The late Bill Paxton, as you might recall, shined in roles in such films as Apollo 13,
Aliens, Weird Science, Titanic, and Twister. On the television side of things, Paxton gave
a powerful performance in the HBO drama series Big Love playing the show's lead Bill
Henrickson from 2006 and 2011. For that role, he rightfully earned himself a Golden Globe
nomination. He followed that up with yet another award-winning performance in the 2012 History
Channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys, portraying the infamous McCloy clan patriarch Randall.
Bill was a dedicated family man who had two children with his wife Louise Newbury, whom he
married in 1987. Paxton and his family lived in Ojai, California, in relative peace until 2017,
when he revealed that he was suffering from a damaged aortic heart valve
that was likely the result of a bout with rheumatic fever he weathered as a child.
In mid-February of that year, Bill underwent open-heart surgery
at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA to repair that damaged valve
and attempt to correct an aortic aneurysm that was putting his life in jeopardy. The following day,
he was rushed into surgery once again to repair a damaged coronary artery.
Sadly, his condition steadily declined over the next week and a half. On February 25,
Bill suffered a fatal stroke and died at 61. While losing a loved
one is always heartbreaking, Paxton's family received yet another devastating
emotional blow when they realized that Bill's death was likely not necessary.
Join Facts Verse as we analyze this incredibly touchy situation. Fortunately,
recent developments seem to indicate that Paxton's family can finally breathe easy. Stay tuned to
find out why. But first, let's take a quick look back on Bill Paxton's life and career.
Bill's Early Life And Film Career
The 'Near Dark' star was born William Paxton on May 17, 1955,
in Fort Worth, Texas. Bill's father, John Lane Paxton, was a businessman,
museum executive, lumber wholesaler, and later on in life, the occasional actor. Notably,
after his son's acting career took off, John appeared alongside him in films
such as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Raimi's 1998 crime thriller A Simple Plan.
When Bill was just eight years old, he was in the crowd of onlookers as JFK emerged from his hotel
in Forth Worth the morning he was killed. Moved by his personal connection to that national tragedy,
Paxton would eventually co-produce the 2013 film Parkland,
which dealt with Kennedy's assassination.
After graduating from Fort Worth's Arlington Heights High School, Bill enrolled at Richmond
College in London. While studying there, he met a fellow Texan named Tom Huckabee.
Bill and Tom both shared a love for cinema and began making short films with their Super 8
camera. These were some very DIY movies, and one of Bill's favorite things to do
to make them feel more authentic was designing and building all the sets by hand.
After getting a feel for set design, Paxton moved to LA where he began working with props. After
experiencing a minor setback when he was rejected by a few film schools in Southern California,
Bill switched his focus from directing to acting.
A couple of Paxton's early roles were in 1983s Mortuary, in which he played a mortuary assistant,
and 1984s Terminator, where he was given a relatively minor role as a punk. In 1985,
he scored a supporting role playing the older brother of the lead in Weird
Science. The following year, he played Private William Hudson in James Cameron's
Aliens. For that role, he earned himself the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.
In 1987, Paxton played a psychotic vampire named Severen in the neo-Western horror
flick Near Dark. Three years later, he made an appearance in Predator 2.
In 1993, Paxton played the character Morgan Earp in Tombstone
Joining forces with James Cameron again, Paxton next appeared in 1994s True Lies
followed by 1997s Titanic. Lo and behold, the latter turned out to become the highest-grossing
film of all time for a period before being overtaken by Avatar in 2009. In
between those two Cameron offerings, Paxton played Fred Haise in Ron Howard's Apollo 13.
The last significant role that Paxton would play in the 90s was that of Hank
in 1998s A Simple Plan.
The 2000s and 2010s were good to Bill as well. Some of his most noteworthy
films during this period of his career include 2000s U-571 and Vertical Limit, 2001s Frailty,
2004s Broken Lizard's Club Dread and Thunderbirds, and 2014s Nightcrawler.
Paxton has directed a handful of films as well. In addition to starring in it,
Bill also directed 2001s Frailty. Four years later, he sat behind the camera
for the production of 2005s The Greatest Game Ever Played. Bill likewise directed the 2003
documentary Ghosts of the Abyss, which detailed he and James Cameron's expedition to the actual
Titanic four years after the release of the box-office smash they worked on together.
We already briefly covered Paxton's television roles on offerings such as HBO's Big Love and
The History Channels Hatfields & McCoys, but Bill also played a villain in ABCs Agent's of
S.H.I.E.L.D in 2014. In 2016, he was cast in the CBS crime-thriller series Training Day. Paxton's
final film appearance was in James Pnsoldt's 2017 techno-thriller The Circle.
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Paxton's Family Filed A Wrongful-Death Lawsuit
A year after his death, Bill Paxton's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit
against the surgeon that had performed his operations – a man by the name of Ali Khoynezhad.
In that lawsuit, they alleged that Khoynezhad had used unconventional
and high-risk methods that he had lacked the experience to attempt.
They further criticized him for not being present in the operating room
when Bill started experiencing complications like ventricular dysfunction tachycardia -
otherwise known as a compromised right coronary artery - which possibly could have contributed
to the arterial damage that required his second operation and ultimately brought about his death.
Paxton's Family Has Reached A Partial Settlement
While the previously mentioned lawsuit is set for trial in the
Los Angles Superior Court in September of 2022,
Paxton's family reached a partial settlement with General Anesthesia Specialists Partnership,
the medical group that oversaw aspects of Bill's surgical care, in February of 2022.
According to court documents that were submitted to the Los Angeles Superior Court
on Wednesday, February 23rd, attorneys for the medical group are seeking approval
for an agreed-upon $1 million settlement between the company and Paxton's family.
General Anesthesia Specialists Partnership is still denying any direct responsibility for
the actor's death, but according to those court papers, their intention behind the settlement
was to reach an agreement that would provide reasonable compensation to Paxton's family
while avoiding having to go through lengthy and costly court proceedings.
At the moment, the settlement has yet to be approved. Currently, it
needs to undergo review by the court to ensure that it was made in good faith.
Another detail that we recently learned from court filings is Paxton's family's claim that
Cedars-Sinai 'misrepresented or concealed information' pertaining to the risk of
surgery and care that was going to be provided to Bill. They further insist that the doctors that
oversaw his care failed to adequately explain the treatment and procedures that he needed.
The family's attorney Bruce Broillet put out a statement not long after his death
that stated that Bill and his Family had trusted the physicians and staff at the hospital,
but instead Cedars-Sinai had betrayed their trust. The statement concluded by saying that
the surgeon, Dr. Khoynezhad's actions directly resulted in Bill's 'tragic and preventable death'.
While a million dollars might sound like a lot of money to most people, no amount of
money could ever bring back a deceased loved one. And if the medical professionals at Cedars-Sinai
did act negligently, throwing money at the situation hardly seems like justice.
Bill Paxton's net worth at the time of his death was estimated to be somewhere in the ballpark of
$25 million, so it's unlikely that his family is taking these actions out of greed or need.
They seem to truly believe that Bill's death was preventable. What they probably want ultimately is
for no other family to have to go through the pain and heartache that they have had to contend with.
Really, this lawsuit could be seen as a noble deed. Medicine has definitely
come a long way in the last century or so, but clearly,
it's still not a perfect science. Accidents happen, and mistakes still get made. Hopefully,
however, in the future, these kinds of senseless mishaps will become less common.
Sadly, Bill Paxton wasn't the first - nor will he likely be the last - celebrity to
die presumably due to medical malpractice. Stars like Joan Rivers, John Ritter, and Freddie Prinze
also had their lives cut short allegedly because of the incompetence of their care providers.
Doctors are supposed the be the ones we turn to when we need help the most - and to be fair,
most of them do a great job tending to our medical needs - but occasionally, they drop the ball just
like everyone else. Unfortunately, when doctors make mistakes, the result can be disastrous.
Bill Paxton's family might be able to breathe a bit easier by this recent victory,
but their journey is far from over. We are all eagerly waiting to see what will happen
in September when their wrongful-death lawsuit goes to trial. It's conceivable,
though, that yet another settlement will keep this case out of the courtroom entirely.
Anyway, now it's your turn to let your voice be heard. Do you think that Bill
Paxton's death really could have been prevented, or do you think that his doctors likely did
everything in their power to keep him alive? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
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