On January 24, 2000, 1.5 million dollars were awarded to the estate of Carmelo Rabatin. The monetary compensation was paid by his Pulmonologist, Thadeus Barrter and also his nurse Patricia Lewis who was responsible for his care in the final hours of his life. Rabatin was only 43 years old when he passed away.

Rabatin ended up heading to the hospital when he fell 15 feet off of a ladder while he was setting up Christmas lights. He hurt his back and the fall lead to some internal bleeding. He was taken to the South Jersey hospital where he was intubated (a tube was inserted into his mouth) and he was given morphine for his pain. Since he was hospitalized for around three days Dr.Barrter considered intubating him again and he mentioned this to the nurse. However, he did not end up intubating Rabatin and the nurse mistakenly gave Rabatin a dose of succinylcholine. Rabatin suffered from cardiac arrest and died on the spot.

Succinylcholine is supposed to be given before a person is intubated to cause short term paralysis. However, when Rabatin was not intubated his heart gave in and he ended up passing away.

This story is just one out of many unfortunate cases in which individuals ended up losing their life because of the negligence of another. If Dr.Barrter or the nurse took a little more care of their patient and if they paid more attention to what was actually happening they could have prevented the loss of his life.

Luckily, in the above scenario, the family of the man who faced wrongful death was able to get their hands on a good attorney who understood the rules and regulations of New Jersey law inside out. They were able to gather evidence, witnesses, and the proper documentation to prove that negligence did occur and that is what lead to the death of their beloved husband and father.

When should I get in touch with a lawyer?

If anyone has lost a loved one because of the mistake of another person then they should reach out to a wrongful death lawyer in Morris, NJ in order to pursue legal action. If a person suspects that a doctor caused the death of their loved one then all they have to do is work with a lawyer to prove that negligence took place. Negligence basically means that the doctors could have prevented the death of the patient but they did not care enough to do so.

If a person is able to prove this negligence, which is generally practical to do with a lawyer, then they will be rewarded with monetary compensation for the pain they suffered. There are more chances of receiving compensation if the individual who was killed was the sole breadwinner or the main source of income for a family.