Massachusetts Personal Injury Library
Filing a Massachusetts Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against a Doctor (Part A)
When our family members are treated at hospitals and other medical care facilities, we place the safety and health of our loved ones in the hands of the doctors working there.
Unfortunately, sometimes people die while under the care of physicians. But do these deaths constitute medical malpractice?
If you feel that your family member died because of a medical error, you may be eligible to pursue a Massachusetts wrongful death lawsuit. As you consider this option, know that this legal process could take months or years to run its course.
If you think your loved one’s death may have been the result of medical malpractice, it would be in your best interest to consult with an experienced personal injury attorney who specializes in medical malpractice in Massachusetts. It is important that the lawyer has handled these types of cases and that they understand medical malpractice wrongful death cases.
Proving Medical Malpractice
In order to win a Massachusetts medical malpractice case, you must be able to prove the existence of medical negligence.
This condition applies to doctors (or any other health care professional) who fail to provide the accepted medical standard of care to a given patient. Put another way, medical negligence exists if another physician would have acted differently in the same situation and your loved one’s life would have been saved.
When to File a Massachusetts Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Statute of Limitations
While Massachusetts law allows family members some time to grieve and consider their legal options, there is a finite time period during which Massachusetts wrongful death lawsuits must be filed.
In most cases, the statute of limitations for filing a medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit is 3 years from the date of the act of the injury, or 3 years from the discovery date of the injury. The action should not be filed more than 7 years after the date of the occurrence.
Exceptions to 3-7 Years Rule
There are some exceptions to this 3 to 7 year rule:
- If the victim was between 2 and 6 years old, a medical malpractice suit must be filed by the date which would have marked the child’s 9th birthday.
- If the case involves a foreign object being left inside a patient during a surgical procedure, the statute of limitations applies from the date on which the condition was discovered.
Continue to Filing a Massachusetts Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against a Doctor (Part B) >>
