An opioid rehab facility might not only harm a patient who went there for help, but it could also cause that individual’s death. Indeed, there are some highly reputable opioid treatment centers in California, but others are in business only to churn fees and generate incredibly high charges with little or no regard for proper patient care and treatment. With more than 1,000 licensed rehab facilities in Southern California alone, the Orange County Register calls the area the Rehab Riviera. Those are the types of facilities that a patient’s death might be connected to, and those are the facilities that are most likely to be sued for wrongful death.
A Wrongful Death Case Can Be Filed
Indeed, under California law, an opioid rehab facility can be held liable for wrongful death. If you’ve suffered the loss of a loved one at a California rehab facility, contact us here at Maison Law for a free consultation and case review with our rehab facility’s wrongful death lawyer. We want to help you and your family put your lives back together.
Patients are Owed a Duty of Care
When an opioid abuser or addict is admitted into a treatment facility, he or she entrusts their life to the facility’s staff. That patient is physically and emotionally vulnerable because opioids have taken over his or her mind and body. The administrators and staff at the clinic owe that patient a duty of care that can be pivotal to living a sober and drug-free life. That duty includes supervising and monitoring the patient. When the facility’s administrators or staff breach their duty of care to the patient, and the patient dies because of that breach, the facility can be determined to be at fault for wrongful death. Here are a few examples of what might be determined to be a facility’s breach of its duty of care:
- Failure to search the patient for drugs upon checking in.
- Negligent treatment during withdrawal and detox.
- Failure to search anybody visiting the patient.
- Employees procuring opioids for a patient.
- Verbal, emotional or physical, or sexual abuse by administrators, staff, or other patients.
- Suicide of a patient.
Patients Need Safe and Secure Facilities
An opioid rehab program maintains a special relationship with its patients. When a program agrees to admit an opioid abuser or addict, it agrees to provide a safe and secure place for that individual’s recovery. As a result, a duty falls on the shoulders of the rehab facility to take appropriate and reasonable steps to keep a patient from harming himself, herself, or others.
If you lost a loved one as a result of an opioid rehab facility’s breach of its duty of care of your loved one, contact us at Maison Law for that free consultation and case review with our California rehab facility wrongful death lawyer as soon as you can. We’ll listen to you carefully, and you can tell us about what happened and how it happened, and we can answer your questions. After that, we can discuss all of the legal options that might be available to you. We want to help bring your and your family’s lives back together.
Contact a California Wrongful Death Lawyer
Nothing can bring back the life of a loved one, but families should seek justice after the carelessness of a fentanyl rehab facility causes the tragic loss of life. A wrongful death claim can be an essential step to holding opioid rehab clinics accountable. It’s also a way to protect families from financial harm after the sudden death of a close relative.
A spouse, domestic partner, and children will be without the guidance and income the deceased would have provided in the years ahead. These hardships should fall squarely on a healthcare facility that neglected to take proper care of a beloved family member.
Please Contact Maison Law for a free case consultation to find out what your case may be worth to you and your family. Martin Gasparian, the founder of Maison Law, desires to ensure families receive fair support after a tragedy. He also wants to hold drug addiction facilities fully liable for their negligent practices.
