What happened to Bill Paxton? Titanic star's family settles wrongful death lawsuit with Los Angeles hospital

According to a recent court filing on Friday, August 19, the late Twister star Bill Paxton's family have reached a settlement with the hospital where the actor was admitted. This settlement comes five months after Paxton’s family received $1 million in settlement compensation from the anesthesiologist medical group.

The lawsuit, which ultimately resulted in the settlement, was against the medical group and the facility where Paxton had his heart surgery, i.e. the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. As per the legal filings, the case was supposed to go into trial next month after being filed in 2017, following the demise of Paxton.

However, Friday’s court document stated that the family had decided to settle the case with the medical facility as well. While the terms and the compensation amount have not been disclosed, it is likely to be the range of the previous settlement with the anesthesiologist medical group.

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Why did Bill Paxton’s family file the lawsuit?

Prior to his demise in February 2017, earlier that year, the Titanic star appeared on WTF with Marc Maron podcast and disclosed that he had damaged an aortic heart valve during his childhood from rheumatic fever. Later in mid-February 2017, Bill Paxton had heart surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

However, just hours after the surgery, Paxton had to undergo a second emergency surgery to address an issue regarding a damaged coronary artery. Within just 10 days of the lawsuit, the actor reportedly had a ventricular dysfunction, tachycardia.

Just 11 days after his cardiac surgery, Bill Paxton had a stroke, which proved to be fatal for the actor and caused his death at the age of 61. This caused Paxton’s family to sue the lead surgeon Ali Khoynezhad, who was allegedly not present during the actor’s later emergency surgery.

The family had further accused that the method of the lead surgeon was risky and ‘unconventional.’

Meanwhile, this recent statement from the lawyers Bruce Broillet and Steve Heimberg revealed that both entities have reached a mutual decision regarding the settlement offer. The statement read:

“The matter has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties.”

The agreement will now be approved by a judge in Los Angeles before Bill Paxton’s family can receive the agreed term of the settlement amount. This settlement marks an end to the legal struggle over the wrongful death lawsuit.

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Previous allegations regarding the cover up of Bill Paxton’s death

In the original lawsuit against Dr. Ali Khoynezhad, Paxton’s family claimed that the surgeon had attempted to cover up the actor’s demise. As per the family’s claims reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Khoynezhad had misled the Forest Lawn Memorial Park when they enquired about autopsy.

According to such reports, Khoynezhad told them that the family “(had) originally planned an autopsy but changed their mind."

At the time, the anesthesia group decided not to be associated with such allegations and denied that they were involved in the incident as children. Meanwhile, Deadline also reported the suit’s claims that some employees labeled Dr. Ali Khoynezhad’s practice as “cowboy medicine.”