Losing an elderly loved one is never easy. What can make it much harder to bear is to learn that the nursing home or assisted living facility you entrusted to care for that person was responsible for the death.
An Arizona nursing home facility can be held accountable if the acts of its employees or the conditions of its premises cause the untimely death of an immediate family member. The means of holding the facility responsible in such an event is a wrongful death claim under Arizona law.
Stone Rose Law takes legal action on behalf of clients who have lost a loved one because of the wrongful acts of others. In this post, we discuss what a wrongful death action is potentially worth, who can make a wrongful death claim under Arizona law, how a nursing home can be liable for wrongful death, and how to prove a wrongful death claim.
To learn more about wrongful death claims in Arizona as they apply to nursing home residents, call us at (480) 631-3025 to speak with a nursing home abuse attorney.
Most wrongful death claims against nursing homes settle out of court in a payout from the facility’s insurance company. An average nursing home neglect settlement for a wrongful death claim can vary considerably depending on the facts of the case.
These actions often result in settlement payouts in high six-figure sums or even more than a million dollars.
Compensation is generally measured in economic and non-economic damages.
In cases where the conduct of someone at the nursing home was particularly egregious, like intentional abuse or neglect that leads to death, punitive damages may also be recoverable.
Wrongful death economic damages are those damages that can be proven through direct means, like bills or receipts. Examples of economic damages in a nursing home wrongful death settlement can be medical bills before death and funeral and burial costs.
Non-economic damages are more subjective than economic damages in that they are not readily provable by out-of-pocket costs or other bills that you can calculate the value of.
Instead, non-economic damages measure intangible harms, like pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of love, affection, and companionship.
The value of non-economic damages should not be underestimated.
Large wrongful death settlement payouts or judgment awards often result from significant non-economic damages claims.
It is a terrible reality that sometimes nursing homes can hire employees who are not only unsuited to care for elderly patients but can also act in ways that reflect an “evil mind,” like intentionally causing harm to them, including death.
In these cases, the nursing home facility is potentially liable for negligently hiring such a person, and punitive damages may also be available.
As the term suggests, punitive damages punish those who act in especially wrongful ways and deter similar behaviors by others. Some of the largest wrongful death settlement payouts and judgments include punitive damage claims.
Most nursing home facilities carry insurance policies to handle claims against them, and most wrongful death lawsuits are resolved out of court through negotiated settlements with insurance adjusters.
It is important to remember that insurance companies have a vested interest in keeping settlement payouts as low as possible. This means that insurance adjusters are smart and tough negotiators who will pay you less than the full fair compensation you deserve if they can.
Insurance adjusters often use a variety of negotiating tactics that can put you at a disadvantage if you are not careful. These include:
Because of this, you are well served to hire an experienced attorney to represent you in a wrongful death settlement. Such a lawyer can help ensure that your interests are competently represented so you receive a fair settlement.
Not everyone is eligible to make a claim for wrongful death. Under Arizona law, if a nursing home resident dies because of a wrongful act, then the following people are eligible to file a wrongful death claim:
If your loved one dies because of a wrongful act at a nursing home, another cause of action against the facility may exist under Arizona’s Survival Action Statute. The basis of a survival action lawsuit is that if a deceased person had a legal claim under Arizona law before dying, the right to pursue that claim passes to that person’s estate.
Wrongful death and survival actions may proceed together as distinct claims.
Both the nursing home facility and any employee of that facility who caused or contributed to your loved one’s untimely death are potentially liable defendants in a wrongful death lawsuit.
In most cases, the facility will be the main defendant because it will have “deeper pockets” and insurance coverage to pay a settlement of your claim. But depending on the circumstances, especially in intentional neglect or abuse cases, the offending employee or employees should also be included in your claim for compensation.
Nursing homes can cause a patient’s wrongful death in many ways. Some common examples of activities that lead to preventable death include:
Arizona law requires nursing homes and long-term care facilities to provide residents with adequate care. If they fail to provide adequate care, and this leads to a patient’s death, then this can be the basis of liability for damages in a wrongful death case.
Proving nursing home liability requires the plaintiff to demonstrate the following elements of a legal claim in a nursing home lawsuit:
Generally, the evidence must prove the nursing facility was legally obligated to protect the resident’s safety, but the facility failed to do so, and that resulted in the resident’s death.
To prevail in a wrongful death action against a nursing home facility you will need to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that each of the elements above exists. Evidence can include:
Additionally, conduct by the nursing home facility that violates the Arizona Adult Protective Services Act (APSA) can serve as evidence in a wrongful death lawsuit.
The ASPA empowers the Arizona Department of Economic Security’s Adult Protective Services (APS) program to investigate reports of abuse, neglect, exploitation, and self-neglect. The APS system operates a 24/7 hotline for reporting incidents and conducts investigations to determine the validity of allegations and the need for protective services.
As a general rule, the time to file a lawsuit for wrongful death is no later than two years after the date of the incident that led to the resident’s death. This time limit for wrongful death suits is the same statute of limitations for a personal injury lawsuit in Arizona.
In rare instances, the courts may temporarily suspend the ticking clock on the wrongful death statute of limitations. This is called tolling. Tolling of the statute of limitations for wrongful death lawsuits may occur only in the following circumstances:
A wrongful death settlement can never make up for the loss of your loved one because of nursing home neglect or abuse, but a nursing home abuse settlement can help provide your family with financial support at this difficult time.
Our nursing home abuse lawyers are experienced in negotiating nursing home settlements and with nursing home litigation, and are ready to help you recover after a loved one’s death.
Call Stone Rose Law at (480) 631-3025, or contact us online, so you can begin with a free consultation with a Phoenix wrongful death attorney.
