Despite the emotional testimony of widow Amy Asbeck, a California jury has cleared a cardiologist and a radiologist of negligence in the diagnosis and treatment of actor John Ritter.
Jurors found that Ritter was advised by the radiologist to follow up with treatment by a physician, but he didn’t follow the order.
The lawsuit, seeking $67 million in damages, was brought by Yasbeck and children. The jury’s verdict was 9-3.
Case closed.
20 Comments
Ouch.
Im sure he had life insurance though,right?
If a doctor tells you something - freaking do it, or its your fault.
So, sadly to say “told ya so”
It’s a good thing. His no-talent wife, whom I know and have met, is just looking to keep her Beverly Hills mansion. Never before met a woman with so little integrity.
I loved John Ritter, from his “Three’s Company” days through his foray into wonderful movies like “Swingblade” and I truly miss his snarky wit and comedic ability. With that said, Mr. Ritter admitted to abusing his body (like most Hollywooders do) for years with his cocaine usage. I don’t know if that’s what prevented him from seeking follow-up treatment/advice from his doctor, but it’s sad to hear that it played a huge role in his death. Such an unnecessary and preventable loss of life…
Um, this is the first time that I have heard about coke in his life
still using it on a daily basis.
I will investigate that!
^^Good job, Inspector Gadget! You get right on that!!
Hey, I did read though that Mills will be getting around 50-60 million out of the divorce from Paul.
That aint right in my books.
INSPECTOR GADGET REPORTING!!
I have searched, and it all comes up with stuff like this:
Actor john ritter died of a lethal condition called aortic dissection (a tear in the largest blood vessel in the body) around three years ago//. His death brought the focus on this deadly disease, which is associated with high blood pressure and genetic disorders.
yada yada yada………………….so far nothing on being a dope fein
I’m still so sad this happened to him. I loved John!
But this lawsuit seemed ridiculous and such a money grab. It’s hard to prosecute doctors… they cover their tracks very well, and they back eachother up.
And if he failed to follow up on doctor’s orders… well……
Still miss him though.
Guess she’s just gonna have to live off the 14 million and all of John RItters residuals. I hope she can make
ends meet. Does she have to pay back the millions to tax payers and lawyers that were spent to do the insane
irresponsible lawsuit that she promulgated (what a word). Of course I am sure she didn’t do much damage to the
lives and careers of the physicians involved (loss of income due to time at court, increased malpractice insurance,
stress at home, diminished referrals due to hit on reputation, etc etc etc). What a beeeeoch.
Just add the cost of this mess to our annual health care tab. Another reason (along with insurance companies, drug companies, and doctor’s pay) why our system is the most expensive in the world, yet somehow ranks at the bottom of industrialized countries. Tort reform is an essential component of fixing our health care system yet continues to be ignored. The lawyers on both sides of this case are laughing all the way to the bank (did you notice how the defense attorneys, who LOST, still are quoted as saying “the jury system worked”). Sure it worked, to put money in their pockets while our health insurance premiums keep going up, up, up…
Doctor costs are less than 5% of all health care.
sueing people is such an american thing to do, it’s almost like shopping nowadays. And how can you sue for 67 mill? No life is worth that amount of money considering people die everyday. I do feel for her and his family let that be clear, but sueing for that amount of money, it really can’t be justified.
Sorry. Doctors salaries are less than 5% of all health care. Pharm and medical tech companies charge ridiculous amounts for products and pay their reps a ton. EX many joint replacements are in the 5-10 k range (just for the device) and the rep who sits in and answers questions from the surgeon can make several thousand, similar to the surgeon costs. There are many things wrong with our health care system, but unless you make medical school free limiting doctors salaries is going to cause a decline in the number of qualified applicants. All you are going to get are foreign born doctors running the show. Probably a little exagerrated, but hey im an american and a physician with a massive debt. Im concerned about my future as much as anyone else is.
Unfortunately even if the doctors had properly diagnosed the torn aorta chances are he would have died. Lucille Ball had a torn aorta and she died on the operating table, my father at age 82 survived the 10 hour operation but never fully recovered, he was kept alive by machines for 2 months afterwards. Call it a blessing that John Ritter died, hopefully he didn’t suffer.
i agree doc’s salaries are a minor component, but they do contribute. docs in usa, particularly specialists, make anywhere from 2-5x the average of other western nations. granted docs in other western countries don’t have to pay for med school which here can cost several hundred thousand dollars. why would anyone sink themselves in that much debt without the expectation of being able to pay it back? i would say the insurance companies, defensive medicine due to frivolous lawsuits as mentioned above, and pharmaceutical costs play a much larger role. our annual healthcare bill is 1 trillion dollars. it is estimated that 20-25% of this is due to administrative costs (that is almost 250 BILLION DOLLARS), while in places with universal coverage this costs averages 5-6%. that’s about 200 billion directly into the pockets of insurance companies ceo’s and executives. thanks congress.
With regard to the comment of Rich, March 14, 2008, 2:28 PM, Amy Yasbeck will not have to pay her lawyers. Trial lawyers usually handle these cases on a contingency basis i.e. they get a percentage of whatever award is made to the plaintiff, if the plaintiff wins, usually 1/3 or 33 1/3%. In other words, Amy Yasbeck’s lawyers had a personal, 8 figure financial interest in proving John Ritter’s doctors guilty of negligence. If Amy Yasbeck had won $67 million, more than $22 million of it would have been pocketed by the lawyers. Fortunately, since Amy Yasbeck got nothing, the Lawyers got nothing.
I for one am glad he’s dead, plump fat people are a disgrace. Fatties are an embarassment to us all.
The one good thing is, because they’re fat they don’t live long.
Why do people sue when someone dies prematurely? Fate is fate. He was supposed to die that day, period.
Talk about greed. She already got 14 mill from the hospital and staff settlement. Now she projected he would have made 67 mill IF the show had gone on for 7 season’s a big IF there she was banking on.
I am sorry he died but he had been advised 2 years prior to his death to follow up after a body scan revealed calcification in his arteries.So the bottom line is he chose not to and in the end cost him his life and his wife a fat check.
Guess she will have to tighten up her belt some.
I still don’t think this was a greed thing. I think this was a need to blame someone and make them pay thing.