Friday 20 August 2021

Stages of Wrongful Death Litigation Defense

For many companies and healthcare providers, the COVID-19 crisis will be their first exposure to wrongful death litigation. For others, defending against the personal injury plaintiffs’ allegations will be nothing new, but the novel coronavirus pandemic will present unique issues that have the potential to drastically impact the outcome of plaintiffs’ wrongful death claims.

In broad terms, the process of defending against a wrongful death claim related to COVID-19 can be broken down into three phases: (i) claim assessment, (ii) defense strategy development, and (iii) defense implementation.

1. Claim Assessment

When assessing wrongful death claims related to COVID-19, one of the most important factors will be determining whether the plaintiff’s personal injury attorney is able to conclusively establish that the victim was exposed to the virus at the business’s or healthcare provider’s facility. Despite the social distancing guidelines that are in place and the “stay at home” orders that have been implemented in most states around the country, there are still many ways that individuals can become exposed to COVID-19. From exercising outdoors to grocery shopping, many individuals are still coming into contact with multiple other individuals on a daily basis; and, when this is the case, it is going to be extremely difficult for plaintiffs to make a convincing case for blaming a particular business or healthcare provider.

In fact, the greater risk for healthcare providers may be claims related to failure to properly diagnose or treat patients who contracted COVID-19 from other sources. Triage has become a major issue in many locales, and diagnostic and treatment errors are fertile ground for medical malpractice claims. When assessing the viability of wrongful death lawsuits, healthcare providers and other businesses must critically examine the facts cited in the complaint in order to determine what specific allegations they need to defend against.

For more information visit here https://federal-lawyer.com/healthcare-defense/wrongful-death-defense/

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