Wrongful Death Lawyer

Wrongful death occurs when somebody has been negligent when they should not have been, and we are going to talk about some of the most common questions that you might hear when you are dealing with a wrongful death case. Your wrongful death lawyer should be able to help answer your questions, but this will give you a good place to start.

What reasons do hospitals and doctors get sued for wrongful death?

Doctors and hospitals may be sued for wrongful death for a variety of reasons, such as the wrong prescription given, sometimes in operation leaves a foreign object in the body, and very often hospital infections due to unsanitary conditions can cause the death of the patient. There is a misdiagnosis, and the patient receives diagnosis and treatment for a disease that winds up killing them because they did not actually have it, or anesthesia errors are also extremely common. Hospitals are sometimes some of the most unsafe places to be when seriously ill, and in the case of a medical malpractice wrongful death case they are going to have to have a live medical experts from a lot of fields to help determine the existence of actual malpractice and it can drag on for a while.

Are our wrongful death damages taxable?

According to IRS publication 4345, wrongful death damages fall into the category of compensation for physical injuries and they are income tax free due to this rule. However, these damages can be subject to estate tax if they bring the amount of the estate over the statutory exemption. You should talk to your wrongful death lawyer about whether there are any ways for you to avoid being taxed if this happens to you. Furthermore, if punitive damages were awarded due to the judgment, they are in certain circumstances subject to income tax. And if there is a nondisclosure clause in the release, the IRS can take the position that this money was bargained for and therefore the award is taxable. You should talk to your wrongful death lawyer before agreeing to sign a nondisclosure agreement unless the defendant agrees to defend and identify you. The IRS comes after you.

Can I find a view of an accident scene after the roads of change?

It can be very important to have a good idea of what the accident was, how it occurred and where it occurred. What happens if the roadways have changed since the accident, what do you do then? Furthermore, what if nobody took any photos of the place where the accident happened and now it’s different? In this case, you might be able to use Google Earth to help recreate the accident scene because Google Earth does keep a history of most places on earth in different time periods. You can suggest this to your wrongful death lawyer if you find this has occurred, you should be able to easily find the option to change the views and use a section called historical views to view the roadway throughout the history of its existence — or at least a history of Google Earth’s existence.