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Doctor Says Ritter Would Not Have Survived Surgery

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Mar 4, 2008 1:19 pm US/Pacific

Doctor Says Ritter Would Not Have Survived Surgery

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― A surgeon testifying as a defense witness in the John Ritter wrongful-death lawsuit said the actor needed emergency surgery on his torn aorta, but most likely would have died anyway.

Dr. Douglas Zusman testified Tuesday in Glendale Superior Court, where Ritter's family is suing a radiologist and cardiologist for $67 million.

Ritter died in 2003 at a hospital where he was being treated for what was diagnosed as a heart attack.

Zusman said emergency surgery, which would have taken at least eight hours, probably wouldn't have been successful because Ritter's condition was so lethal.

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