John Ritter's family lost their wrongful-death lawsuit against the late actor's doctors on Friday, and the jury cleared the radiologist and cardiologist of negligence charges. Ritter died unexpectedly in 2003 from a torn aorta. Jurors on the case, which was worth $67 million to the Ritter family, believed that Ritter did not follow the advice of his radiologist, Dr. Matthew Lotysch, to seek the advice of a physician following a 2001 body scan. Dr. Joseph Lee, who treated Ritter the night before his death, was the other defendant in the case.The case was brought by Ritter's widow, Amy Yasbeck, and his four children. The family has collected $14 million in previous settlements regarding Ritter's death. Ritter was starring in ABC's 8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter when he died.What's your view on the ruling? Should the doctors have been found negligent, or were they unfairly accused? — Anna DimondUse our Online Video Guide to see clips of John Ritter.Related:•...
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Amy Yasbeck sobbed through much of her testimony as she told jurors about husband John Ritter's last moments before he was wheeled into surgery for what they thought was a heart attack, but what turned out to be a shredded aorta. The AP notes that Yasbeck's words were the final testimony heard for the plaintiff's side in the $67 mil wrongful-death suit Ritter's family filed against Dr. Joseph Lee and radiologist Dr. Matthew Lotysch. Dr. Lee was the physician at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center who told the family that Ritter was in the middle of a heart attack and as such needed an angiogram. Dr. Lotysch had performed a body scan on the actor two years prior to his death and concluded that his aorta was normal. Along with Yasbeck, Ritter's first wife of 19 years, Nancy, also testified. Ritter had told her his body scan had gone well, but she then offered, "Maybe he was trying to protect me."Yasbeck's testimony concluded with her account of the unthinkable moment of having to tel...
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Henry Winkler, longtime friend and colleague of John Ritter, testified on Wednesday at the late actor's wrongful-death trial. Winkler told the jurors that he had just spoken with Ritter shortly before he was rushed to the hospital. The AP reported Winkler's last encounter with Ritter: "'We were reminiscing,' Winkler said. 'He was sweating [and said], 'I really need to get some water.' I said, 'I really need to memorize my lines.' And he went one way and I went the other. And that was the last time I saw him."It was clear that Winkler's testimony was trying to strike an emotional chord with the jurors, as he explained Ritter's love for his work and his family. When Winkler was asked about what he thought Ritter's kids would miss most about their dad, he said, "His passion for life. His excitement for being on the Earth. Any conversation we had wrapped around his children, the pride and the love."The lawsuit for $67 million is against a radiologist who had given Ritter a body scan ear...
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The late John Ritter's relatives on Tuesday are taking to trial a $67 million lawsuit alleging that the actor would have survived his 2003 emergency surgery if two doctors had recognized his heart abnormality and not treated it as a heart attack, thus doing the "exact opposite" of what was needed, say court papers.Defense lawyers counter that Ritter's condition (aortic dissection) mimics a heart attack, and as such the two doctors did nothing wrong.As part of the plaintiffs' case, Hollywood execs will testify as to how much Ritter might have earned if he had survived and continued with his hit TV show, 8 Simple Rules. Thus far, his second wife, Amy Yasbeck, and his four children have received some $14 million in settlements with nine other medical entities.
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Jason Ritter, aka the late John Ritter's son and Joan of Arcadia's big brother, has joined the cast of the CBS comedy pilot The Class, in which half a dozen friends from the third grade are reunited at a party (thrown by Ritter's Ethan), then see their lives continue to intersect.
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