Mesa Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Lawyer

When someone causes harm to a loved one, it’s always devastating to the surviving family members when it ends in tragedy, but when a medical professional causes the death through medical malpractice, it feels like a soul-crushing betrayal of trust. While no legal process can erase the grief that you and your family feel, it can bring your lost loved one a voice for justice.

Contact an experienced medical malpractice wrongful death lawyer in Mesa from Knapp & Roberts for a free consultation, handled with dignity and compassion for your loss. If your loved one died because of a preventable mistake during an operation, our Mesa medical malpractice lawyer can help investigate the negligence and pursue accountability.

Why Knapp & Roberts Might Be Right For Your Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Claim In Mesa

At Knapp & Roberts, our team of Phoenix medical malpractice lawyers is dedicated to advocating for injury victims and their families, including against powerful medical malpractice insurers that try to protect their profits at our clients’ expense. With Knapp & Roberts, your case has the following advantages:

• Over 30 years of experience, knowledge, and resources behind your case
• A commitment to integrity, honesty, and open communication
• A personalized legal strategy with maximizing your family’s compensation as our primary purpose

We don’t charge injury victims or grieving family members upfront fees. Instead, after a free consultation, we work at no cost to you until after we’ve first recovered compensation in your family’s wrongful death claim.

Who Can File for Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death In Arizona?

Under Arizona 12-612, the state’s wrongful death law states the following:

“An action for wrongful death shall be brought by and in the name of the surviving husband or wife, child, parent or guardian, or personal representative of the deceased person for and on behalf of the surviving husband or wife, children or parents, or if none of these survive, on behalf of the decedent’s estate.”

If no spouse, parent, guardian, or child comes forward to file a wrongful death claim, a representative of the decedent’s estate can file a claim on behalf of the estate. Then, the compensation recovered belongs to the estate and passes according to the terms of the decedent’s will or Arizona’s intestacy laws for those who die without a will. If the decedent didn’t name a personal representative, the court may appoint one.

What Are the Most Common Causes of Medical Malpractice Wrongful Deaths In Mesa, AZ?

We’d like to think that physicians treat our health and our lives as valuably as they would their own family members, but unfortunately, doctors sometimes rush, hospitals cut corners, or providers make serious mistakes with tragic results. The most common causes of medical malpractice deaths in Mesa and elsewhere include the following:

• Medication mistakes
• Misdiagnosis
• Delayed diagnosis
• Surgical errors
• Anesthesia errors
• Failure to diagnose an infection
• Failure to order the correct diagnostic tests
• Misinterpreting test results
• Negligent post-surgical monitoring
• Taking an inadequate patient history
• Premature patient discharge
• Birth injuries

Wrongful death malpractice claims are the most serious medical malpractice cases, requiring substantial evidence of the at-fault medical provider’s liability.

Proving Liability In a Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Claim In Mesa

Proving medical malpractice in a wrongful death case requires the claimant to establish that the case meets the standard for liability, given doctors’ enhanced duty of care to their patients. The evidence gathered in the case must demonstrate the following:

• That a doctor/patient relationship was established at the time the malpractice occurred (if a doctor fails to revive an injury victim on the street, it’s not medical malpractice because no doctor/patient relationship existed)
• The doctor owed the patient a legal duty to treat them at the medical community’s accepted standard of care
• They breached this duty of care through negligence
• The breach of duty directly caused the patient’s death
• The patient’s family suffered damages from the death

Medical malpractice wrongful death damages include both the economic losses caused to the family and non-economic damages from the family’s emotional suffering.

What Are the Recoverable Damages In a Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Claim?

The death of a family member causes economic consequences for their family, especially if they were a family provider. While no two case results are the same, common damages recovered in medical malpractice wrongful death claims include the following:

• Reimbursement of medical expenses
• Funeral and burial costs
• The claimant’s lost income from bereavement time away from work
• The lost income of the decedent for the number of years they would have worked had they not died 
• Loss of benefits, such as health insurance and retirement fund contributions
• Loss of household services, such as caring for the children and the home, and/or yard work and maintenance
• Compensation for the family’s grief and anguish
• Compensation for a spouse’s loss of companionship and consortium, a parent’s loss of guidance and support, or a child’s loss of love and support

An experienced medical malpractice wrongful death attorney carefully calculates the total economic damages and determines an appropriate amount for the family’s intangible emotional losses to recover the maximum compensation available.

Do I Have to Go to Court For a Wrongful Death Medical Malpractice Case?

Your attorney will present a compelling claim for your full compensation and negotiate tirelessly for an ample settlement. We’d always prefer a low-conflict resolution for your claim; however, we have a trial-ready process to ensure a well-executed legal strategy should your case go to court if the insurance provider wrongfully denies, delays, or devalues your claim. If your medical malpractice wrongful death claim in Mesa requires a trial, we will file the petition within the statute of limitations and ensure that you are well prepared and know what to expect from the process.

What Is the Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Claims In Mesa, AZ?

Claimants generally have two years from the date of the death to file a medical malpractice wrongful death petition in court. Insurance companies also follow this deadline for claims because they understand that you cannot take them to court once the statute of limitations expires.

The court may extend this deadline under the discovery rule if the family of the decedent didn’t find out that the death resulted from medical malpractice until sometime later. Then, the time limit begins on the date of the discovery.

Call or Contact a Mesa Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Lawyer From Knapp & Roberts

You don’t have to add navigating a distressing legal process to your plate when you’re already dealing with grief and trauma over the loss of a loved one. Instead, call Knapp & Roberts for representation by a law firm that achieves exceptional results for our clients, so you can focus on your family.