Ritter's family says he didn't have to die

[Teresa]

No, she's not being greedy ! All the money will go to the John Ritter Foundation, not to her, or even to his kids. The amount was set by the lawyers based on estimated earnings that John potentially would have made the rest of his career, not just that one show. She sued because the doctors didn't do their job in a timely manner. He might have been saved if they had. And she wants them to acknowledge that.

[Ann]

Myself having heart problems , i agree with johns wife , i had open heart surgery in march 2001 and for 6 months i kept going back and the drs kept saying nothing was wrong that they fixed it , finally in sept 2001 my family dr demanded something WAS wrong so they agreed to send me to a heart hospital and done a cath and had to do emergency surgery again , since then i have been angry and do not trust alot of drs , and take many meds for my heart , i have not worked since then and very depressed i feel for Mrs Ritter and say go for it , which i had enough knowledge back then to put a lawsuit against my heart drs , the pain and suffering is the worse .

[Ann]

my above should of said I WISH I WOULD OF HAD ENOUGH KNOWLEDGE ......... I DID NOT FILE A LAWSUIT.......

[rmf]

Teresa wrote:

No, she's not being greedy ! All the money will go to the John Ritter Foundation, not to her, or even to his kids. The amount was set by the lawyers based on estimated earnings that John potentially would have made the rest of his career, not just that one show. She sued because the doctors didn't do their job in a timely manner. He might have been saved if they had. And she wants them to acknowledge that.

That's ridiculous... you have no idea what she will REALLY do with the money or how much John Ritter would have made in his lifetime.... PLEASE everyone read up on your own on aortic aenurysms... the doctors did NOTHING wrong... it is easy to look back when you know the facts and say you would have done something different... the truth is MOST patients with the same thing will die... doctors are not perfect, but they go to work everyday like the rest of us and do the best they can under very difficult situations and with very little thanks when they save lives... of course everyone's ready to sue when something goes wrong... if this was just about acknowledgement then why ask for money at all. Why not sue for an apology? And why not use her own money to start the John Ritter Foundation? I think it's not worth a change in her current lifestyle.... Doctors should not bother treating famous people, it's not worth the trouble.... their greed is endless...

[Jeff]

This case illustrates so many problems with the malpractice situation in America. Greedy people who sue their doctors for rediculous sums of money like this are the reason why:

1. Doctors overorder unnecessary studies in fear that they will miss the correct diagnosis.
2. Doctors' malpractice insurance rates are going through the roof
3. Our healthcare costs are skyrocketing as a result of a combination of #1 and #2.
4. Many of our best and brightest college students no longer want to be doctors, opting for other jobs in which they don't have to live in fear of being sued.

[Brian A]

Amy Yasbeck's grief is not a green light for her to wreak havoc on the lives of these two people. I can only imagine what the children of these doctors are going through.

I'm glad to see other people are as disgusted by this as I am. An actress and her lawyer know what changes should be made in hospital procedure? I agree with what most other posters have said about how we need to keep our expectations of doctors in perspective and quit calling it malpractice if they don't wave the magic wand for us.

[mary]

John Ritter had a birth defect. That is what killed him not the doctors. The fact he lived 54 years with it is a blessing. My niece had the same birth defect only she didn't even make it to her first birthday. His brother also has a birth defect. Sounds like longevity isn't in the family gene pool. What if Mr. Ritters aorta gave out on him during a flight to Paris? Would this lawsuit be directed at the airline?

[ODDBALL]

that hospital is a joke-

my father fell of a ladder we thought he broke his leg or something- we call 911 they sent an ambulance from st. joes and they would not even take him in the ambulance-(even though we pay for it) my mom had to lift him and take him to emergency- after 5 hours (i'm not lying) They told him he only had a sprained ankle and sent him home with vicodin- On the way out the door the e.r. doctor stopped my dad and mom and told them Oh I was wrong the x-ray shows you have a broken heel.

I have the dishchardge papers - they got his name wrong his sex wrong and diagnosis wrong- sprained ankle.

A couple days later my dad had a high fever and diarreah i called the hospital again and again and his doctor- well according to the hospital records SHE only had a sprained ankle and they told me give him tylenol he probably has the flu!

by friday he was so sick with fever and the hospital would not i repeat would not send an ambulance to the house for a sprained ankle and the flu!

Monday morning when he was getting ready to see the doctor (they would not see him on friday)
he fell back and dropped dead in my mothers arms.

I wish I could file a wrongeful death suit against the hospital- but when you are in shock and nobody wants to give you medical records until its too late too file- welll I am glad she is suing-

believe me wouldn't you?

JAMc wrote:

Maybe I'm just playing devil's advocate here, but why are you all so pissed off at Ritter's wife? It reads as though the doctors not only misdiagnosed him, but attempted to cover it up after the fact.
I understand that doctors have to make judgment calls (many times while the clock is racing against them), but does that mean that when they make a bad call they should be absolved? Moreover, making a judgment call that doesn't have the desired outcome is one thing, but why the need for a massive cover-up after the fact?
I wonder how many lawsuits could have been avoided if someone would have just taken the time to say "I'm sorry"?!@

[Interplanet]

From the Northwoods wrote:

Simply, it shouldn't have taken that long to get a chest x-ray in any ER in America. In most places a chest x-ray is SOP for just about everything in the ER. How long would it have taken? Certainly less time it took for a surgical procedure. It sounds to me that they may have actually been looking for the more expensive way of diagnosing him so they could bill the insurance more. Or ... they figured they had a very important man on the table and went with the high tech first, foolishly thinking it would impress someone. Remember the old adage ... Physicians get to bury their mistakes. The addition to that should be ... and they get to bill the insurance afterwards! A simple chest x-ray for heavens sake, that's all it may have taken to save a man's life. I sure would have liked to have gotten a look at their bill. My mother was DOA and we got a $3000 bill from the hospital. And guess what ... the insurance paid it!

Actually, if a person comes into an emergency room and their EKG (electrical picture of their heart) shows a heart attack, as his did, the correct thing to do is rush them to the cardiac cath lab (which the doctors did.) The problem is that he had a heart attack that was CAUSED by another problem: an ascending aorta dissection - in which the blood supply to the heart gets picked off as the aorta tears upwards.

If everyone with a massive heart attack was held in the emergency room until a chest x-ray is done, as opposed to rushing them to the cath lab, more people would die. The doctors here are being faulted for missing a tragic, but far less common, diagnosis. And furthermore, aortic dissections are lethal even with immediate surgical intervention. It is incorrect to suggest he would have walked out of the hospital with the proper diagnosis!

[L Lazaro]

amy yasbeck is the kind of person that spoils it for the rest of us, blame the doctors and others for what is inevitable

we will end up paying for higher insurance premiums and medical care because of lottery mentality as exemplified by her.please doctors are human and not god. next time if ever she gets sick she should consult her lawyer for medical advice and not go to the hospital

[juan]

Yasbeck is a scumbag who can't act either.

[test]

test

[Rad]

Interplanet wrote:

<quoted text>
Actually, if a person comes into an emergency room and their EKG (electrical picture of their heart) shows a heart attack, as his did, the correct thing to do is rush them to the cardiac cath lab (which the doctors did.) The problem is that he had a heart attack that was CAUSED by another problem: an ascending aorta dissection - in which the blood supply to the heart gets picked off as the aorta tears upwards.
If everyone with a massive heart attack was held in the emergency room until a chest x-ray is done, as opposed to rushing them to the cath lab, more people would die. The doctors here are being faulted for missing a tragic, but far less common, diagnosis. And furthermore, aortic dissections are lethal even with immediate surgical intervention. It is incorrect to suggest he would have walked out of the hospital with the proper diagnosis!

Agree 100%.

In response to Northwood's post, dissecting thoracic aortas are not typically diagnosed by chest x-ray because a plain chest x-ray cannot show you what is going on inside the aorta. You also cannot diagnose a heart attack by chest x-ray either.

If you show up in the ER as an adult male with chest discomfort and your EKG is abnormal - the most common problem is a heart attack. Since time is precious in minimizing the damage of a heart attack you will be treated as if you are having a heart attack. Dissecting thoracic aorta will not be the first thing that comes to mind. It might be the second or third thing but in an emergent situation a physician will not have the luxury of time to debate what the patient is possibly dying from. You have to go with your gut feeling sometimes.

[Marian Inthof]

John Ritter is my most favourite actor. O know he is dead but his memory and his laughter still live.. LOng live Tree;s Company!!

[Marian Inthof]

John Ritter is my most favorite actor ever. His memory still lives on. Long live Three's Company. I still watch it every day on Dejaview Satelite.