The loss of a family member is a devastating event, leaving a void that can never be filled. When that loss happens because of someone else's negligence or wrongful act, the grief is often compounded by anger and a profound sense of injustice. While no legal action can bring your loved one back, a wrongful death claim in Massachusetts can provide a measure of accountability and the financial stability your family needs to move forward.

At the heart of nearly every successful wrongful death case is a collection of documents that may seem clinical and impersonal: medical records. However, to an experienced legal team, these files are anything but. They contain the objective, detailed narrative of your loved one’s final days, weeks, or months. They hold the evidence needed to transform suspicion into proof and to build a compelling case for justice.

The Unseen Story: Why Medical Records Are Central to a Massachusetts Wrongful Death Lawsuit

A wrongful death claim in Massachusetts, governed by statute M.G.L. c. 229, § 2, requires the person bringing the claim (the executor or administrator of the deceased's estate) to prove that a wrongful act, negligence, or breach of warranty caused the death. In simple terms, you must demonstrate four key elements:

1. Duty: The defendant owed your loved one a duty of care (e.g., a doctor's duty to provide competent medical treatment or a driver's duty to operate their vehicle safely).
2. Breach: The defendant breached, or violated, that duty through a negligent or reckless act.
3. Causation: This breach of duty was a direct and primary cause of the death.
4. Damages: The surviving family members suffered damages as a result of the death.

Your personal account of what happened is powerful and important. But in a legal setting, objective evidence is paramount. This is where medical records become indispensable. They provide an unbiased, chronological account of events, untainted by grief or memory. A wrongful death lawsuit often hinges on the ability of your attorney to piece together the timeline and details found within these documents to tell a clear and undeniable story of what went wrong.

Proving Negligence: What a Skilled Wrongful Death Lawyer Finds in Medical Records

The term "negligence" can feel abstract. Medical records make it concrete. A skilled wrongful death lawyer doesn't just read these documents; they analyze them, looking for discrepancies, omissions, and deviations from accepted standards. They work with medical experts to uncover the critical pieces of evidence that establish fault.

Establishing the Standard of Care

Before you can prove that a healthcare provider acted negligently, you must first establish the "medical standard of care." This is the level and type of care that a reasonably competent and skilled healthcare professional, with a similar background and in the same medical community, would have provided under the same circumstances.

Medical records are instrumental in defining this standard. They can show:

• Hospital policies and procedures that should have been followed.
• The patient’s specific condition, which dictated a certain course of action.
• Notes and consultation requests that reveal what a provider knew and when they knew it.

By establishing what should have happened, your legal team creates a benchmark against which the actual care provided can be measured.

Documenting the Breach of Duty

Once the standard of care is established, the next step is to pinpoint exactly how it was breached. The evidence of this failure is almost always found within the medical records themselves. An experienced legal team will scrutinize every page for signs of medical malpractice or other forms of negligence.

Examples of evidence found in medical records include:

• Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis: Lab results or imaging reports (like X-rays or CT scans) that clearly indicated a serious condition were overlooked or misinterpreted. The records may show a patient repeatedly complaining of the same symptoms with no follow-up or diagnostic testing ordered.
• Surgical Errors: Operative reports might detail a procedural mistake, such as operating on the wrong body part, leaving a surgical instrument inside the patient, or causing an internal injury that wasn't addressed. Anesthesiology records can also reveal errors in administering or monitoring anesthesia.
• Medication Errors: The medication administration record (MAR) is a goldmine of information. It can show that a patient was given the wrong drug, the wrong dosage, or a medication to which they had a known allergy documented elsewhere in the chart.
• Failure to Monitor: In a hospital setting, nursing notes and vital sign flow sheets are essential. They can reveal long gaps in monitoring, a failure to respond to dangerously low blood pressure or oxygen saturation, or ignoring alarms from medical equipment.
• Birth Injuries: In tragic cases involving the death of an infant or mother, fetal monitoring strips can show clear signs of distress that were not acted upon in a timely manner, leading to a fatal outcome.

Demonstrating Causation—Connecting the Mistake to the Outcome

Proving a mistake happened is only half the battle. Under Massachusetts law, you must definitively link that mistake to the death. The defense will often argue that the patient was already very ill and would have died anyway, regardless of the alleged error. This is known as the "causation" defense.

Medical records are your most powerful tool to overcome this argument. Your wrongful death attorney will use them to build a chain of causation, showing a direct line from the negligent act to the fatal result.

• Timeline Analysis: Records create a clear timeline. For instance, they might show a patient was stable until a specific medication was administered, after which their condition rapidly deteriorated.
• Autopsy Reports: An autopsy can provide definitive proof of the cause of death. If an autopsy reveals a perforated bowel after surgery, and the operative report failed to note any such complication, the connection becomes clear.
• Expert Testimony: Your attorney will retain medical experts who will review the complete set of records and provide a professional opinion. They can testify that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the breach of care directly led to the chain of events that caused the death.

Beyond Proving Fault: Using Medical Records to Maximize a Wrongful Death Settlement

Medical records do more than just establish who was at fault. They are also fundamental to calculating the full and fair value of your claim. In Massachusetts, damages in a wrongful death case are not just about lost income; they also cover less tangible, but equally real, losses. A comprehensive set of records is vital for justifying the amount sought in a wrongful death settlement.

Quantifying Conscious Pain and Suffering

One of the most significant components of a wrongful death lawsuit in Massachusetts is damages for the "conscious pain and suffering" of the deceased. This compensates the estate for the suffering your loved one endured between the time of the negligent act and their death.

Proving this type of claim requires evidence that the person was aware of their pain, fear, and impending death. Medical records provide this proof in a way that family testimony alone cannot.

• Nursing Notes: Detailed descriptions of the patient crying out, moaning, or complaining of pain.
• Medication Records: Records of repeated requests for and administration of pain medication.
• Physician’s Notes: Documentation of the patient’s anxiety, fear, or awareness of the severity of their condition.
• Treatment Logs: Records of painful procedures (like wound care or intubation) that the patient had to endure before passing away.

Without this documentation, the defense can argue the deceased was unconscious or unaware, drastically reducing the potential value of the claim.

Calculating Economic Damages

The financial impact of a loved one's death can be devastating. Medical records help substantiate the economic damages your family has suffered and will suffer in the future.

• Medical Bills: The most obvious component is the stack of medical bills incurred for the treatment rendered between the injury and death. Itemized billing records are needed to prove these costs.
• Lost Earning Capacity: Records can help establish your loved one’s health and prognosis before the negligent act. For example, a recent physical exam showing a clean bill of health can be used to counter claims that they had a limited life expectancy or earning potential.
• Loss of Advice, Counsel, and Companionship: While harder to quantify, records can sometimes help illustrate the role the deceased played. For example, if they were the primary caregiver for a disabled family member, those medical records can help demonstrate the value of the care they provided.

The Procedural Hurdles: How a Wrongful Death Lawyer Obtains and Interprets These Records

Obtaining and making sense of a complete set of medical records is a complex process. It requires legal knowledge, persistence, and medical expertise—all resources a grieving family shouldn't have to manage alone. This is where a dedicated wrongful death lawyer becomes your advocate.

Navigating HIPAA and Legal Requests

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects a patient's medical information. After a person's death, these privacy rights continue to be protected. Hospitals and doctor's offices will not simply hand over records to a family member upon request.

An attorney knows the correct legal channels to secure these documents. The personal representative of the deceased's estate has the legal authority to request the records. Your attorney will ensure this process is handled correctly, issuing formal requests, and if necessary, using subpoenas to compel the release of all relevant information—not just the summary that a facility might prefer to provide. This includes securing the complete chart, including audit trails that can show when records were accessed or altered.

The Role of Medical Experts

Attorneys are legal experts, not medical doctors. A cornerstone of a strong wrongful death case is the collaboration between your lawyer and trusted medical experts. After your attorney secures the records, they are sent to a qualified physician, nurse, or other specialist in the relevant field for a thorough review.

This expert will:

• Translate complex medical terminology and data into understandable language.
• Identify deviations from the standard of care that a lawyer might not recognize.
• Prepare a formal report outlining their findings.
• Provide compelling testimony in a deposition or at trial, explaining to a judge and jury exactly how the medical evidence proves negligence and causation.

This expert analysis transforms a stack of papers into a powerful narrative for justice, giving your case the credibility it needs to succeed.

Need Legal Help? Brandon J. Broderick, Attorney at Law, is One Phone Call Away

Losing a loved one is an earth-shattering experience, and the thought of navigating a complex legal claim can feel impossible. You do not have to face this alone. The evidence needed to hold the responsible party accountable is often hidden in plain sight within your loved one’s medical records, but it takes a skilled and compassionate legal team to uncover it.

At Brandon J. Broderick, Attorney at Law, we understand the immense emotional and financial weight that families in Massachusetts carry after a wrongful death. Our approach is built on a foundation of thorough investigation and relentless advocacy. We handle the burden of collecting evidence, consulting with top-tier medical experts, and building your case, so you can focus on healing.

If you believe your family member’s death was caused by someone else’s negligence, contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation. Let us help you find answers and fight for the justice your loved one and your family deserve.