Bill Paxton's Family Blames Cedars-Sinai For The Actor's Death

LOS ANGELES, CA — Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was sued for wrongful death and negligence Friday by family members of Bill Paxton, who died in 2017.

Paxton, a four-decade-long star on broadcast and cable TV and the big screen, died Feb. 25, 2017 at age 61. His career spanned such films as "Apollo 13," "Aliens," "Twister" and "Weird Science."

The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit was brought by Paxton's widow, Louise, and children, James and Lydia. The complaint alleges the hospital and a doctor "provided negligent diagnosis, management and treatment" of Paxton after he was brought to the hospital on Feb. 14, 2017, causing him to suffer excessive bleeding, cardiogenic shock and a compromised right coronary artery.

The doctor was not in the operating room and possibly not even in the hospital when the actor began suffering complications, "causing a delay in treatment resulting in damage," the suit states.

Paxton "decompensated over the course of the next 10 days" and died, the suit states.

A Cedars-Sinai spokeswoman could not be immediately reached.

Paxton's television credits included the five-year HBO series "Big Love" and the series and the mini-series "The Hatfields and McCoys," which won him an Emmy nomination.

At the time of his death, Paxton was starring in the CBS TV series "Training Day."

Paxton was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1955 and arrived in Hollywood at age 18, working as a set dresser for offbeat director Roger Corman.

Roles in low budget films and television led to some quirky credits, including writing and directing the award-winning "Fish Heads" short film aired in 1980 on Saturday Night Live.

A small role in "Alien" led to a starring performance as Private Hudson in "Aliens" in 1986, according to his biography at imdb.com.

His big break came in "One False Move," and other roles included "Tombstone."

City News Service; Actor Bill Paxton (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)