Tampa, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/13/2018 -- The family of actor Bill Paxton has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the surgeon and hospital that treated him in the days leading up to his death.

Paxton died of a stroke 11 days after undergoing surgery to replace a heart valve and correct an aneurysm. According to a report by the University of Southern California, the stroke was likely caused by a blood clot that formed after surgery and got lodged in the brain.

Increasingly, hospitals are employing reliable and non-invasive pneumatic compression therapy devices for the prevention of blood clots following surgery. Greg Grambor is the president of Vascular PRN, a national distributor of such equipment.

"We don't know whether pneumatic compression was advisable or prescribed in Paxton's specific case," Grambor said. "But surgery can cause dangerous clots both directly at the part of the body operated on, and indirectly via reduced mobility — usually in the legs. Clot prevention is a primary post-surgical concern, and often, pneumatic compression therapy plays a key role."

Paxton's family is suing world-famous Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, as well as Paxton's surgeon. They allege that the risks of the surgery were not adequately explained and the surgeon was inexperienced in the procedure. Further, the complaint alleges that complications from the surgery were not dealt with in a timely manner.

Just a week prior to the surgery, Paxton revealed in an interview with Marc Maron that he had suffered damage to his heart after contracting rheumatic fever as a child.

Grambor encourages surgery patients to speak with their doctors about effective clot prevention including non-invasive options.