However, Paxton’s widow and children will continue to press claims against a hospital and the surgeon who performed Paxton’s heart surgery.
The family of Bill Paxton has reached a $1 million settlement with an anesthesiologist group.
According to NBC News, Paxton passed away shortly after a 2017 heat surgery.
While attorneys for the defendants, the General Anesthesia Specialists Partnership, filed settlement papers in a Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday, they have continued to deny and all wrongdoing.
The terms of the agreement appear to allow the group to claim that its physicians were neither negligent nor otherwise responsible for Paxton’s death.
In their court filing, attorneys for the Specialists Partnership “[contend] that its personnel complied with 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 filing for a settlement, says NBC News, is subject to court approval.
If the presiding judge finds that the agreement was made in good faith, the funds will likely be disbursed to Paxton’s family.
NBC News notes that Robert Reback, an attorney for General Anesthesia Specialists Partnership and Dr. Moody Makar—among the individual doctors named as a defendant—said the settlement entails dismissing Makar from the lawsuit.
Makar will also be released from any obligation or request to make a payment toward the settlement amount.
Reback said that the General Anesthesia Specialists Partnership regard the agreement as a “business decision” rather than an admission of wrongdoing.
According to NBC News, Paxton’s widow—Louise Paxton—and his two children were named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which was initially filed against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Collectively, they claimed that the surgeon performing the surgery used a “high risk and unconventional surgical approach.” They also say the procedure was unnecessary, that the surgeon lacked the expertise necessary to perform it, and failed to adequately communicate its risks.
The treatment, said the lawsuit, caused Paxton to experience excessive bleeding, cardiogenic shock, and a compromised coronary artery.
However, NBC News reports that General Anesthesia Specialists Partnership’s decision to settle will not end the Paxton’s family’s litigation. A trial date involving other defendants named in the lawsuit, including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the surgeon who operated on Paxton, is tentatively scheduled for September.
Paxton, adds Complex, won a Screen Actors Guild award for his portrayal of a NASA astronaut in Apollo 13, and was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in Big Love.
Paxton passed away in February 2017 at the age of 61.
Sources
Bill Paxton’s Family Agrees to $1 Million Settlement in Lawsuit Over Actor’s 2017 Death
Bill Paxton’s family reaches $1 million settlement with medical group in lawsuit over actor’s death
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