Your Spouse Died From A Routine Medical Procedure And Now You Want To Sue For Wrongful Death?

The doctor assured you that everything would be fine. He had done this procedure a thousand times and yet, something went wrong. Horribly wrong. The doctor approached you and just by his look you knew something bad happened. Then he gave you the news. Your spouse was dead.

But how? Why? What happened? This was supposed to be a routine operation. What was missed? Your questions turned to anger, frustration and annoyance. No one in the hospital is talking for fear of a lawsuit. Your spouse is dead, you feel all alone and you have no idea what to do.

If a family member was killed during a medical procedure and you would like to know what your options are, we would be glad to discuss your matter.

Let me explain what a wrongful death is and then I’ll share how compensation is calculated.

Wrongful death is labeled as such when the person who died did so through negligence, willful misconduct or wrongful acts of an individual, company or entity of some sort. When someone dies due to the fault of another, the survivors may be able to bring a wrongful death lawsuit.

Compensation in such cases is based on many factors such as: the deceased’s pre-death pain and suffering, medical costs incurred as a result of the injury, funeral and burial costs, loss of income, value of the service the deceased would have provided, loss of care, guidance and nurturing the deceased would have provided, and loss of companionship and consortium.

The surviving spouse is not only without a companion but is now responsible for replacing the income of the deceased. Plus, now has to shell out monies for funeral and burial costs. Doesn’t seem fair.

So how do you prove that the doctor caused your loved ones death? The plaintiff (the estate of the surviving spouse) must prove the defendant (the doctor) liable for the victim’s death. Was it negligence? If so, what was the duty of care expected and how was that duty breached? Did that breached duty lead to the death of the patient?

In the case of a botched routine procedure, the doctor may have failed to account for the patient’s safety. Perhaps the doctor was more concerned with what he/she was going to do after the surgery that medical safety protocols were missed which ended up causing the patient to die.

Remember doctors are humans too, they make mistakes. Our job as lawyers is to determine if those mistakes lead to a wrongful death and if so, what compensation is reasonable for such a death.

If you or someone you know has suffered the loss of a spouse or loved one due to a medical procedure and it happened in the State of Indiana, and you’d like to know if such a case is worthy of a lawsuit, pick up the phone and call us. We’ll take the time to listen, to answer any questions you may have and let you know the steps to be taken if such a lawsuit were to go forward.