Bill Paxton‘s family has partially settled with an anesthesiologist medical group after suing for negligence in connection with his 2017 death.
Attorneys representing General Anesthesia Specialists Partnership submitted paperwork to a Los Angeles court on Wednesday, February 23, in order to approve the $1 million settlement. In documents obtained by Us Weekly, the medical group denied having any responsibility for the Twister actor’s death, arguing that “its personnel complied with the standard of care insofar as their involvement in the care and treatment of [Paxton].”
According to the docs, the court must find that the settlement was made in good faith in order for Paxton’s loved ones to receive it. A trial for the remainder of the case is set for September, during which other defendants, including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, will be heard.
The Training Day alum suffered a fatal stroke days after undergoing heart surgery to repair a damaged coronary artery in February 2017. He was 61 years old.
In 2018, Paxton’s wife, Louise Newbury, and their children — son James, 28, and daughter Lydia, 24 — filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Ali Khoynezhad, the surgeon who performed the Big Love alum’s operation. The SAG Award winner’s family members claimed that the doctor used “high-risk and unconventional” methods of treatment and that he wasn’t present when Paxton allegedly began to suffer complications during the operation. Khoynezhad was also accused of downplaying the potential risks of the surgery.
“Bill Paxton and his family trusted the physicians and staff at this medical facility but instead Cedars-Sinai betrayed their trust,” the family’s attorney Bruce Broillet claimed in a statement at the time. “The surgeon’s actions resulted in this tragic and preventable death.”
Ahead of his passing, the four-time Golden Globe nominee opened up about his health during an interview on the “WTF With Marc Maron” podcast. The Aliens actor recalled his bout with rheumatic fever, which he contracted while he was in the seventh grade, revealing that the illness caused permanent heart damage.
Doug Liman, who directed Paxton in the 2014 Tom Cruise action film Edge of Tomorrow, later claimed in a February 2017 interview that the Texas native was apprehensive before going into the operating room.
“Even facing major surgery, his optimism for the future was infectious,” the filmmaker told the New York Daily News at the time. “He was talking about the future, things we hoped to do together.”
Paxton was starring on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at the time of his death, and his role was later taken over by his son during a season 7 flashback episode.
“He always knew I could do it,” James previously gushed to Entertainment Weekly about following in his father’s acting footsteps. “But he couldn’t believe it at first. He was so over the moon. It was such a great feeling, I almost cried. I hate to get emotional, but it was almost my way of telling him, ‘I could do this. You don’t have to worry about me. I can do this on my own.'”
