Family of Bill Paxton Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit With Los Angeles Hospital

James Paxton, Bill Paxton at the The Finest Hours World Premiere at the TCL Chinese Theater IMAX on January 25, 2016 in Los Angeles, CA (Shutterstock)

By Ramon Antonio Vargas, The Guardian

Bill Paxton’s family has struck an agreement to settle its wrongful death lawsuit against a hospital and surgeon who operated on the late actor’s heart shortly before his 2017 death, a court filing showed Friday.

Notice of the settlement came as a 19 September trial date for Paxton’s family’s lawsuit loomed. Assuming the judge presiding over the case ultimately approves it, the agreement would all but wrap up the claims that Paxton’s wife, Louise, and their children, James and Lydia, leveled against Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai medical center and surgeon Ali Khoynezad.

Fourteen students and three staff members were shot and killed in February 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school.
Grand jury urges removal of school board quartet over Parkland shooting
Read more
The settlement’s terms were not disclosed. But in a statement to the Associated Press, Paxton family attorneys Bruce Broillet and Steve Heimberg said: “This matter has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties.”

Hospital officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Paxton died on 25 February 2017 from a stroke that occurred 11 days after he underwent surgery to replace a heart valve and repair damage to his aorta. His wife and their children sued a year later, accusing Khoynezad of performing a risky, unconventional, unnecessary surgery on Paxton at Cedars-Sinai that he was too inexperienced to pull off.

Paxton’s family alleged that Khoynezad sought to downplay the procedure’s risks before the actor experienced excessive bleeding, cardiac shock and a damaged coronary artery, ultimately leading to his death.

In the four years since the lawsuit’s filing, the defendants countered that Paxton and his loved ones consented to the surgery despite knowing its risks. They denied that Paxton’s death resulted from negligence.

Paxton was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, before becoming an actor in the early 1980s and going on to accumulate nearly 100 on-screen credits.

Some of his most prominent film appearances were in projects helmed by director James Cameron, including Titanic, Aliens and True Lies. He was also in the films Apollo 13 and Twister before starring in the television series Big Love.

His run on Big Love earned him three Golden Globe award nominations. He was also nominated for an Emmy award for a role in the Hatfields & McCoys miniseries.

Paxton was 61 when he died.