Patients trust their doctors to deliver quality healthcare. But when this doesn’t happen, the patient can suffer illness or injury. In some cases, the harm can be so great that the patient dies from it. Cases like this can open the door to a wrongful death lawsuit.
Did your loved one lose their life due to a medical error? If so, you may be facing significant financial losses moving forward. It’s time to explore your legal options with the experienced Long Island wrongful death medical malpractice lawyers of Dell & Dean, PLLC.
Why Should You Choose Dell & Dean, PLLC?
Presenting a strong wrongful death claim starts with choosing a knowledgeable law firm. While Dell & Dean, PLLC has extensive experience with wrongful death medical malpractice cases, we bring more to the table than just understanding the relevant laws and court cases.
Losing a loved one could mean not having a primary income provider anymore. As bills pile up and stress intensifies, you need an advocate who knows what compassionate legal service means. What sets our firm apart from others is our:
- 5-star client satisfaction that always puts the needs of clients first
- Hundreds of positive reviews from clients with legal issues just like yours
- Experience with all types of medical malpractice wrongful death matters
- Knowledge of the local courts and mediators who may prove decisive in your case
- Exceptional legal service aimed at creative and practical solutions
- Results that speak to the level of commitment we bring to each case
- Personalized representation from start to finish, not treating you as a file number
- Accessible attorneys who answer your questions and concerns
- Bilingual legal services available
We understand that being involved in a lawsuit is probably the last thing you wanted. Let us seek the best possible outcome for your Long Island wrongful death matter so you can focus on what’s best for your family during this difficult time.
What is Considered Wrongful Death Malpractice?
Wrongful death from malpractice occurs when a healthcare professional engages in negligent or improper conduct that causes the death of the patient. In other words, it involves wrongful death negligence in the medical context. Importantly, however, it means more than making a mistake.
Malpractice can be a basis for wrongful death, but proving malpractice means showing that the healthcare provided departed from the accepted standard of care. Mistakes in healthcare can and do happen, but they must generally be unreasonable to qualify as malpractice.
If a healthcare provider departs from the accepted standard of care, and injures the patient, the patient could file a medical malpractice suit. If the patient dies, the personal representative of the patient’s estate could pursue a wrongful death claim.
Common Causes of Wrongful Death Due to Malpractice
Understanding the different ways that medical malpractice wrongful death can occur may help you make a compelling case for compensation. Work with a Long Island wrongful death lawyer if any of the following facts are true about the death of your loved one:
- Inadequately skilled staff: Doctors, nurses, and other staff members should have the requisite skill level to treat the patient’s specific disease or injury. Otherwise a fatality can easily occur.
- Understaffed hospitals and clinics: No hospital or medical clinic should be so understaffed that patient lives are put at risk. The understaffing must be unreasonable in light of the circumstances to qualify as malpractice.
- Delayed diagnosis: Delaying a patient’s diagnosis could mean the difference between life and death. This is particularly the case with cancer, heart disease, and other serious illnesses.
- Incorrect diagnosis: On the other hand, an incorrect diagnosis could also be fatal. The actual condition may go untreated or the patient could die from unnecessary medical procedures.
- Errors in judgment: Healthcare providers have to make numerous decisions that could have life-and-death consequences for their patients. Malpractice can occur when they fail to use their experience, education, and skill in making those judgments.
- Errors in treating patients: There are many ways that doctors and nurses can erroneously treat patients. From hospital intake to discharge and later following up with the patient, unreasonable mistakes could amount to negligence.
- System-wide defects: Healthcare systems are complicated and involve networks of computers, staff, and facilities. Details from a patient’s file could get lost, for example, preventing doctors from administering proper care and treatment.
- Preventable adverse effects: The effects of medications and treatments can prove fatal, leading to a medical wrongful death lawsuit. Many of these problems are preventable if sufficient care and attention are given.
- Mix-ups related to the types and doses of medications: Administering the wrong medication or the incorrect dosage can prove fatal. These mistakes are usually avoidable, which means they are often strong indicators of malpractice.
- Surgical errors that go undiagnosed: A lot can happen during surgery, and complications can prove fatal if they are not detected. Surgeons and nurses should be able to diagnose certain problems based on their experience and skill.
- Anesthesiology errors: Anesthesia can be fatal if safety standards are not followed or there is insufficient monitoring or training. Several different parties could share liability in the event of a fatal anesthesiological mistake.
Proving Liability in a Long Island Wrongful Death Malpractice Case
Establishing liability requires presenting compelling evidence that demonstrates the elements of a New York medical malpractice case. Those elements are:
- Duty of care: First it must be proven that the healthcare provider owed the patient a duty to provide medical care. Proving the existence of a doctor-patient relationship is essential to establishing this element.
- Departure from the standard of care: There must be evidence the provider failed to use the degree of care that a reasonably prudent provider, in the same or similar circumstances, would have used.
- Causation: Next, there must be evidence that the departure from the standard of care (which is medical negligence) was the actual and proximate cause of the patient’s death.
- Damages: Lastly, the plaintiff has to prove the nature and amount of damages. This is the sum of the monetary compensation that plaintiffs receive for various losses that stem from the wrongful death.
Possible Compensation in a Long Island Wrongful Death Case
A knowledgeable wrongful death medical malpractice attorney can help you claim the compensation to which you are entitled under the law. Possible examples include:
- Medical bills: The plaintiff will ask to recover the reasonable expenses for medical treatments the patient received prior to death.
- Funeral and burial expenses: The cost of funeral and burial service, or cremation, could also be recoverable.
- Loss of financial support: Losing a loved one means losing their financial support, and the monetary value of this can be included.
- Loss of household services: Compensation may be allowed for the value of household services and related contributions the deceased would have provided.
- Loss of inheritance: Death can reduce or impair the total value of inheritance, and this loss can be reflected in the damages award.
- Pre-death damages (survival action): There’s a similar legal claim known as a survival action that allows the estate to seek certain damages that accrued before the victim’s death, such as their conscious pain and suffering.
Punitive damages are also available in some cases. These do not technically compensate plaintiffs in wrongful death cases, but punish the at-fault party for misconduct that goes beyond ordinary medical negligence. Ask your attorney if the facts of your case will allow these damages.
Contact Our Long Island Attorney for Wrongful Death Due to Malpractice
Nobody should lose a loved one to the very medical professionals they trust to care for them. If this has happened to you, it’s time to explore your legal rights and options. Schedule a free case consultation with Dell & Dean, PLLC today.
Frequently Asked Questions About New York Wrongful Death Malpractice
Who files a wrongful death lawsuit for medical malpractice in New York?
The personal representative of the decedent’s estate, usually an executor or an administrator, is responsible for filing these lawsuits. It is filed on behalf of the surviving spouse, children, parents, and other eligible distributees, who share in the wrongful death recovery.
Can you sue a hospital for wrongful death?
Yes, if the hospital provided negligent medical care that resulted in the decedent’s death. For example, the hospital employees may have been negligent in monitoring the patient, leading to their death. Our hospital wrongful death attorneys can assist you.
Can family members recover compensation for their grief?
No, under current law family members generally cannot recover for grief, emotional distress, or loss of companionship in a New York wrongful death action. Recovery is limited to the financial losses identified above. There is proposed legislation to change this, but it’s not yet law.
Is there a deadline to file a medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit?
Yes. In general, it must be filed within two years of the decedent’s death. Although non-fatal cases of medical malpractice operate under a two and a half year deadline (statute of limitations), the two-year deadline for wrongful death would likely apply here.
It’s important that you do not wait too long to take action. If you miss the applicable filing deadline, the court will dismiss your lawsuit and bar you from any recovery.
