THE DEATH OF NEIL ARMSTRONG AND A $6-MILLION SECRET
WASHINGTON— When Neil Armstrong died in 2012, it was officially put down to complications arising from heart surgery. But seven years on, more murky circumstances have come to light.
The New York Times said Tuesday it had received by mail 93 pages of documents revealing a dispute between the family of the most famous astronaut in history and the small Ohio hospital where he was treated and operated on.
The Cincinnati Enquirer also received the documents, which were sent anonymously.
According to the newspapers, the family had threatened to publicly accuse the hospital of medical malpractice.
They ultimately reached a secret settlement that avoided a scandal, with the hospital paying $6 million, of which $5 million went to Armstrong’s two sons, Rick and Mark, in exchange for their silence.
In a July 2014 email, Mark’s wife Wendy, a lawyer, threatened to go public during the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission which saw Armstrong become the first person to set foot on the Moon.
“If this matter becomes public, the resulting damage to your client’s reputation would come at a much greater cost than any jury verdict we can imagine,” she wrote, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“No institution wants to be remotely associated with the death of one of America’s greatest heroes,” Bertha Helmick, a lawyer for Armstrong’s grandchildren, argued in probate court proceedings, according to the Times.
But Armstrong’s widow Carol, his second wife, wanted it known she was not a part of the agreement.
The case concerned the decision by the hospital in Fairfield, Ohio, now a member of the Bon Secours Mercy Health group of hospitals, to not transfer Armstrong immediately to surgery when he began to show rapid internal bleeding, several days after a coronary bypass.
The original decision to perform the bypass surgery has also been questioned.
A hospital spokesperson told the Enquirer the publication of the details was “very disappointing.”