Here's an article I got off ET online:

RITTER FAMILY SUES HOSPITAL
September 9, 2004


ET has learned that relatives of the late JOHN RITTER are suing several medical professionals and the Burbank, CA, hospital where the actor died a year ago. In a wrongful death and malpractice suit filed last Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Ritter's wife, AMY YASBECK, and children, CARLY, TYLER, JASON and STELLA, are alleging that doctors misdiagnosed Ritter's condition. The 54-year-old Ritter died on September 11 last year after complaining of chest pain, nausea, vomiting and dizziness. He was taken to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center at approximately 6:10 p.m. According to the lawsuit, Ritter was initially misdiagnosed with an acute myocardial infarction, then misdiagnosed with pericardial tamponade. The actor died that evening at 10:48 p.m. of what was ultimately determined to be a "large ascending aortic aneurysm with a severe dissection."

The suit alleges that "if proper procedures had been followed to diagnose and treat Mr. Ritter's symptoms, he would be alive and well today." A statement from the hospital in response to the lawsuit says, "When Mr. Ritter was originally admitted to our hospital, his family asked that no information on his illness be released by the hospital. We will continue to honor this request. We extend our deepest and most sincere sympathy to the Ritter family for their loss."

Damn those doctors:mad:

a misdiagnosis how horrible. :(

Originally posted by Jackhammer
Damn those doctors:mad:
I totally agree with you! :livid:

Originally posted by Jackhammer
Damn those doctors:mad:

I absolutely agree. :mad:

This is really disappointing... we depend on doctors... as a society we depend on the medical profession to guide us towards health... and this has to happen. A misdiagnosis... how incredible!

I hope they sue them for every penny they have

I am really upset that they misdiagnosed him :mad: Just think, he could've been alive and well right now, and we might have even got a Three's Company reunion if John & Joyce picked a script! Too bad :(

Originally posted by Jackhammer
I hope they sue them for every penny they have

That's what they deserve! Because of them, my favorite actor is no longer here! :crying:

Sorry, double post ;)

If I ever got my hands on those doctors,I'd do this to all of them

http://smackdown.wwe.com/results/090904/images/20.jpg

I was just about to post this, but I guess you beat me to it! And yes, it IS a misfortune that Ritter's condition was midiagnosed. Very sad, indeed. But I guess we just have to accept the fact that doctors are humans, too. They make mistakes just like everyone else does. But I have to agree that this IS a terrrible, terrible mistake to make.

Anyway, here's an article I scanned from amNY.

Im interested to see how this ultimately turns out. I think its one of those things thats about impossible to diagnose - hidden anuerysms from inner layers of vessles -- maybe on a sensational show like ER would someone think of that off the top of his head.

Maybe more patients present to major trauma centers that way, but your chances of surviving just about anything are better at a major trauma center with experienced teaching doctors and then students from multiple backgrounds and with recent up-tp-date university knowledge.

I cant wait to move to a larger city, just because if anyone in my family is ever in an accident, emergency care will be much better.

Do you know why these big cities have these trauma centers? More crime exists in these big cities. And the crimes that are committed are ingenious.

omg thats so sad and also frustrating

It would be my guess (hope) that the family would donate to charity (i.e., United Cerebral Palsy) at least a vast majority of anything that is awarded in this case.

I guess they misdiagnosed John three times times the night John died :(

Originally posted by Angela Micelli
I guess they misdiagnosed John three times times the night John died :(

Please explain your theory.

Originally posted by Screenwriter
Please explain your theory.

It's not my theory I read it at ET online or somewhere, I guess the Ritter family is claiming John was misdiagnosed 3 times the night he died. :(

I wonder why it took over a year to find out?

Originally posted by Jackhammer
I wonder why it took over a year to find out?

Maybe they didn't look into it because they were too saddened by his death.

I think that suing the hospital is greedy. He was at the hospital less then four hours before he passed away. What was wrong with him sounds rare- it is not like they could know exactly what was goin on by having him stick his tongue out.

He died in a matter of hours- it is not the doctor's fault. Diagnosing something that serious would take more then a few hours and what could they have possibly done anyway in that short amount of time?

Anyone that sues hospitals are very bitter and greedy. Doctor's dedicate their lives to keep us healthy and alive.

Originally posted by savy333
I think that suing the hospital is greedy. He was at the hospital less then four hours before he passed away. What was wrong with him sounds rare- it is not like they could know exactly what was goin on by having him stick his tongue out.

He died in a matter of hours- it is not the doctor's fault. Diagnosing something that serious would take more then a few hours and what could they have possibly done anyway in that short amount of time?

Anyone that sues hospitals are very bitter and greedy. Doctor's dedicate their lives to keep us healthy and alive.

I don't think it's greedy at all, so you'd rather they just sit back and do nothing? :rolleyes:

The original diagnosis of John's condition was wrong period, even in a short amount of time, they managed to come up with 3 diagnosis and all were wrong, that is just plain malpractice

Originally posted by Jackhammer
Damn those doctors:mad:


Major ditto!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

Did anyone watch ET last night? They were taking about this.

For those of you would assume that John was in fact misdiagnosed and that malpractice occurred, please remember that doctors are proven to be innocent in over 70% of lawsuits. Just because someone claims a doctor was wrong, it is more likely that that is not the case. Further, aortic dissection is extremely difficult to diagnose, and once diagnosed, the mortality rates are grim. Do you really believe that John's doctors didn't try their hardest to help him? Don 't you find it odd that ALL of them were so "negligent" that they ALL committed malpractice? Think about it, doctors are human, are not God, and are not psychic. They put they life on the line to save another human being - which they do countless times day after day. What is the great vengence you have to "go after them for everything they have"?

Don't believe every lawsuit has merit!!! What happened to innocence before proven guilty? With all those trial lawyers out there going after doctors, how much longer do you think they are going to put themselves on the line to save other human beings? Do you realize that when patients win lawsuits, the patient gets 37 cents of every dollar of that reward...the lawyer get the other 63 cents!!!

My heart goes out to the Ritter family for the tradegy of John's death...but why extend that tradegy to those who tried desperately to treat and save John's life???

I completely agree, dt! Another important point to remember is that just because there is a misdiagnosis that does not necessarily mean that there was negligence present, which is what has to be proven for the family to win.

I saved my issue of "People" from Sept. 29 of last year and in the article about John it has an information box about aortic dissection. First, the box says that this condition is not common, occurring "in only two out of 10,000 people." It also says that the symptoms are "varied, which is why it is often misdiagnosed and so seldom caught in time for surgery. It can be 'intense and sudden chest or back pain, or a patient may be nauseated,' mistaking it for food poisoning." Based on this, it sounds like John would be one lucky man if he were alive and well today.

I'm heartbroken more than words can express that John is no longer among the living, but IMO, this lawsuit is totally inappropriate and a waste all the way around.

:( I saw the segment on this. Very sad

I didn't want to start a whole thread about this, so I'm gonna post it here. Is anyone here mad that John Ritter lost an Emmy to that Frasier guy?!! That f*cking guy wins everything :o :soapbox: