Hulk Hogan’s family exploring medical malpractice lawsuit, court docs indicate
Hulk Hogan’s family is considering a medical malpractice lawsuit against doctors who treated the late WWE legend before his unexpected death, according to new court documents.
Hogan’s wife, Sky Daily, and son, Nick Bollea, filed a petition Tuesday in Pinellas County, Florida, to extend the statute of limitations by 90 days for an investigation into medical malpractice with the 71-year-old wrestling legend, according to Fox 13 News
The probe involves doctors and health care providers at Morton Plant Hospital, where Hogan was pronounced dead on July 24, and at Tampa General Hospital, the outlet said.
Hogan’s death in his Clearwater home was ruled to be a “natural” heart attack. However, police said in late August that his death remains under investigation, WFLA reported.
The wrestling superstar had an irregular heartbeat and a history of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a cancer that affects white blood cells, officials have said.
However, his wife first said in August that they were looking into a malpractice suit — likely regarding a botched neck operation he had in May.
Daily told TMZ Sports then that Hogan’s phrenic nerve — the area of the body that “controls your diaphragm and is essential to your ability to breathe” — had been “compromised” during a procedure.
“We are investigating for possible malpractice. If you have shortness of breath for a long time, that makes you very sick,” Sky Daily told the Daily Mail at the time. “It’s not something that’s an alarming (sudden) cause of death. It’s something that wears on you, makes you weak.”
The Clearwater Police Department confirmed in August that the “unique nature of this case has required us to interview multiple witnesses and seek medical records from a variety of providers, and our detectives continue to do that.”
Nobody has been formally accused of any wrongdoing in Hogan’s death.
