How Hospitals Try to Avoid Liability in Wrongful Death Cases

Hospitals are supposed to be safe places. You go to one for medical care and healing. However, sometimes they become dangerous, even deadly.

Errors in healthcare have become a leading cause of injury and death. Washington State’s hospitals are no strangers to things like negligence, malpractice, and even wrongful deaths.

When someone you love dies because of negligence at a hospital, answers and accountability are the two things you need most. However, hospitals are large, well-defended institutions. When someone files a wrongful death claim against them, they rarely accept responsibility without putting up a fight.

Instead, they use a range of strategies to avoid liability (along with accountability). If you’re in this situation, it’s important to understand these tactics and how a skilled wrongful death lawyer can help you challenge them.

In this post, we’ll talk about the most common ways hospitals try to dodge blame in wrongful death cases, the evidence you’ll need to push back, and how legal experience makes all the difference when a healthcare institution is on the defensive.

Hospitals are well-prepared to defend against claims

Hospitals are places of healing. However, they’re also businesses. As such, their goal is to make a profit. That’s harder to do if they’re legally liable for wrongful death damages. All hospitals (and their parent healthcare organizations) have legal teams and insurers working on their behalf to help find ways around that.

This doesn’t mean they’re above accountability, though. It means you’ll need to be ready for the way they play defense. Below, we’ll highlight some of the tactics you’re likely to see.

1. Blaming third-party providers

One of the first tactics hospitals use is pointing fingers at someone else. They might claim that the death was caused not by the hospital’s actions (or inactions, as the case may be). Instead, they might try to say that it came from:

• An independent contractor (like a visiting specialist)
• A third-party vendor (like a lab company)
• A manufacturer (in the case of medical devices or equipment failure)
• An outside pharmacy (if medication was involved)

How your lawyer can fight back: An experienced wrongful death lawyer will go over hospital contracts, supervision policies, and employment structures to see who really had control over the situation. Even if a third party was involved, the hospital may have some degree of liability.

2. Blaming the patient

One of the most common ways for hospitals to shirk their responsibility is to blame the patient for their own death. This might involve saying that:

• The patient didn’t disclose a medical history.
• The patient refused or delayed treatment.
• The patient didn’t follow discharge instructions.
• An underlying illness, not negligence, caused the death.

How your lawyer can fight back: A wrongful death attorney will gather evidence to show that hospital staff had a “duty of care” and failed to meet it. In Washington, even if the patient was partly responsible, the hospital can still be held liable under the state’s comparative fault rules.

3. Hiding behind different business entities

Here’s a defense that hospitals use that you may not see coming: hiding behind other businesses. A large healthcare network might operate under multiple LLCs or subsidiaries. Each of those might be responsible for different parts of the facility or services. That means:

• A separate company operates the emergency room
• A second company handles the radiology department
• The parent company might claim it’s not even located in the same area as the hospital

How your lawyer can fight back: Your attorney will investigate the hospital’s ownership and control. If multiple parties are liable, your lawyer can name them all in the lawsuit and let discovery show who’s really at fault.

4. Delaying or denying access to medical records

Hospitals know that records can make or break your wrongful death case. So, they may try to delay your access, release incomplete information, or refuse to answer questions. Common stalling tactics include:

• Citing HIPAA rules (even though a patient’s personal representative or next of kin generally have legal access to records under Washington law).
• Forcing patients to sign NDAs that essentially silence them.
• Claiming the records were “lost” or “incomplete.”
• Requiring court orders or subpoenas for full disclosure.

How your lawyer can fight back: An experienced wrongful death lawyer knows how to access medical records and can file motions to compel disclosure. They’ll also work with medical experts to identify negligence.

5. Downplaying the standard of care

In wrongful death claims involving medical malpractice, the focus is often on whether the hospital provided care that met the “standard of care.” In other words, the situation is compared to what a reasonable provider would’ve done in similar circumstances. Hospitals can try to say that:

• Their treatment decisions were within the standard of care.
• The death was a tragic but unavoidable outcome.
• Other providers would’ve made the same decisions.
• They may also bring in their own expert witnesses to support this narrative.

How your lawyer can fight back: Your attorney will work with medical experts not involved in the case to look at the timeline and highlight where the hospital fell short. If your legal team can prove that mistakes were made that competent professionals wouldn’t have made, your case becomes significantly stronger.

What you’ll need to prove wrongful death in a hospital

Proving a wrongful death means showing the court that:

• The hospital had a responsibility to care for the patient.
• That was breached through negligence, inaction, or improper care.
• The breach led directly to the patient’s death.
• Because of the death, you and your family suffered measurable losses.

The role of a wrongful death lawyer

Hospitals rely on most families not knowing how to combat their tactics. A wrongful death attorney can help. Your lawyer can:

• Identify all potentially liable parties.
• Collect and preserve critical evidence.
• Challenge hospital defenses head-on.
• Negotiate aggressively with insurers.
• Take the case to court if needed.

In Washington, you may be entitled to both economic and non-economic damages (compensation for medical bills, funeral expenses, lost income, and the emotional pain of losing your loved one).

No organization is above the law

Hospitals may be powerful institutions, but they’re not above the law. When a hospital’s negligence leads to wrongful death, they’ll use every strategy they can to avoid responsibility. But with the right evidence, legal expertise, and support, you can hold them accountable.

If you’re considering a wrongful death claim in Washington, contact Smith McBroom today to talk to a wrongful death lawyer.