Wrongful death is where someone – usually a loved one – has died in exceptional circumstances. Typically, these circumstances are irregular and suggest that the death was caused by someone else through their negligence or other means.
Obviously, should something like this happen in your life, it’s emotionally devastating. Handling it at the time and knowing what to do in response when you are overwhelmed emotionally is very hard.
What Are the Different Types of Wrongful Death?
A wrongful death simply means when someone has died, and it should never have happened. As such, it wasn’t through natural causes due to old age or an accident that was no one’s fault.
When it comes to wrongful death, it can, unfortunately, happen due to many different reasons. Sometimes, a beam drops on someone’s head at work. Other times, dangerous driving by someone else on the road can cause an accident with other drivers or passengers losing their lives.
It’s also possible for someone to suffer from medical malpractice too. This is where a doctor, nurse or other healthcare professional made key mistakes or omissions which resulted in medical care that was insufficient or neglectful.
In most situations with medical malpractice, another doctor could look at the same case and point out deficiencies in how it was handled that resulted in the death of the patient.
Taking Time to Grieve
Taking time to grieve is important when suffering the loss of any loved one.
It’s already been established that there are five stages of grief:
- Denial
- Anger
- Bargaining
- Depression
- Acceptance
It’s now been suggested that there’s a valid sixth stage too – Finding meaning.
The time it takes to go through this grief path is different for each person and largely depends on the feelings one had for the person who they have lost. Not denying or avoiding the grief process is important as going through the process and feeling better when coming out the other side is a necessary part of it.
Is It Necessary to Pursue a Legal Case?
When you’re ready, looking into whether it’s a good idea to pursue a legal case for medical practice is sensible. As any wrongful death attorney will tell you, not every case has merit, but for the ones that do, it’s worth it.
When the grief has been managed, there are considerable concerns over things like the loss of earnings from the decedent, the cost of a burial and related expenses, medical expenses, and more.
A successfully pursued case that leads to a settlement agreement or a win in court can lead to covering these costs to avoid financial hardship along with the obvious emotional one. Also, when someone is truly at fault, there should be consequences for the pain and suffering they have caused, and the courts tend to agree on this point too.
Dealing with a wrongful death situation is a process. It’s clear your life has changed, and you’ll need to accept that. But avoiding the consequences of it doesn’t make it easier, so it’s best to do what’s necessary to work through the situation, however unpleasant it may be.
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