The late actor Bill Paxton's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and the surgeon who operated on Paxton, who died Feb. 25, 2017, at age 61.
According to a news release, Paxton's family contends that the surgeon, Ali Khoynezhad, performed an improper procedure that led to the death of the actor, whose cause of death was listed as a stroke, suffered 11 days after he underwent heart surgery.
The family contends that Khoynezhad's actions, and the inactions of Cedars-Sinai, caused Paxton to suffer the complications that resulted in his death, according to the release, which cites court documents.
Khoynezhad left his position as a surgeon at Cedars-Sinai shortly after Paxton's death, according to the release. "We are pursuing accountability and justice from a physician and a hospital that failed to adequately protect Mr. Paxton," attorney Steve Heimberg says in the release.
The complaint alleges that Paxton consulted Khoynezhad, Cedars-Sinai and other defendants in connection with cardiac conditions that included bicuspid aortic valve and aortic aneurysm. The document says Khoynezhad and others recommended that Paxton undergo surgery for aortic aneurysm. "Based upon information and belief, heart surgery was not indicated," the complaint says.
Paxton underwent surgery on Feb. 14, 2017. "Defendants ... misrepresented and/or concealed information relating to the risks of surgery and care that would be provided and/or failed to adequately explain the proposed treatment or procedure and/or failed to disclose that (Khoynezhad) was going to use a high risk and unconventional surgical approach with which he lacked experience and which was, based upon information and belief, beyond the scope of his privileges," the suit says.
The document says that Paxton suffered multiple complications and that Khoynezhad was not in the operating room ("(and based upon information and belief, not in the hospital") when the actor began suffering the complications. The suit alleges that the surgeon left "without arranging fox continuous care and coverage ... and failed to timer return to the operating room upon notification of the complications, causing a delay in treatment resulting in damage. "
