"Complications from surgery." Yikes. Hope that doc's malpractice insurance is paid up...
Shame, though. The guy was undeniably talented.
What a shock... an unexpected loss to a great guy. RIP. My brother saw him in the studio commissary several years ago when he was out in L.A. doing final sound editing on an animated film.
...as a physician, I had to jump in for just a minute here. I know it's just a quick quip, but the statement implies that the surgeon was in error, and this lead to Bill's death. Without more information, we don't know what happened.
A bad medical outcome (injury, suffering, or death) is not necessarily evidence of malpractice, or that anything was done wrong or incorrectly. Sometimes it is, sometimes not. And often, our gut reaction is that, since there was an unexpected outcome, it must be someone's fault and you had better have your malpractice insurance up to snuff.
Was the elective heart surgery, or an emergency case? Was it the coronary arteries, or a valve replacement? Was it a PTCA (heart catheterization) or thoracic aortic dissection? (John Ritter died from that one). Was Paxton on a heart pump with a crossed-clamped aorta during surgery, or not? Was this intraoperative event, or post-op in the CCU? Did he have pre-existing atrial fibrillation (which increases the risk of stroke) ? There are known risks and potential complications to surgical procedures; I review them with patients virtually every day.
If a person is involved in a severe car crash and is unstable, despite all the best efforts of the E.R. and surgical teams, that person may die. Should we say, "Yikes! Hope they've got good malpractice coverage" or do we look at the whole picture and say, "Despite all appropriate and timely treatment, the person could not be saved." Guys and gals, I've personally been there.
Again, without more information (and we may never get all of the details), we don't know. I would be interested to hear what happened, as much as the family is willing to publicly state (HIPPA laws prevent the doctors and hospital staff from discussing the issue, It's like a super litigated NDA).
And just because a (hypothetical) malpractice law suit is filed, that still does not necessarily mean that there was any malpractice at play. I'm sure we will hear more in the weeks to come.
...and I bet they are going to squeeze him in to the Oscars tribute tonight... at least, I hope that they do.