It is a fact of life that we all must leave at some point. Many of our deaths will occur in hospitals or while we are under the care of a medical provider. Sometimes those deaths will be expected while at other times they may be completely unexpected. When there is an unexpected death of a loved one during medical treatment, you should ask yourself why and whether the death might be in some way related to the medical care. Maybe it was caused by the medical care. Maybe it occurred because the loved one did not receive the care they should have. Whenever you have concerns about the unexpected death of a loved one and whether it might be the result of medical malpractice, you need to act promptly.
The immediate aftermath of an unexpected death is often a sad, chaotic time. Family members and friends are grieving. Relatives and friends are coming and going. Funeral or other arrangements need to be made. People need to be met at the airport. Everyone may be in shock. It is not a good time for calm reflection, but, if there was malpractice, this is a critical time period.
The most important early consideration is whether to get a private autopsy or not. There are certain circumstances in which the county medical examiner will perform an autopsy as a matter of law. However, if a patient is under active medical care at the time of the death, the medical examiner will not usually be involved. In most instances, the attending physician will sign a death certificate which states a primary cause of death. If the unexpected death occurred in a hospital, the hospital may offer an autopsy. However, the hospital itself may have an interest in the outcome of the autopsy. Your best bet for an impartial autopsy is one you pay for yourself. There are experienced, well-trained pathologists who will perform a private autopsy.
Do not be reassured that everyone knows what caused your loved one’s death. Regardless of what the medical records or the death certificate may say, if there is a medical malpractice lawsuit, the cause of the death will often be a major issue about which both sides may have differing opinions. If you did not get an autopsy, the question of the cause of death may be wide open. And, of course, you have only a narrow window in which to get an autopsy performed. I must often turn down a potential wrongful death case because there was no autopsy and the cause of death is unclear.
Once the autopsy has been performed, you are not yet done. If you have questions, you should get a copy of the medical records. Since today’s records are electronic, it is an easy thing for the doctor or hospital to provide you with a disc containing the records. Federal law requires providers to give the patient or the patient’s representative a copy of the patient’s medical records.
After you have the records, you should promptly consult an experienced medical malpractice lawyer. Every state has a statute of limitations, which limits the time in which a suit can be brought for medical malpractice. The amount of time will vary from state to state. In Arizona, the statute of limitations is two years for medical malpractice claims, although there are some exceptions which may give you more time. There are also certain situations, which may not be immediately apparent to you as a lay person, where the time to bring a claim is as short as 180 days. Since there is no way for you to know if your potential claim is one to which the 180 day limit will apply, you should act as though it will and see someone promptly.
An experienced malpractice attorney may not be able to answer all of your questions about the cause of your loved one’s death, but she or he may be the only resource you have. You can be pretty well assured that no doctor or hospital administrator is going to tell you that a doctor or nurse made a mistake that killed your loved one. You are going to be on your own. Go see someone and do it promptly. Remember also that, even if the two year statute applies, the attorney is going to need time to analyze the records and talk to expert witnesses before the limitation period ends. Act sooner rather than later.
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