So far, in the year 2020, there has been 167,127 unintentional death in the US. Unfortunately, often negligence from the other person is the cause of these deaths, either due to poor driving, medical carelessness, or an unsafe work environment. If you are one of the family members affected by a wrongful death, you should seek justice to make sure it doesn’t happen again and gain compensation.
Today we will take a glance at a few factors to take into account when proving wrongful death. We will also use the terms plaintiff (the party who brings the lawsuit to court) and the defendant (the party who caused the death).
Was There a Duty of Care?
A duty of care is individual wellbeing, welfare, agreement, and good habit towards those around them. For example, a factory owner’s duty of care is to make sure all employees work in a safe environment.
The plaintiff needs to establish to the court that the defendant owed a duty of care to the deceased person. If medical misbehavior caused the wrongful death, then the doctor involved has breached the duty of care since the doctor’s duty of care is to help people.
Proving the Breach of Duty of Care
Once you establish the duty of care relationship between the deceased and the defendant, you need to verify that the defendant caused the death. An example of a breach of duty of care is negligent actions, misconduct, or deliberate purpose to cause harm.
Causation – What Caused the Death
Now the plaintiff must directly explain why an individual action caused a loved one’s death since a defendant’s attorney may say that the cause of death was due to a different factor. For example, let’s say the defendant is a doctor, and they incorrectly prescribed medicine to a patient. The defendant’s attorney may allege that the deceased did not take the medication correctly, which caused death.
A case like the one mentioned before is the reason why you need a wrongful death attorney. You can find help on this page if you don’t know where to look.
The Burden of Proof – How a Wrongful Death Is Won
Unlike a criminal lawsuit, where the defendant must be found guilty beyond doubt, a wrongful death lawsuit only requires enough proof to be won. Of course, it’s not about the amount of evidence but the quality and credibility of the evidence. During this process, the judge will have to go through all of the evidence to determine the burden of proof.
You Can Win
Many people ignore filing a wrongful lawsuit since they are unaware of how to start. By researching, you can see that it’s not as difficult as you may think. Of course, it is best to discuss with a wrongful death attorney and lay down all of the facts.
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to review our other article related to medical fraud lawsuits. Without a doubt, you will find it informative