Wrongful deaths caused by accidents are tough to navigate, especially for family members and loved ones who are mourning losses.
Below we’ve listed the most common types of wrongful death cases in Florida.
Work accidents
It’s not hard to imagine fatal accidents happening at places like construction sites, but they can happen at any workplace or in any work-related situation.
An employee in an office building, for example, could fall down a flight of stairs and die as a result of a head injury. The cause of the fall? They tripped on a worn strip that had peeled up from the stair and caused a clear tripping hazard.
Medical malpractice
When doctors make mistakes, the consequences can be deadly. These mistakes happen when a doctor fails to diagnose a condition or their misdiagnosis.
For example, a doctor listens to a patient describing their symptoms and, without performing any procedures to confirm, diagnoses them with the flu and sends them home with medication. The patient ends up dying because they actually were suffering from sepsis that developed from an infection.
Car accidents
Fatal car accidents are the most common cause of wrongful death. With over 16 million drivers in the state of Florida, it’s not hard to see why.
From drunk driving to distracted driving or weather-related accidents, the causes of fatal car accidents are numerous.
For example, a distracted driver on his cell phone while traveling on the freeway doesn’t see that traffic has stopped due to construction work. He ends up crashing into the car in front of him, causing a fatal injury to the driver as well as other injuries in the resulting pile-up.
Defective products
Companies create products to make our lives easier and make a profit. But when those products fail due to a defect and end up costing someone their life, the company or manufacturer can be held liable.
One example of a defective product might be a child safety seat that wasn’t thoroughly tested and doesn’t perform optimally when an accident happens, leading to a child being thrown from the car seat.
Pedestrian accidents
Pedestrians walk down the street as cars drive by all the time, and we often don’t think about how unprotected they are and how a deadly collision can be caused by just 1 misstep.
For example, a pedestrian steps off a curb in-between cars to dash across the street and is hit by a car that didn’t have enough time to stop. They are instantly killed by the impact.
Semi-truck accidents
The size difference between a semi-truck and any other vehicle gives the trucker an unfair advantage in any accident scenario. Semi-truck accidents are commonly caused by problems with the truck, including mechanical and hauling issues. Other causes include aggressive driving on the part of the semi-truck driver or vehicles driving recklessly around the semi.
Aviation accidents
We don’t really hear about plane accidents as often as others, but when they happen, there are often fatalities. These fatalities are usually the result of mechanical problems with the plane as well as pilot errors.
If you feel like you have a wrongful death case after a loved one has died, reach out to an experienced lawyer in your area right away so they can begin to fight for your rights.