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Wrongful Deaths At Bay Area Nursing Homes

A wrongful death case stems from a wrongful or negligent act or failure to act that contributed to or caused a premature death. Under California law, a nursing home or other negligent care provider does not need to be the only cause of the elder’s death, just a substantial or contributing factor.

Regardless of how old your loved one is, the grief your family feels at their death is powerful. No one wants to go before it is their time. And if a death was premature or preventable, or if the person’s last days were painful rather than peaceful, you feel their passing that much more keenly.

When a young or middle-aged adult dies, a court can quantify the economic loss because a younger person was probably earning money and contributing to the family’s financial support. It is more challenging to prove damages when an elderly person or a person with a disability dies. In fact, nursing homes often argue that there is no quantifiable loss. Nursing homes also say that the elder died of natural causes or as a result of a worsening medical condition. Having an aggressive lawyer who is knowledgeable about the types of medical conditions that come about as a result of the nursing home’s neglect is essential to holding the nursing home accountable.

Negligent care providers also try to limit their liability by invoking California’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 (the so-called MICRA law), which limits a family’s noneconomic damages for a death due to professional negligence to a maximum of $250,000 total, for all involved. It is important to have an experienced elder abuse lawyer who can prove that the death was due to abuse or neglect, rather than a simple violation of medical standards, so that the MICRA “cap” will not apply and the nursing home will have to pay damages above the “cap.”

Let Us Help You Become A Victor |Oakland Wrongful Death At Nursing Home Lawyer | The Law Offices Of Felicia C. Curran — No Charge Until You Win

If you lost a loved one at a Bay Area care home, contact us online or by calling 510-823-2331 for a free initial consultation with an attorney. If we take your case, there will be no charge until you win.

The State Bar of California
ACCTLA
Consumer Attorneys of California