A wrongful death claim permits the patient’s family to file a case against the nurse liable for the patient’s death. A circumstance such as medical malpractice can give rise to a wrongful death lawsuit. The suit allows the surviving family members to sue the nurse for damages when the patient dies due to negligence and reckless acts (Goguen, 2019). Telling the patient’s family about the cause of death does not prevent the lawsuit as it gives them an avenue to sue the anesthesiologist. Such cases win in a court of law when evidence shows a patient’s death resulted from misconduct.
In this case, the right thing to do is to resolve the issue by settlement out of the court. A payment is preferable to a trial if the insurance company is willing to pay the damage caused. Victims of medical negligence or malpractice are entitled to get damage settlement (Goguen, 2019). The appropriate option is to compensate the patient’s family. The compensation can include funeral and burial costs, medical treatment costs, or the value of companionship or love that the patient would have provided if alive.
In most cases, filing a lawsuit can be unjust, with juries making irrational decisions in favor of the defendant. A wrongful lawsuit is tough to win as it involves complex medical evidence (Goguen, 2019). One of the hurdles of winning a case is proving that the anesthesiologist’s conduct amounted to medical negligence. The victim’s family may fail to convince the jury that the nurse is liable for the patient’s death.
References
Goguen, J. D. D. (2019). How a wrongful death lawsuit works. Www.AllLaw.Com. Web.