The late actor, John Ritter, died on his daughter’s fifth birthday, on September 11, 2003.
His widow, Amy Yasbeck tells the Los Angeles Times that she told Stella that her father's death was unavoidable because that’s what she had been told. She came to change her mind.
Jury selection is set to begin today in the Los Angeles wrongful death trial concerning the medical treatment of the late actor, John Ritter.
At question is whether Ritter, 54, would have lived had he been diagnosed correctly and received the correct treatment for his heart abnormality known as aortic dissection.
The family wants $67 million dollars from the two doctors involved –one who delivered emergency room care as if the actor were having a heart attack—the other for not properly diagnosing his genetic condition.
"One would imagine that having a doctor treating you would increase your chances of survival rather than decrease them," said lawyers for Ritter's family.
Ritter, died after being taken to the emergency room at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank from the set of his sitcom “8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter.”
He complained of chest pain and nausea. He died a few hours later in the same hospital in which he was born.
Ritter, son of Western star, Tex Ritter, already had high cholesterol and a condition aortic dissection, which is a tear in the aorta. A rupture resulting from aortic dissection has about an 80 percent mortality rate.
Around 7:15 p.m. a test showed abnormalities doctors thought was consistent with a heart attack so Dr. Joseph Lee ordered the standard treatment, anti-coagulants. That treatment can exacerbate symptoms of aortic dissection. Then cardiac catherization was ordered, but during the procedure Ritter’s aortic dissection was found. His condition worsened. He was pronounced dead at 10:48p.m. No autopsy was performed.
Attorneys say those procedures are the “exact opposite” of what someone with a heart abnormality would have undergone and likely decreased Ritter’s chances for survival.
The treating doctor, cardiologist Dr. Lee ordered a chest x-ray, but for some inexplicable reason it was not done. Lawyers say an x-ray would have shown the enlarged aorta and surgery could have saved him.
The suit, filed in Superior Court, names the radiologist Matthew Lotysch and cardiologist Joseph Lee for negligence. The doctors are defending their actions.
Two years prior to his death, Ritter had a full-body scan. Dr. Lotysch found no abnormality in his aorta. Lawyers say he should have noted the aorta was enlarged. Defense will say it was not enlarged at the time.
Lotysch’s lawyer says the radiologist encouraged Ritter to follow up with a cardiologist on calcifications he found in Ritter’s coronary arteries, but Ritter did not.
Ritter’s widow, Amy Yasbeck, previously sued the hospital and nine other medical entities and received a reported $14 million settlement including nine million from the hospital.
The trial will also highlight how much a Hollywood life is worth. Expect dueling executives to calculate that publicly. At the time of his death, Ritter was making $75,000 per episode of his show. After seven years and syndication that would total $67 million say lawyers.
Ritter had been an actor since 1968 and had a series of successful shows including “Three’s Company.”
On the Today show Monday, Yasbeck said if successful, she and Ritter’s four children intend to use the money for the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health, to educate the public about aortic dissection disease. Based on John’s experience his brother, Tommy, discovered he too had aortic dissection. Surgery corrected the condition.
Yasbeck says she hopes in the future heart patients should refer to Ritter in a proactive way in communicating to doctors to determine whether they too have aortic dissection. #