Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Did you know that there are different damages available in a wrongful death case than a
personal injury case? My name is Stuart Scott. I'm a personal injury and medical malpractice
attorney at the Spangenberg law firm. Today I want to talk to you about wrongful death
damages. To do so, I want to talk about a recent case that I handled involving a young
man in a tragic case. He was misdiagnosed with colon cancer and by the time he ultimately
diagnosed it had metastasized to his lung and his brain. Eighteen months later, he passed
away as a result of his disease. When I took on the case -- we'll call him "Paul" -- Paul
was still alive. The damages that were available up until the point of his death -- also known
as the 'personal injury damages' -- included a number of things. These included his pain
and suffering as a result of the misdiagnosis, the very high cost of all the medical care
that he received after his diagnosis and something called 'loss of consortium' which is the relationship
between he and his children and he and his wife during the time he was misdiagnosed and
his death. After Paul passed away, the case took on another dimension. It became a wrongful
death case. The damages in a wrongful death case include, under Ohio law, the damages
that Paul's lost future income. Paul was approximately 50 years old, he was working supporting a
wife and two kids. That income would no longer come into the family so we had to have an
economist come in and calculate what those future losses would be. Under Ohio law, in
addition to the economic damages which would also include things like funeral expenses,
they include non-economic damages. These would include things like anguish of his spouse
and his two children. It would also include the loss of inheritance to his kids. It would
include the relationship with their father, such as education and advice -- the things
that parents give to their children every day. And in addition to the differences between
wrongful death and personal injury cases we've talked about today, there are many other differences.
It is very important that you discuss your case with the lawyer. If you have questions
about wrongful death cases or personal injury or medical malpractice cases in general, call
me. I'm always here to answer your questions.