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DETAILS ON THE WRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUIT FILED BY NANCY BENOIT'S PARENTS AGAINST PHIL ASTIN

Earlier today, we noted that the parents of Nancy Benoit had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Dr. Phil Astin for the deaths of Nancy and Daniel Benoit, who were murdered by Chris Benoit in June 2007 before Benoit committed suicide.  Here are some notes from the filing: 

- As mentioned in the earlier post, the lawsuit is being filed by Paul & Maureen Toffoloni as the parents of Nancy Benoit and the grandparents of Daniel Benoit, as well as by Maureen as the representative of the estates of Nancy and Daniel.  The filing is dated June 10th of this year.

- While the lawsuit is being filed against Phil Astin, it is also being filed against the distributors of the drugs that Astin prescribed for Benoit.  Those distributors are not named in the filing, and it is noted that the identities of those companies are "currently unknown". 

- The filing notes that at the time that Chris Benoit murdered his family, then committed suicide, he was "under the influence of CNS depressants, opioids and anabolic androgenic steroids" that were prescribed by Astin.  

- The filing notes that Astin was negligent in his role as a doctor in how he prescribed and provided the drugs to Benoit, and how he failed to provide proper information to Benoit regarding the dangers of the medications and their potential side effects. The filing notes that Astin's negligence resulted in Chris Benoit's "mental, physical, emotional and/or behavioral health to deteriorate to the extent that he killed his wife Nancy and son Daniel, and shortly thereafter, committed suicide."

- The Toffolonis are looking for a wrongful death judgment for the "full value" of the lives of Daniel Benoit and Nancy Benoit, as well as funeral expenses for both and "compensatory damages for the fear, shock, mental and emotional trauma, and extreme pain and suffering endured by Nancy and Daniel Benoit prior to their deaths".  All damages to be determined by a jury trial.

- For those that have asked, there is NO mention of concussions or post-concussion syndrome, nor is there any acknowledgement of Chris Benoit being a professional wrestler or any mention of WWE.  This lawsuit strictly deals with how Astin handled (or mishandled) Chris Benoit as a patient, and the drugs that were prescribed and provided to him by Astin.

- The Toffolonis introduced 134 pages of documents to support their claims, including an affidavit from Gary I. Wadler, an MD who supported the family's claims of Astin's negligence and Astin's medical records in regard to Chris Benoit.

-Wadler is the Chairman of the World Anti-doping Agency and was outspoken against the WWE Wellness Policy in a CNN documentary about the Benoit tragedy, commenting, "[The WWE policy] certainly falls far, far short of where it needs to be...And there is a gold standard, and I measure all these sporting and entertainment activities against this gold standard. And [the WWE is] miles apart."