Wrongful Death Lawyers in Los Angeles, California
The most painful experience is losing a loved one. Whether they are friend or family, the effect of their death is heartbreaking and difficult. While some deaths can be foreseen—old age, a long suffering with cancer—others are instant and unknown until last minute.
Wrongful death occurs when a friend or family member is killed due to the misconduct or negligence of another. Wrongful death claims arise from a variety of causes:
The immediate family of the victim may file the wrongful death claim, most commonly the personal representative of the deceased’s estate.
The victim’s estate representative may file a number of damages for the immediate family.
- Pecuniary damages may include the loss of support, services, inheritance, and funeral expenses. These detail lost wages earned by the deceased, future earnings, and loss of parental guidance.
- Some cases may require expert testimony to determine pecuniary loss, establishing the value of the deceased to the family.
- In seriously malicious wrongful death cases, punitive damages may also be awarded. These are state-specific statutes, and should be examined by an experienced wrongful death attorney.
Wrongful death cases involving children are especially difficult for the family affected. Damages applied to these cases are limited to pecuniary loss, determined by:
- The sex, age, life expectancy, work expectancy, and health of the child victim.
- The earning potential of the child victim.
- The relationship of the deceased to the claimants.
- The age, health, and circumstances of those claimants.
Much of this involves speculation, and is often very difficult to determine in extremely young children. In these cases, it is integral to hire an experienced and aggressive wrongful death attorney to pursue the case, in order to secure your claim.
Often arising when a wrongful death claim is brought about is the issue of the physician-patient privilege. The physician-patient privelege protects the privacy of a victims' medical records. Unless the patient waives this privilege, a physician is not allowed to reveal any information they have acquired in treating the patient. Without this evidence, however, wrongful death claims can be hard to prove. An experienced attorney handling your wrongful death case can often help in gathering and presenting the best evidence available in order to help prove your case.
Even though the patient has died, that does not necessarily dissolve the privilege, or make it absolute. Some state laws provide that the victims spouse, or next of kin may waive the physician-patient privilege for the decedent. Of course, that principle is still disputed by doctors and hospitals that do not want to give copies of their medical records to lawyers representing the victim of a wrongful death claim. Some public health laws make it a requirement to reveal medical records only to physicians and hospitals, and not to lawyers. A wrongful death plaintiff's right to obtain the deceased's medical records outside the context of litigation is a matter of some dispute. However it's often sufficient enough to to indicate that the family is seeking to obtain records in contemplation of litigation to make the patient's right to the records absolute.
The act of bringing a wrongful death claim may indeed result in the privilege being waived. When this happens, the doctor is required to produce the requested documentation with the exception of information that would tend to disgrace the memory of the victim of the wrongful death.
In addition, a patient's privilege is waived regarding all medical treatment related to an action when the plaintiff commences the action for negligence or personal injury. Often, the family of the deceased may recover damages for the decedent's personal injuries, like pain and suffering, experienced prior to the decedent's death. So, in a combined wrongful death-personal injury case, the privilege would be waived. Consult a Los Angeles wrongful death lawyer today to determine how to best present your case and recover all of the damages to which you are legally entitled.
Our office provides free consultations and takes all wrongful death cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay nothing unless we win your accidental death claim.