Ritter's Family, Hospital Settle Wrongful Death Suit

AP ^ | 3/16/06 | Staff

[Millee]

The family of John Ritter has reached a tentative settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit against a Southern California hospital where the actor died.

That's according to an attorney for Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. He declined to disclose details of the settlement.

Hearings will be held to finalize the agreement, with the next court session set for Friday.

Ritter's widow, actress Amy Yasbeck, has claimed damages in excess of $25 million.

Ritter, star of the sitcom "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter," collapsed on the set of the TV show in 2003.

The 54-year-old actor was admitted to the hospital complaining of chest pain, nausea, vomiting and dizziness. He died later that night.

Ritter's family claims the actor was misdiagnosed "at least twice and underwent improper and unnecessary procedures" during his hospital stay.

Doctors said Ritter died of an aortic aneurysm.

[ClearCase_guy]

misdiagnosed "at least twice and underwent improper and unnecessary procedures"

This happened to me also. But I didn't get $25 million. Oh, sure, it's not like I died. But they owe me something, don't they? No?

[End Times Sentinel]

I got a bad haircut a couple of weeks ago.  I didn't die either, but I did a double take every time I looked in the mirror for several days.

Maybe we could organize a class action suit against multiple parties?

Owl_Eagle

(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,

 it was probably sarcasm)

[ClearCase_guy]

I'm already shopping for a boat! We is gonna be rich!

[Ohioan from Florida]

The 54-year-old actor was admitted to the hospital complaining of chest pain, nausea, vomiting and dizziness. He died later that night.

While it must have been a horrible shock to his family, it sounds like he had only been hospitalized for a brief time. Are they suing for misdiagnoses earlier than this hospitalization? This article doesn't make that clear. Because of privacy concerns, I wonder if anyone knows what really happened.

[Millee]

I seem to recall that he knew he had a bad heart valve, but he either ignored or put off having the valve repaired. My memory is only good for about two weeks, so I could be way off.

[Ohioan from Florida]

Thanks.

I found this old thread from when the suit was first filed. Interesting reading. It sheds a little light, but not much.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1211651/posts

[blondatheart]

My father has an aortic aneurysm. These things are very easy to detect at 2cm. They usually do not do surgery unless the aneurysm reaches around the 5cm mark, until then, you have to be very careful. If you pop that puppy, you only have a few moments to say goodbye before you bleed out into your stomach.

[Gay State Conservative]

Chest pain in adults (at least male adults) is very very difficult to diagnose.Heart attacks can mimic indigestion and other gastrointestinal problems.

I'll wager that the hospital settled because of the OJ/William Kennedy Smith/Robert Blake/Michael Jackson phenomenon...that is,in any court case involving a show biz type (or other celebrity) jurors almost always rule in favor of the celebrity,regardless of the evidence.

For that matter,medical malpractice suits should *not* be heard by juries made up of "civilians".Filth like John Edwards knows that such people can be fooled very,very easily.