Wrongful death is when a person is killed due to negligence of another person. This could involve recklessness or even inaction of another person or an organization. Most often, wrongful death is due to medical malpractice. Accidents in the workplace, from defective products, or even automobile accidents are also common causes of wrongful death.
An example of wrongful death due to medical malpractice could involve a medical doctor not taking the proper precautions before beginning surgery. If the surgeon doesn’t “scrub,” or wash their hands properly to remove infections bacteria, that bacteria could enter the patient’s body and infect them. If this infection were to cause the person’s death, it could easily become a wrongful death due to medical malpractice.
Wrongful death on the highway could involve a motor vehicle traveling too fast down the road (beyond the speed limit) and running into a child who is playing the street. If the vehicle had been traveling at or under the speed limit, the child may have had time to see the vehicle and move out of the way, or the driver may have had the opportunity to see the child and swerve so it didn’t hit the child. If this accident was to occur and the child was to die, this could become a wrongful death case due to an automobile accident.
Wrongful death due to defective products is also common and very unnecessary. Companies have an obligation to test their products thoroughly for safety before releasing them to the public, but they don’t always take all precautions. Their negligence can cause the death of unsuspecting consumers, and these can become wrongful death cases due to defective products. In fact, if a large number of people are harmed or killed due to a defective products, these cases can become class action lawsuits as well.
Wrongful deaths, then, are deaths that are caused due to the negligence of another person. Someone should have been more responsible than they were, and their irresponsibility caused the death of someone else. Wrongful deaths are especially difficult for family and friends of the deceased to deal with because the deaths are cause “for no good reason.”
If you suspect that a loved one has been killed due to someone else’s negligence, you may have a wrongful death case on your hands. To find out more about wrongful death and how it may pertain to your individual situation, contact the experienced wrongful death lawyers at Norris & Cantu today.
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