Bill Paxton's family sued his surgeon and Cedars-Sinai after he died following heart surgery

Bill Paxton had surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on February 14, 2017, to replace an aortic valve and repair an aortic aneurysm. He died of a stroke 11 days later, at 61, according to his death certificate. In February 2018 his widow, Louise, his wife of 30 years, and their children, James and Lydia, sued Cedars-Sinai, Southbay Medical Partners and surgeon Ali Khoynezhad. The suit said they acted "negligently, carelessly, recklessly and unskillfully." It described the operation as "maverick," "novel" and "unconventional" and said its risk had been concealed. In January 2022 the family won the right to seek punitive damages against Cedars-Sinai. In February 2022 the anesthesia firm General Anesthesia Specialists Partnership and its anesthesiologist, Dr. Moody Makar, agreed to pay $1 million. The firm denied liability and said the deal avoided costly litigation. In August 2022, shortly before trial, the family settled with the hospital and the surgeon. Their lawyers, Bruce Broillet and Steve Heimberg, said the terms were confidential, and the deal needed a judge's approval. The total paid by the hospital and surgeon has not been disclosed.