I want to know how I go about filing a lawsuit for malpractice that resulted in my father's death.

Question

I want to know how I go about filing a lawsuit for malpractice that resulted in my father's death. The night before he passed the paramedics were called to drive him to the hospital, but they refused to take him stating that he was “too heavy to put on the stretcher” regardless of additional help from his roommates. The hospital was literally the next road over. They continued to tell him to lay back down and “sleep it off.” My father was weak and could not walk or move without assistance. We got a call from the hospital the next morning and they announced that he passed away.

Kimberly Grant · Answer

I am sorry for your loss.  
 
If your father was not married, then you and any other biological children of your father would be the correct parties to file a medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit. Such a lawsuit must be filed within 2 years of your father's death (though it is possible that there might a slight extension of the statute of limitations due to a special Covid Order by the Georgia Supreme Court - depending on the date of your father's death). 
 
You should contact an attorney as soon as possible however because if the ambulance was a city, state, or county entity (such as Dekalb EMS as opposed to a private ambulance company), there are other time deadlines that apply. Also, city, county, or state entities are entitled to certain protections of law that can be hard to get around. [Our firm successfully avoided these special protections not that long ago in a case in which a county EMS left an individual at home who had called EMS for chest pain and she died the next morning.] 
 
Whether a case is viable as a wrongful death case is very fact specific. Again, I would recommend that you contact an attorney who handles medical malpractice cases as soon as possible.

Q: I want to know how I go about filing a lawsuit for malpractice that resulted in my father's death.