Determining Liability In A Wrongful Death Case: When Your Loved One Has Died From Medical Neglect Or Mistreatment
When you lose someone close to you, a wrongful death lawsuit may be in order. If your loved one died unexpectedly, and you believe their medical treatment was not sufficient, you can bring your case to a personal injury lawyer to see if it is viable wrongful death case. You will need to get copies of medical records for the deceased, so that the records can be reviewed by a qualified wrongful death attorney who can assess the case to see if treatment providers were liable for the death of your loved one.
Proving Medical Neglect Is Complicated
If your loved one had a history of illnesses, and they were seen by a number of providers, it may be complicated to prove that their death was caused because of the negligence or mistreatment of their doctor. While more than one doctor can be found liable in a wrongful death lawsuit, it is more likely that one provider stood out among the others as the one who provided less than the standard of care for your loved one that died. The more records you can provide to the attorney you meet with to look over the case, the better they will be able to assess whether the death was wrongful or not.
The Standard of Treatment
Proving medical neglect involves being able to prove that the medical treatment provided to your loved one deviated from the standard treatment for the symptoms they presented. This means that if the treating physician missed clear and obvious signs that your loved one was in distress and did nothing about it, they could be found liable for their death. If the treatment provided involved prescribing the wrong medication for their condition or symptoms, this is a clearer indication of possible mistreatment. What you must be able to show is that your loved one died because they did not receive the standard care for the symptoms they were presenting.
Medical neglect and medical mistreatment are difficult to prove because doctors aren't going to intentionally hurt their patients. If the case was an emergency, quick thinking is in order. While the treatment provided may have killed your loved one, it could have been the best treatment given the information the treatment provider had at the time. The standard of care is usually followed, making it hard to determine that the medical provider was liable for the death of a loved one.