Miscellaneous

Ritter Rx

By Anne Skove, Esq.

How come the aptly-named Jack Tripper never sued Mr. Roper or Mr. Furley? He certainly could have, what with the gender-based renting policy and malfunctioning swinging door.

Now the real-life family of the late John Ritter is suing doctors for medical malpractice. Recall Ritter passed away a few years ago, leaving his wife, young daughter, and 3 teenage children from a previous marriage. He is also survived by his brother, a lawyer.

Doctors treated him for a heart attack. Sadly, Ritter was suffering from a tear in his aorta, a drastically different condition requiring the exact opposite (say the family's lawyers) treatment. The family has already settled with the hospital; this suit is against the cardiologist and radiologist.

If the family prevails, they will use the money to establish a foundation to promote awareness of aortic dissection.

See John Ritter's Family Seeks $67M in Medical Trial, Linda Deutsch, AP (February 4, 2008).

Looking for real-life medmal stats? See the interactive Court Statistics Project site.

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on February 05, 2008 (boomark / email).