Timing of Death After Traumatic Injury

Answer:

We’ve addressed this issue with a number of clients before. For example, we had one case where a woman was diagnosed with cancer, and it should have been diagnosed four years earlier; or a person could be in a car accident, and they’re in a coma, and they eventually die from complications of the car accident. The question for the heirs, the people who would bring the wrongful death claim, is was it caused by the original negligence? First of all, the statute of limitations in Idaho runs from two years from the date of death. Another question, and the biggest question in many of these cases, is was the death caused by the original negligence? For example, in the case involving a failure to diagnose cancer, the question was if they had diagnosed it when they received a CAT scan back or an MRI, would they have been able to prevent the death? That’s a question for the doctors. We hire doctors. They advise us as to what they believe are the facts, and what they believe is true, and what the medicine shows. There’s the big question – when there’s a delay in the time between someone was negligent and someone passes away, the biggest question is whether or not the original act caused the death. If you have any questions about issues like this with wrongful death and a delay in diagnosis or a delay in the passing away of a loved one, please give our office a call. We’d be happy to talk to you.