Your legal options probably aren’t at the top of your mind when your family member dies of a fentanyl overdose—especially when it happens in a California drug rehab facility. But not soon after, legal help will become more important. Our California drug rehab facility negligence lawyers at Maison Law can answer questions about the process and how everything works. Set up a free consultation today.
What Kind Of Lawyer Do I Need If a Family Member Dies From a Fentanyl Overdose at a Drug Rehab Facility?
You don’t need a special kind of lawyer if you want to file a claim after your family member dies of a fentanyl overdose in a California drug rehab facility. Our personal injury team at Maison Law has the experience and resources to help you.
Legally speaking, it’s more of a question of what kind of claim you need to file in this situation. Rather than a normal injury claim, a fatal fentanyl overdose that happens because the facility or someone else was negligent makes it a “wrongful death” claim. And that takes a bit of unpacking to understand.
Can I File a Wrongful Death Claim If My Family Member Dies From a Fentanyl Overdose in a California Drug Rehab Facility?
The first step in a wrongful death claim after your family member dies of a fentanyl overdose in a drug rehab facility is actually showing that:
- An overdose happened and that it was caused by negligence.
To do that, it’s about answering a few questions:
- How did fentanyl get into the facility in the first place?
- Were patients being properly supervised?
- Did staff recognize the signs of an overdose?
- Was naloxone available and used when it should have been?
When a facility fails to follow basic safety procedures or respond appropriately to a medical emergency, it can open the door to a wrongful death claim. From there, though, the process is a bit different. First, the law limits who has the legal right to bring the case. Usually, the people who can file include:
- A surviving spouse or domestic partner
- Children of the person who died
- Someone named in the person’s will or estate plan
If none of these apply, other relatives—like parents, siblings, or the personal representative of the estate—are usually able to step in and file the claim. With that, it becomes about your family’s damages. And they’re also a bit different in this type of claim.
What Can My Family Recover in a Wrongful Death Claim?
As you might expect, the damages—the actual financial support you get from a settlement or verdict—are also very different in a wrongful death claim. Rather than focusing on the injuries, they’re built on the costs of what you and your family have lost. Typically, this means you get damages for:
- Funeral and burial expenses
- Medical care provided before the death
- The income your loved one would have provided
- Loss of companionship and family support
- Emotional suffering connected to the loss
All of this is going to be based on what you can show, and there’s also a legal deadline in place. Your family only has two years to file a wrongful death claim. And given all the different hurdles you’ll face, that time can evaporate quickly. That’s why it’s helpful to have the right guidance from the start.
How Maison Law Helps Families After a Fatal Overdose in a California Rehab Facility
When a fentanyl overdose happens inside a rehab facility, families are often left trying to piece together what went wrong. At Maison Law, our California wrongful death lawyers can help you and your family through this incredibly difficult time by:
- Explaining your options in clear, straightforward language
- Looking into how the overdose happened
- Gathering records and evidence from the facility
- Handling communication with the facility and its insurance company
- Guiding your family through the wrongful death claims process
Our goal is simple: to take some of the pressure off your family while you’re dealing with an incredibly difficult loss. If your family member died from a fentanyl overdose while in treatment at a California drug rehab facility, set up a free consultation with our team today.
