Losing a loved one after a serious injury can leave a family dealing with grief, medical bills and difficult financial decisions. When someone survives an injury for days or weeks before dying, there may also be questions about the losses that person experienced before death. A 2023 amendment to Minnesota’s wrongful death statute expanded what may be recovered in certain cases to include losses the deceased person suffered from the injury before death.
What changed under Minnesota law?
Under current Minnesota law, a wrongful death action may allow recovery for damages the deceased suffered as a result of the injury before death, along with the pecuniary loss resulting from the death.
This means the circumstances between the injury and death can matter. For example, someone seriously injured in a car crash may spend several weeks in the hospital before passing away. The nature of the injuries, medical treatment and what the person experienced during that time may become relevant to the claim.
How is this different from the family’s losses?
A wrongful death claim can address the financial losses suffered because of a loved one’s death. The law also allows the action to account for damages suffered by the deceased as a result of the injury before death.
These are not necessarily the same losses. Medical records, treatment notes and other evidence may help establish the injuries and the care the deceased received before passing away. The circumstances of each case generally determine what damages may be available.
What should families know?
Under the 2023 amendment, the period between the injury and death may carry more legal significance than it did before, making the evidence from that time period worth preserving and reviewing early in the claim evaluation process.
Families dealing with a fatal accident may benefit from preserving medical records, accident reports and other evidence about what happened between the injury and death. Those details can be critical when evaluating a potential wrongful death claim.