When someone else causes negligent death to your loved one, the claim you file is wrongful death. But for it to succeed, it must have the following elements. Learn more here.
Duty of Care
This means that the defendant was in a position where they should have acted responsibly to the deceased. It can be something like a doctor owing a duty of care to their patient by prescribing the right medication. Or it could be a driver due to a duty of care to other drivers and pedestrians on the road by driving safely and following the road rules. Learn more about Benefits of Hiring a Wrongful Death Attorney.
Breach of Duty of Care
Once established that the defendant owed a duty of care to the deceased person, it must then be proven that they violated that breach. In the examples above, a breach of duty by the doctor could be a misdiagnosis that leads to death. In the case of the driver, their breach could be that they were texting while driving, and their distraction led to an accident.
Causation
The plaintiff must prove that the breach of duty was the cause of the passing of the deceased. That means the doctor’s malpractice directly resulted in someone’s death or that the accident caused by the distracted driver resulted in a fatality.
