John Ritter's family collected $14 million in settlements, then lost a $67 million suit against two doctors

On September 11, 2003, his daughter Stella's fifth birthday, John Ritter fell ill during rehearsals for "8 Simple Rules." He went to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, the hospital where he was born. Doctors treated him for a heart attack. He had an aortic dissection, a tear in the aorta, and died that night, a week short of 55. California regulators faulted the hospital for not doing a chest X-ray that an emergency doctor had ordered. His widow, actress Amy Yasbeck, and his four children sued. The hospital paid $9.4 million, and settlements totaled more than $14 million. In 2008 the family went to trial in Glendale against cardiologist Joseph Lee and radiologist Matthew Lotysch, who had read a 2001 body scan. They sought $67 million. Yasbeck said that was what Ritter would have earned. He had been paid $75,000 an episode, and a new contract under discussion would have paid $250,000 to $350,000 an episode. The jury voted 9 to 3 for both doctors. Yasbeck said money from the case would start the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health. After Ritter's death, his brother Tommy was found to have the same condition in the same spot and had surgery.