Neil Armstrong’s family received $6M in wrongful death settlement: Report
The death of an American hero resulted in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Neil Armstrong’s death in a Cincinnati hospital resulted in a secretive $6 million settlement, according to the New York Post.
The astronaut died on Aug. 25, 2012 at Mercy Health — Fairfield Hospital, shortly after arriving there for bypass surgery.
Complications arose after nurses removed the wires of a temporary pacemaker, leading to a host of issues that ultimately led to his death, according to a New York Times report.
Armstrong’s two sons, Mark and Rick, claimed their father’s death was caused by hospital mistreatment, igniting a multiyear battle with the hospital, which defended its care, before a hush-hush settlement was finally reached.
Details of Armstrong’s final hospital stay, along with the ensuing private legal battle between his family and the hospital were revealed in the 93 pages of case documents obtained by The Times.
Each side hired notable medical experts in defense of their case. Another key element to the case’s ultimate resolution was the possibility that Armstrong's sons would vent their outrage with the hospital at a public function celebrating the 45th anniversary of their dad’s moon landing at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2014.
A hospital lawyer, Nancy A. Lawson, responded on July 8, 2014, writing: “Do Mark and Rick [Armstrong] intend to discuss the wrongful death claim at the Kennedy Space Center if no settlement is reached by Friday, July 18?”
Wendy hinted that sharing such details could be profitable for the family.
“Obviously, the information about this wrongful death claim would prove extremely useful to such projects, and the boys’ involvement would net a monetary gain far in excess of the demand that has been made for settlement,” she wrote.
According to reports, Armstrong was not taken directly to an opertaing room, instead taken first to a catheterization lab. The documents obtained by The Times did not reveal what, if any, procedures were administered during Armstrong’s time in the operating room.
The family’s hired medical expert blasted the hospital’s decision not to take Armstrong to the operating room right away.
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“The decision to go to the cath lab was THE major error,” Dr. Joseph Bavaria, a vice-chair of cardiothoracic surgery at University of Pennsylvania, wrote in a review.
When the two sides settled, Mark and Rick Armstrong split $5.2 million. The remaining $800,000 was divided among the astronaut’s siblings and grandchildren.