Q: In Michigan a 96 year old falls and breaks his hip, dying three weeks later. Is this an accidental death?

A: No one but a medical expert can tell. More often, elderly people die from complications related from the fall, not from the bone breaking itself, with the result being death itself is from natural causes.

A: I need a little more context to answer your question.

Typically, the term "accidental death" refers to the manner of death as commonly found on a death certificate, where the choices would be something along the lines of: accidental, homicide, unknown, suicide, etc.

The term accidental death is also sometimes confusing similar to an injury caused by someone else's negligence, where death results a short time later, and the cause of death was a known sequalae (consequence) of the original injuries.

Without knowing more facts, where an elderly person falls and fractures their hip and then dies three weeks later, the medical records and an expert medical opinion may provide substantiation that the death was caused by the original injury, and thus a wrongful death should be considered.

A: Different analysis could be applied, depending on whether a given situation is a criminal matter or civil matter. Since this is posted under Personal Injury, one of the issues given consideration in tort law is the element of foreseeability, in terms of whether a particular outcome was foreseeable from a given set of facts or breach of duty (for example, negligence on the part of an alleged tortfeasor). I'm sorry for the loss of the gentleman. Good luck