You would think that a doctor would be happy and flattered to be asked to be a celebrity’s physician.  However, there is another side to that story.

If the celebrity dies while under the doctor’s care, there may be some very serious financial ramifications.

Consider the unexpected death of John Ritter who appeared in Three’s Company and other sitcoms. For you old timers, he was also the son of cowboy Tex Ritter.

Ritter was diagnosed as having a heart attack but really had a dissection of his aorta which requires immediate surgery to correct, if possible.

His family sued for wrongful death. The hospital and others have already paid 14 million dollars.

Subsequently, a radiologist and cardiologist were ordered to pay the family 67 million dollars, which represented the amount of money Ritter would have earned had he not died.

Most physicians have a million dollar liability coverage thus they need to find 66 million dollars.

Bankruptcy is the most likely alternative for these doctors.