Man Dies Wrongful Death in Hospital Misdiagnosis
People go to hospital to get better. They don’t expect to die due to a misdiagnosis.
This is a case I heard about recently that points out that doctors can and do make mistakes when it comes to diagnosing patients. Something this man’s family found out the hard way when they lost their husband, father, grandfather and brother.
Here is the disturbing story. Mr. Sims (names have been changed to protect the victim’s identity) went to a local hospital in Seattle to have surgery to remove a noncancerous mass. Three days later, he died as a result of peritonitis that was misdiagnosed after his surgery. His family was worried sick about him, as he kept complaining about severe pain and thirst after the operation. He died an agonizing death.
The family filed a wrongful death lawsuit based on the fact that the man’s physicians failed to diagnose and treat the well-known signs of peritonitis. Evidently the doctors who treated him have credentials to practice at the hospital, but are not employed by the hospital.
This will be a contentious case based on what we know so far. There is certainly some indication of negligence on the part of the surgeons and the hospital staff. The difficulty will be proving it; something that will more than likely need to be done with the assistance of expert witnesses. In addition, medical malpractice lawsuits are often time consuming and expensive cases that even if an award is handed out, it may be capped – an injustice to the grieving family and an insult to the deceased who died in severe pain.
Generally speaking, if a person is killed due to the wrongful conduct of another, his heirs have the right to file a wrongful death action. This is an area of tort law that is governed by statute. While each state has a wrongful death statute, it tends to be different for every state. You need to check with your attorney to find out what applies in your state. What you need to know upfront is that most of the statutes cover who may sue and what limits there may be to an award (capping).
Of interest is that wrongful death statutes were originally created to allow financial support for widows and orphans, with the underlying purpose to encourage people to prevent injuries. You need to understand that a wrongful death action is not a criminal action and that you may file both types of actions – criminal and civil. Put another way, if someone was tried and found not guilty of murder, the family of the deceased may still sue for wrongful death.
Michael G. Smith is anArkansas personal injury lawyer and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law in Arkansas. Learn more by visiting Arkansaslawhelp.com