Five years after his sudden passing, the family of actor Bill Paxton has reached a settlement with an anesthesiologist medical group named in a lawsuit filed in connection with his death.
Attorneys for the General Anesthesia Specialists Partnership filed documents on Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court seeking approval of the $1 million settlement. The agency was involved in Paxton’s heart surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, just two weeks before his death on Feb. 25, 2017, at age 61.
The “Twister” actor initially underwent a procedure to repair a damaged valve on on Feb. 14, 2017. The following day, he received another emergency surgery to repair a damaged coronary artery, but his health continued to decline.
Paxton’s death certificate says he died from a stroke.
While General Anesthesia denied “liability in this matter,” the agency said the settlement would “reasonably compensate plaintiffs and avoid exposing defendant to an expensive and time consuming litigation,” according to court documents obtained by Deadline.
The agency also emphasized that “its personnel complied with the standard of care insofar as their involvement in the care and treatment of ... Paxton, and nothing their personnel did or didn’t do caused or contributed to his death.”
The settlement would also see Dr. Moody Makar, an anesthesiologist named as a defendant, dismissed from the lawsuit without payment, according to NBC News. General Anesthesia’ attorney, Robert Reback, said the move was a “business decision.”
Following Paxton’s tragic death, the actor’s widow Louise Paxton and their children, James and Lydia Paxton, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2018. The defendants who did not settle — Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Dr. Ali Khoynezhad, a cardiothoracic surgeon employed by the hospital — are slated to go to trial on Sept. 19.
They’re accused of providing the on-screen star with “negligent diagnosis, management, and treatment,” ultimately leading to the complications that caused his sudden and untimely death.
According to court documents, the operating surgeon used a “high risk and unconventional surgical approach with which he lacked experience and which was, based upon information and belief, beyond the scope of his privileges.” The defendants are also accused of downplaying the risks linked to the procedure.
Paxton got his start in acting in the early 1970s, appearing in smaller roles before going on to nab more notable parts in popular films like “The Terminator,” “Weird Science” and “Aliens” in the '80s. He also went on to appear in “Tombstone” and “Titanic.”
On the small screen, the actor starred in the HBO series “Big Love” and received an Emmy nomination for his lead role on the History Channel miniseries “Hatfields & McCoys.”
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