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The family of late actor Bill Paxton has agreed to settle a wrongful death lawsuit against a Los Angeles hospital and a surgeon who performed heart surgery shortly before his death in 2017, according to a court document filed Friday.
A lawsuit filed more than four years ago against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was due to go to trial next month. But lawyers for Paxton’s wife of 30 years, Louise, and their two children, James and Lydia, filed a notice in Los Angeles Superior Court saying they had agreed to settle the case.
“This matter has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of both parties,” attorneys for the plaintiffs Bruce Brouillette and Steve Heimberg said in a statement.
Lawyers say the terms are confidential. Emails seeking comment from the defendants were not immediately returned. The agreement still needs to be approved by a judge.
Paxton, who starred in films including “Apollo 12,” “Titanic,” and “Alien,” as well as TV shows including “Big Love,” died on February 11, 2017.
According to his death certificate, the cause was a stroke 11 days after surgery to replace a heart valve and repair damage to the aorta.
A lawsuit filed a year later said surgeon Dr. Ali Khoynezhad used a “high-risk and unconventional surgical approach” that was unnecessary, that he lacked experience in performing it, and that he downplayed the risks of the surgery.
The erroneous treatment led to Paxton’s massive hemorrhage, cardiogenic shock and coronary artery damage, the lawsuit said, adding that Cedars-Sinai knew Khoynezhad had a tendency to “perform maverick procedures and exhibit poor judgment.”
The defendants said in court documents that Paxton and his family knew and understood the risks involved with the surgery and voluntarily went ahead with it. The defendant said there was no negligence that led to his death.
The four-year legal battle has been marked by frequent attempts by the Paxton family to extract more discovery evidence from the hospital and frequent court hearings on the issue.
Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Paxton was one of the busiest actors in the industry from the early 1980s until his death, amassing nearly 100 credits including “Twister” and “Twister” Weird Science”. He was starring in the CBS drama “Training Day” at the time of his death.
Follow AP entertainment writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
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