Legal standing

The law specifies who can pursue a wrongful death claim in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC.  The following persons can pursue a claim for a wrongful death:

• The spouse, if married to the deceased at the time of death
• Children of the deceased, whether minor or adult
• Parents of the deceased
• Other financially dependent relatives if no immediate family exists

You can pursue a claim for wrongful death if you belong to any of these groups.

Available compensation

You can pursue several types of compensation to address both financial and personal losses:

• Medical costs from treatment before death
• Expenses for funeral services and burial
• Income the deceased would have provided to the family
• Non-economic damages for loss of companionship and emotional support

Understanding these categories helps you assess potential compensation in your situation.

Taking action

Time limits restrict when you can file a claim. Maryland allows 3 years from death, while Virginia and DC set 2-year limits. Missing these deadlines could prevent you from seeking compensation.

To build a strong case, take these essential steps:

• Consider talking to an attorney to review your options
• Document everything with medical records and witness statements
• Submit your claim within the legal deadline

These steps can increase your chances of a successful claim and fair compensation.

Moving forward

While grieving is a crucial part of the healing process, it is also important to honor your loved one by fighting for your rights. If you feel overwhelmed, remember that you do not have to take this journey alone.

Consulting with a compassionate and experienced attorney can provide the support and guidance you need during this difficult time. They can help you understand your options and ensure that your loved one’s memory is honored through the pursuit of justice.

The accident was a bit unusual in that the driver of the tractor-trailer was parked at the time of the incident.

The truck driver, who was apparently helping with a highway construction project, had gone around to the back of his truck when the driver of an excavator rotated the equipment in order to move a concrete barrier from the side of the road.

The rotation pinned the trucker against the trailer of his own truck, killing him. The operator of the excavator also suffered injuries but is expected to survive the accident.  Both the police and the state’s occupational safety authorities are investigating the tragedy.

Injured workers, families may need more than workers’ compensation

Hopefully, the family of the man who died will be able to obtain workers’ compensation benefits on account of this loss.

These benefits are available to cover items like medical bills and lost wages. However, they do not pay for everything. Sometimes, the benefits may not cover all of a victim’s out-of-pocket losses.

Even if they do, these benefits will not pay for non-economic losses including emotional distress and pain and suffering.

For this reason, victims of workplace accidents involving a motor vehicle, including grieving families, may need to consider filing a personal injury or wrongful death case against those responsible for the accident.

While the law may prohibit filing a case against an employer who had workers’ compensation benefits available, other responsible parties may be liable as well.

For example, another business may be liable if one of its employees caused the accident. This is a common scenario at construction sites where many different firms do work at the same time. A defective product or defective piece of equipment also frequently contribute to construction accidents.

An experienced attorney can help victims of workplace accidents in the greater D.C. area evaluate their legal options.

• Partial Colectomy
• Small-bowel resection
• Cholecystectomy
• Operative management of peptic ulcer disease
• Removal of peritoneal adhesions
• Appendectomy
• Laparotomy

A couple of these may be familiar to some of you, but for the rest of us, this list is composed of procedures that are almost entirely related to the digestive system. Generally speaking, if they are opening your abdomen, there is a fair chance one of the above procedures will come into play. Beyond putting you into the emergency room, these procedures also account for the majority of complications, costs, and deaths. You should take this with a grain of salt; when a few procedures account for the majority of instances, they will also tend to have the most opportunities for complications.  Claims data served as the basis for the study and the claims could have been missing details, and also lacks information regarding patients who did not have an operation within two days of admittance.

If you or a loved one have had a brush with medical complications and need legal advice, do not hesitate to contact us at 202-296-0666 for legal consultation.