Bill Paxton’s family sues surgeon, hospital over his death

Nearly a year after “Apollo 13” star Bill Paxton died from complications from surgery, his family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the surgeon and hospital that treated him.

Paxton suffered a stroke nearly two weeks after undergoing heart surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm (an abnormal bulge in the blood vessel wall) and replace his bicuspid aortic valve, which lets blood flow from the left atrium to the left ventricle. He died Feb. 25, 2017, at age 61.

His widow Louise Paxton, son James, daughter Lydia and his estate filed suit late last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging wrongful death, negligence and battery on the part of cardiovascular surgeon Ali Khoynezhad and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

In their filing, obtained by Paxton’s hometown paper, The Fort Worth StarTelegram, the family says Khoynezhad did not disclose that his planned surgical technique was risky and “unconventional,” that he lacked experience with it, and that it was “beyond the scope of his (hospital) privileges.”

In a press release accompanying the complaint, lawyer Steve Heimberg noted that Khoynezhad left Cedars-Sinai soon after the actor’s death.

The suit also alleges that the hospital failed to discipline Khoynezhad for his conduct in Paxton’s case, and failed to disclose relevant information to Paxton and his family about the risky nature of the initial procedure he underwent.

Cedars-Sinai issued a statement to USA TODAY saying state and federal privacy laws prohibit the hospital from commenting about patient care without written authorization. Messages to Khoynezhad were not returned.