July 26, 2018

Question

Last year my sister's doctor had found that she had a blockage in her artery and told her that she needed to wait to get surgery until the blockage was bigger. She died of a heart attack in May. She left a minor daughter. She was married to one man and may have still been married to another one in Colombia. We are not sure where the husband is and we don't care for him at all. Can my niece as a minor receive damages? What about my mom?

Answer

Since the alleged malpractice happened last year, it's very early on in the case, but in addition to proceeding in Supreme Court, there should be a separate proceeding in Surrogate's court for administration of the deceased's estate, where the next-of-kin need to be accounted for. There's a formula for who gets what, depending on who's alive...
https://www.nycourts.gov/courthelp/WhenSomeoneDies/intestacy.shtml

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