Bill Paxton’s Family Is Suing Actor’s Heart Surgeon For Wrongful Death

The family of the late Bill Paxton is suing the Los Angeles hospital and the surgeon who performed the surgery in which the actor died for wrongful death.

BILL PAXTON FAMILY SUING ACTOR’S HEART SURGEON

Surgeon Ali Khoynezhad performed heart surgery on Paxton, 61, in February of last year to fix an aortic aneurysm and repair a heart defect. The actor suffered a stroke just 11 days following the procedure and passed away, and his family is now suing Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the surgeon for wrongful death.

“Bill Paxton and his family trusted the physicians and staff at this medical facility but instead Cedars-Sinai betrayed their trust,” their attorney Bruce Broillet said in a release. “We are pursuing accountability and justice from a physician and a hospital that failed to adequately protect Mr. Paxton. The surgeon’s actions resulted in this tragic and preventable death.”

Paxton’s death certificate revealed that the Apollo 13 actor was born with a birth defect in the form of a heart disease called bicuspid aortic valve. This means that his aortic valve in his heart only had two leaflets to help regulate blood flow instead of the usual three. The condition left Paxton susceptible to aneurysm, stroke or heart failure. His death certificate did not, however specify if his fatal stroke was related to the birth defect or not.

Khoynezhad quit working at Cedars-Sinai not long after Paxton died. “We are pursuing accountability and justice from a physician and a hospital that failed to adequately protect Mr Paxton,” lawyer Steve Heimberg said in a release, according to the Forth Worth Star-Telegram.