louise, and his two children, James and Lydia, have filed notices in the Los Angeles Superior Court that they have agreed to a settlement.
“This matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties,” plaintiffs’ attorneys Bruce Broyer and Steve Heimberg said in a statement.
The terms are confidential, the attorney said. E-mails seeking comment from defendants were not immediately returned. The deal still has to be approved by a judge.
Paxton, who starred in movies like Apollo 12, Titanic, Alien, and TV series like Big Love, died on February 11, 2017.
According to his death certificate, the cause was a stroke that occurred 11 days after surgery to replace a heart valve and repair damage to the aorta.
A lawsuit filed a year later alleges surgeon Dr. Ali Koinejad used unnecessary, “high-risk and unconventional surgical approaches”, lacked experience, and downplayed the risks of surgery. claimed.
Mistreatment caused Paxton to suffer excessive bleeding, cardiogenic shock, and coronary artery damage, the lawsuit alleges, and Cedars-Sinai said Koinezhad “engaged in an unusual operation and displayed suboptimal judgment.” He said he knew there was a tendency.
Defendants said in court documents that Paxton and his family knew and understood the risks involved in the operation and voluntarily continued the operation.
The four-year legal battle was marked by frequent attempts by the Paxton family to extract more evidence from the hospital and frequent court hearings on the matter.
Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Paxton was one of the industry’s busiest actors from the early 1980s until his death, amassing nearly 100 credits, including “Twister” and “Strange Science.” He was in the CBS drama series ‘Training Day’ when he passed away.
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter. https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.