When a loved one suffers from a serious illness or injury, you trust local doctors to see them through. You do not expect your loved one to pass while under medical supervision because a negligent healthcare professional failed to adequately or quickly resuscitate him after a cardiac event.
If your loved one died while under medical care because a doctor failed to provide timely or quality resuscitation services, you may have a wrongful death case. These are complicated legal claims related to medical malpractice requiring the help of our experienced medical malpractice lawyers in Harrisburg, PA.
What is a Failure to Resuscitate Claim?
Although failure to resuscitate is a type of medical malpractice, it’s categorized as a wrongful death claim because the patient died due to medical neglect. These claims are highly complicated, however, because there is no hardline rule for when a doctor can stop attempting resuscitation and call the time of death. Medical malpractice experts consider the following factors in determining whether the doctor made a sufficient attempt at revival:
- Initial response time
- Whether circulation or heartbeat (pulse) returned at any point during the attempt
- Breathing
- Patient’s age and underlying medical conditions
- Time spent attempting the resuscitation
- Reasons underlying the cardiac arrest
- The agreement of multiple medical providers to stop the attempt
Most resuscitation attempts last at least 20 minutes, but some could last up to an hour. Any attempt with a delayed response time or that lasts significantly less than 20 minutes might give rise to a wrongful death claim. If the patient’s pulse returned at any time during the attempt but doctors did not continue attempting revival, this could also support a failure to resuscitate claim in Pennsylvania.
Our experienced Harrisburg medical malpractice lawyers work with dedicated medical experts to review your loved one’s medical records to determine whether medical neglect led to his or her death.
Filing a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Pennsylvania
If the patient did not have a valid do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order on file when the cardiac arrest occurred, and doctors failed to provide life-saving resuscitation services, surviving family members may be entitled to file a wrongful death claim in Harrisburg. Only certain family members qualify to bring these claims, but multiple financial dependents may recover compensation for lost support and companionship. You might also obtain damages for funeral expenses and the emotional pain and suffering caused by the medical neglect and resulting death.
Eligible claimants have up to two years after the date of death to file wrongful death claims, so you must reach out to one of our attorneys to discuss litigation and insurance settlement options as soon as possible.
Call the Harrisburg Failure to Resuscitate Lawyers at Marzella & Associates Today
If a medical professional at UPMC Harrisburg could have resuscitated your loved one after a cardiac event but failed to do so, you might have a wrongful death claim. Complicated medical and legal questions often arise in these cases, but our dedicated failure-to-resuscitate lawyers are here to guide you through this challenging season. Schedule a free and confidential case analysis with Marzella & Associates today by calling (717) 678-7966 or contact us online.