Testimony Commences in $67 Million Wrongful Death Suit Filed by Family of the Late Actor John Ritter

Earlier this week, witnesses began testifying in the $67 million wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of comic actor John Ritter against a cardiologist and radiologist who treated Ritter the day he died.

Ritter had been taping a TV show when he began complaining of chest pain and tightness, nausea, vomiting and dizziness. He was taken to a hospital across the street from the studio.

The lawsuit alleges that radiologist Matthew Lotysch misinterpreted the results of a body scan the actor had in 2001, and cardiologist Joseph Lee misdiagnosed the actor before he died that night of an ascending aortic aneurysm. The lawsuit alleges that "if proper procedures had been followed to diagnose and treat Mr. Ritter's symptoms, he would be alive and well today." The defendants contend that Ritter showed classic signs of a heart attack and received appropriate treatment. The case will turn largely on dueling medical experts.

Read stories here and here (reporting on testimony provided by Henry Winkler, f/k/a "The Fonz", who was with Ritter on the set the day he died).