Posted on 03/16/2006 5:07:35 AM PST by COUNTrecount
LOS ANGELES - The family of late actor John Ritter has reached a tentative settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit against Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, where the actor died, an attorney for the hospital said Wednesday.
"There is an agreement in principle," attorney Rory Hernandez told The Associated Press. "But we still have to follow the legal procedure."
Hearings will be held to finalize the agreement, he said, with the next court session set for Friday.
Hernandez declined to disclose details of the settlement. The hospital will issue a statement in several weeks, he said.
Court documents filed by the hospital on March 10 indicate Ritter's family members "are potentially receiving a large monetary settlement in this case." Ritter's widow, Amy Yasbeck, has claimed damages in excess of $25 million, court documents show.
Yasbeck and Ritter's four children accused the hospital of negligence when they filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Sept. 3, 2004.
Ritter, star of the sitcom "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter," collapsed on the set of the TV show on Sept. 11, 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.
Ritter came to prominence in 1977 as Jack Tripper on the hit sitcom "Three's Company."
Ritter's widow, Amy Yasbeck, has claimed damages in excess of $25 million, court documents show.
Yeah, that will make up for it all.......
The doctors should have refused to treat Ritter so as not to risk misdiagnosis.
It won't make up for it, obviously.But, if someone didn't do their job properly they need to be held accountable.Its an old concept, not as much in favor as it used to be.
No wonder health care is so expensive. Lawyers will even sue for the rich.
The same exact thing happened to Jonathan Larson, the "RENT" composer years ago, and was misdiagnosed by 2 NY hospitals, and even had his stomach pumped when one of them thought it was food poisoning--somehow missing the massive black anneurysm oval on the chest x-ray. The disgraceful "care" given Larson was bad enough. But AFTER Larson, and the enormous publicity that malpractice got, there was no excuse whatsoever for the Ritter oversight. I hope the family not only got tens of millions for his death, but also that the MD's who screwed it up are banned from medicine.
The doctors who treated Ritter were incompetant and should lose their licenses.
I had alway thought an aneurysm was a "drop dead" kind of thing. I did not realize people could survive them if they were correctly diagnosed in time.
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