Pregnant women are at risk of serious injuries in any accident. But they can also suffer a miscarriage, which is a devastating result. Under Georgia law, parents might be able to bring a wrongful death lawsuit for the miscarriage of their baby. This is a special type of personal injury lawsuit for financial compensation. Unfortunately, bringing any wrongful death claim for an unborn child is very complicated. You need to establish certain facts, such as your baby having a heartbeat. Call Stewart Miller Simmons Trial Attorneys to speak with an experienced wrongful death lawyer. We can review if you have a strong case and identify evidence to use for your case.
Accidents Which Endanger Fetus
Unborn children can be killed in all kinds of accidents:
- Motor vehicle wrecks. These are traumatic accidents, and the seat belt could put pressure on the womb. We might sue the other driver for striking the mother’s vehicle due to negligence, such as distracted driving, fatigue, or excessive speed.
- Falls. A mother who falls could end up miscarrying, especially where she falls multiple stories in a building. She might have tripped or slipped on a hazard at the top of a staircase, such as spilled liquids or trash. During her tumble down, she fatally injures her baby.
- Violent attacks. A pregnant woman could be violently attacked and stabbed or shot, resulting in death. We might sue the felon who attacked her, or the property owner for failure to provide necessary security.
- Poisoning. Some poison could prove fatal to an unborn child. We might sue the manufacturer of the poison or whoever is responsible for the mother ingesting or absorbing it.
- Defective products. You can bring a wrongful death lawsuit for any death caused by a dangerous product. For example, a product could have exploded in front of a mother, or a defect on a motor vehicle leads to a collision. These accidents support wrongful death claims.
Call our firm to discuss any accident. You should fully understand your rights. Too many people think accidents aren’t the fault of anyone. In reality, you could have a right to sue when negligence injures you.
We also need to uncover and preserve evidence to reconstruct the accident. If we can’t establish fault for the accident, we can’t obtain compensation. A lawyer at our firm can visit the accident scene or inspect vehicles involved in a collision. We will preserve useful evidence for your claim.
How Old Must the Unborn Child Be?
An unborn child is called a fetus. You can sue for the wrongful death of a fetus under O.C.G.A. § 19-71-1 if there is a detectable heartbeat. Children can have cardiac activity very early in a pregnancy, including the first trimester. For this reason, you might be able to bring a claim for the loss of a fetus as early as six weeks.
We will need evidence of a fetal heartbeat. If you went to the doctor, then we can use medical records which indicate the child had a heartbeat or which establish the child’s age. If you never went to the doctor, then we’ll try to use other evidence, such as proof of the baby’s age.
Can You Receive Compensation when an Unborn Child Dies?
It’s possible to receive wrongful death damages. Under the law, you can receive damages for the “full value” of the child’s life, under O.C.G.A. § 19-7-1. The law doesn’t provide a lot of guidance in how to measure this “value.”
Calculating damages for an unborn child is tricky. With an adult, a jury has certain guideposts, such as how much income the person made and what services they provided to their families. There might also be a history of financial support. For example, a grown child might have given her elderly parents a certain portion of her income each month to help support them.
With an unborn child, a jury would have no idea how much a child would earn. All they could do is speculate. Instead, a jury will use its subjective notions about how much the loss is worth in dollar terms.
Parents are naturally upset when discussing the “worth” or “value” of their child. We completely understand. No amount of money can make up for losing a baby. However, wrongful death lawsuits can’t get your child back. At best, they can provide some financial compensation, and it’s up to a jury to determine how much to give you. That’s what we mean by “full value” or “worth.”
We try to settle cases outside court, which means we work with the defendant or their insurance company to come up with a number that fairly represents the “full value” of an unborn child’s life. Doing so helps us avoid the uncertainties of trial. Our firm has some idea of how much other cases have settled for, and we use this information as a guide.
Who Can Bring a Wrongful Death Lawsuit?
The parents have the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit for the loss of their unborn child. They can also seek financial compensation for the medical care they paid to try and save their baby.
If the mother died along with the child, then her spouse can file a wrongful death lawsuit for both lost family members.
Things get complicated if the parents were not married at the time of the accident or had divorced. Call our law firm to review who can file a wrongful death claim in that situation. We’ll review the law.
Free Consultations for Grieving Parents
Losing a child in an accident is a devastating situation. It’s a nightmare no one should experience. At our firm, our wrongful death lawyers have helped many parents after the tragic loss of a child seek financial compensation and justice. When someone accidentally injures your child, you should hold them accountable in a wrongful death case.
Give us a call, (404) 529-3476. We never charge a fee unless we win a case. And we’ll gladly explain more about the process in a private consultation at our office.